No more

Rating: 3/10 (25 January 2010)

Disaster movies is very far from my favorite genre. Ever since i first watched the disaster movies from the 70's as a kid i have had trouble with them. And watching "2012" i can't say that the genre has come a long way since the 70's either. Sure the movie looks better, but beyond that? So, what are the positives here? Well, the movie does have some pretty good special effects. Of course they are over-done and over-used, but that's the way you have to play it with a movie like this one. Also you have some pretty good actors doing their best with the material. I also found the movie quite entertaining until all hell broke loose...
The negatives are, however, easier to point out. Honestly, Roland Emmerich is one of the most uninteresting directors of our time. He seldom makes anything interesting, usually it's just sentimental and clichéd, effect-driven movies. Not my cup of tea to say the least, and to top it off this movie is like regular Emmerich on steroids... The whole world is literally destroyed in this movie, entire cities ground to dust. And in-between the scenes of destruction are moral preachings and sentimental scenes that are quite hard to stomach. The movie follows a well trodden path and a strict formula, and how exciting is that? Not very.
In the end i think this movie shows two things. Firstly that disaster movies are still unbearably boring to watch. Secondly that special effects can be used to do anything today, which ultimately make the effects less special. I remember watching Jurassic Park when it came out. I was completely mesmerized with the special effects, they actually made the dinosaurs come alive! But today, special effects are nothing to be excited about. They are everywhere and a heavy use of CGI is expected in every big-budget movie. And unless there is something behind all the effects; a great story or at least some substance, the effects amount to nothing. They days when i watched movies just because of the special effects are over.
So hopefully this is the last cry of the shallow, special-effects laden Hollywood-movie. Now they have destroyed the entire world with millions of pixels and huge detail, so we have seen basically everything. Now they have to wow us with something else. And even as i write this i know it's not what's going to happen. Crap like this will be released next year too.
But i won't watch it.