Special Effects Extravaganza

Rating: 6/10 (2 December 2009)

Every so often Hollywood manages to up the ante when it comes to special effects. Assuredly, the thrill of this movie comes in the moments spent wondering how will it look when the world ends. Emmerich doesn't disappoint.
John Cusack stars as an everyman who doesn't save the world a la Randy Quaid style in Independence Day, but instead as an example of "nature choosing her own from among her own." This rather unique element lends the story a sense of credence as one imagines that is just how the apocalypse might play out: random nothing short of miraculous survivors alongside the wholly undeserving. However, the impersonal becomes personal at the conclusion as unlikely survivors are snuffed out gratuitously and cruelly.
Makes one wonder what 2022 will be like in 10 years.