2012 is an overall special effects game

Rating: 6/10 (12 July 2011)

2012-**-Not Good- Directed by: Roland Emmerich, Written by: Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser. Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson, Tom McCarthy, George Segal, Stephen McHattie, Patrick Bauchau, Beatrice Rosen, Johann Urb.
Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day) continues his saga of big and special effects consumed blockbusters with this film about a man and struggling writer (Cusack) who finds out about a world apocalypse the government has tried to cover up and tries to deliver his family to safety as the world is engulfed by destruction.
Emmerich has little personality or complexity in any of his characters, the family he centers his film around is so utterly boring and full of cliché that it becomes impossible to be totally involved with them without producing a giggle. His intentions are honest however, despite this little clichéd characters.
He also provides little context for the struggle going on with his characters. The explanations he has for all the explosions and destruction is a solar mishap any scientist could easily overlook. He has no reason for all of his destruction and we slowly grow numb in the minds as this plays out.
It is the special effects that most people come for, but if you look at cinema as just being all special effects and no storytelling than that is a very limited experience. Emmerich did worse in his previous The Day After Tomorrow, but did better in Independence Day.