Check Your Brain and Enjoy

Rating: 7/10 (1 December 2009)

There are some movies that you go to see because of the acting, or because of the story, or because it is an Oscar favorite. This is not one of them. This is a movie where you just need to check your brain at the door and be ready to be entertained.
2012 is another one of those End Of The World Disaster films where the Government has a plan and our hero is a common person trying to get by and somehow we know, that both the government and the hero will meet up somewhere. I expected that going into the movie and that is basically what I got, however, I enjoyed it this time around. Sure, the story is predictable, and the characters just seem to get lucky every time around. Some may even say that this is an insult to ones intelligence. But what film is not predictable, and what film does not have convenient situations. I mean, doesn't every romantic comedy have that All is Doomed moment right before the couple reunite and fall in love for the final time. Doesn't every slasher film have that final confrontation with the Heroin and the killer. We as an audience know what to expect but we continue to see these movies. And I am OK with that. It's like going on a roller coaster. We know their are ups and downs, and their is always that final drop before everything smooths out.
2012 is like that Roller Coaster ride. It has it's ups and downs, and we know that most people will make it to the end. We know that cities will fall, landmarks will crumble, and there will always be that All is Doomed moment where you think it's all over.
John Cusack was actually pretty good in his first major action movie since Con Air. He's a likable character, much more then Dennis Quaid in "The Day After Tomorrow" (Also directed by Roland Emmerich.) The destruction scenes were pretty entertaining as well. From the fall of L.A. to the site of an all ready fallen Las Vegas, I enjoyed the chaos around everyone.
Now, this movie was not without it's flaws. Every film has an annoying kid who won't listen to his parents, and this one also had the annoying kid. Also, Danny Glover's President of the U.S. was uninspiring. Sometimes, the cgi did get in the way.
With all of that, I still believe this is one of the better "End of the World" disaster films and one worth the money to see in theaters. It is entertaining, it's fast, action packed, and in the end, I think you feel you got your money's worth. So what if there is no Oscar worthy performance. It is all right to see a movie that lets you take off your thinking caps so you can just enjoy without asking questions.