Enjoyable but not thrilling

Rating: 6/10 (2 December 2011)

I love the disaster movies. I love the thrill and excitement of not knowing whether your heroes will survive and wondering what I would do if the end of the world suddenly came upon us. With Deep Impact and the Day after tomorrow firmly in my top 10 films, I had high hopes that 2012 would be just as good, if not better than these incredible films with its use of the latest advances in cinematography. However a great disaster movie it was not meant to be, as a general film straying into science fiction it was enjoyable but not thrilling.
I think my main issue with the film was that normally there is a hero or a few heroes, who you are rooting for all the way through to survive. 2012 bills John Cusack as the hero of the hour, who realises just how important his family is to him. However although I adore Cusack normally, my heart just wasn't in it and while I want him to survive, it doesn't ultimately make a difference to me either way. The film also was jam-packed with action, probably too much so, nudging on the edge of believability, with cities crumbling within the first half an hour and whilst it was very dramatic, it feels that it's been drawn out and it's not until the last 45 minutes that you truly got into and felt your heart start to race.
My other issue with the film was the way in which some characters were portrayed. Adrian Helmsely was presented as a hero who argued back to his boss, who said that it wasn't right what they were doing and demanded that more people should allowed to be saved. As a scientific adviser he seemed rather inept with "temperatures are rising with incredible velocity" just one of the many unscientific phrases tumbling from his humanitarian lips. Carl Anheuser was shown as the bad guy, the one who tried to control who would be saved. This is all very well and good, but if this were to happen then I would argue that Anheuser is actually the one in the right. Human life needs to be preserved and to do so does mean some sacrifices.
Despite the incredibly dire nature of several aspects of the film I found myself actually rather liking it and am a tentative fan of the film. It does require a suspension of reality on the viewers part (but surely that's what films are for) and it does turn into an enjoyable film with a twisting plot that whilst it doesn't leave you aching for more does mean that the film seems to fly by as though you are strapped into a roller-coaster instead of sat on your sofa. The special effects used are brilliant and the actual plot line and ideas put into it are fantastic. The actors play their parts superbly, particularly Woody Harrelson and it is an enjoyable movie.