Waste of time and money

Rating: 4/10 (19 November 2009)

Too long, too many characters, effects of varying quality, and a script of pure cheese. Not a patch on The Day After Tomorrow, a film which has focus and plot. 2012 is just an excuse for a special effects bonanza, some purely for the sake of it, and many of a disappointing quality. You can tell there are a lot of miniatures in there (vehicles, buildings), and many of the wide shots seemed to be mainly animation.
There is at least double the number of characters necessary, and many of the subplots are utterly pointless. The film veers off in different directions, and I lost interest. There is a lot of acting talent, but none seem to have been pushed. Oliver Platt is way, way above this kind of nonsense, he gives us a silly caricature, and Cusack phones it in too, while his rival, the new man in his ex-wife's life, is possibly the most singular cardboard cutout character I've ever seen in a film like this.
The director clearly doesn't do characterisation in shades of grey. In his eyes, you're either a goodie or a baddie. If you're the former, then you're squeaky clean, if you're the latter, then you are a pantomime villain. There is no middle ground, and because of this I found the film quite boring because you can predict the characters responses to each new challenge. Just imagine what Tarantino style characters would make of an end of the world scenario ?! Can't recommend this. Should have been so much better really.