Great earth-destruction scenes but no substance

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2009)

Maybe this movie will have an impact on the global movie audience, but if it does, it won't because it's a good film. It might strike home with millions who see it and suddenly realise that our planet is a fragile system of checks and balances and when they get out of control ... oh boy; better watch out! The computer effects are simply breath-taking as the globe literally disintegrates before our eyes, but the story and especially the lumbering last third of the movie were tiresome.
2012 fails to touch on why 2012 is important to doom mongers. Okay, maybe many of the viewers are not so interested in the many forecasters who predict the same - 2012 is the last year for us all - but showing a one minute piece of mass suicide at Tikal is not good enough. In fact, this movie could be any year you like to choose. The director simply hijacked the doom year of 2012 and then totally failed to explain why 2012 is so important.
Everyone must see the first half of this movie. It's a technical masterpiece. Some can stay on to watch the ramifications of global destruction and how we might decide who is 'saved' if we get the chance, but nobody need stay and watch the last third. It's an insult to the audience. The script is crass, with sickly goodbyes and a pathetic plot with totally unrealistic contraptions to 'save mankind'. Some shots were laughable (although not supposed to be so). Look out for the flying giraffe and the floating elephant. Also take note of how a simple propeller can stop a vessel the size of 10 supertankers in just 30 seconds. Then there is the 'where did that come from' convoy half way up a mountain, and the infantile sunrise 27 minutes after the biggest storm in the history of the planet.
I understand that this is the director's last 'disaster' movie. I hope so. And how fitting that he should be hanging up his clapper board after directing a real cinematic disaster!
I score it 7, but only for the special effects.