Eat popcorn and enjoy the end of the world!

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2010)

Knowing fully well that this was Emmerich project, I expected nothing more than a good old disaster flick and that is what this movie offers.
Of course, with the rise of CGI in the last decade or so, most viewers are now accustomed to scenes of epic devastation, and with 2012, we get the impression the writers tried to up the ante once again with the disaster aspect.
We get a mix of stuff we've seen in other movies, such as monster earthquakes, massive volcanoes and giganormous tsunamis. Protagonists do impossible stunts in airplanes, in cars and even underwater. Entire cities are wiped out. The whole thing is quite fun in that respect.
The actual story? The characters? It's all very typical for that type of Hollywood entertainment. Ordinary people, scientists, politicians are all featured. You've got your typical "good guys" trying their best to survive and some "bad guys" showing traits such as greed and selfishness. Along the way, some characters live, other dies. Most get a chance to say the typical "hollywood goodbyes" and some even redeem themselves before they die.
Emmerich never lets you dwell too long on the characters, or what it means for the world as we know it to come to an end. It might be seen as a shame but that's par for the course in that type of movie.
I'll give it an honest five. I think it does a good job at entertaining. But if you are looking for an intense drama, or to see the laws of physics or reality carefully applied, this is not the film to watch. What you get here is a very good bunch of actors doing a good (not great) job in a CGI-heavy movie. You get a story that covers all the bases, but doesn't do anything brilliantly.
In short, decent entertainment, if you are entertained by this sort of film.