Cliché last minute escapes

Rating: 6/10 (9 March 2010)

The story was pretty good. There are historical, albeit vague references to this December date in 2012 and the premise is scientifically believable. It could have been a relevant movie.
The effects are wonderful; as good or better than any of the top movies in recent years..
Where it went wrong: The separated husband winning back his wife is really cliché. It's been a reoccurring theme in movies for that last decade and therefore seems a cheap way to inject conflict into a story.
The constant "deadline effect" in the movie is so over-worn that it is likely to become a cult joke. Every exciting scene has our protagonists just, and I mean just escaping the oncoming cracks in the world, the falling buildings, the ever increasing range of a volcano blast, The lowering of a heavy metal door, an airplane crashing on a glacier, or the . you pick the disaster, our heroes will just barely escape it. Scene after scene of epic disasters, each outdoing the previous one and every one of them is a miraculous escape. This comic-book thrill-making method is probably more responsible than any other problem in the movie as to why it was panned so badly.
The actor playing the President should not have been the wonderful character actor who mumbles and is too much a normal, likable guy. Articulation and elocution are essential in winning office. Danny Glover was not a credible President. All the other key actors are perfect for their roles. In fact, I don't think that such a splendid cast would have signed on to this movie if they had known what the "Deadline Effect" would do to the movie.
It's a shame, because the premise, the basic story and the special effects were wonderful. It just shows how the control over the craft of these movies is being managed by 20-somethings and their X-box riddled minds with 10 second attention spans. And I don't mean the audience.