Way too long, terrible script, pathetic acting

Rating: 2/10 (2 December 2009)

If I was to point out one major problem with this film, I couldn't. There are simply way too many major problems to settle on one! But possibly the over-arching problem is that it used way too many end-of-the-world formulas and plot devices. In fact, it strived to ensure that none were left out.
We had:
1) An last second escape as the world is collapsing around them.... Well in fact we had that about nine times. Worse still, I think they took off in a plane while the runway collapsed three times in total.
2) A madman predicting the end of the world, proves to be right and plays a role in the survival of others. But the question remains: what was Woody thinking signing up for this crap ?
3) An unsuspecting hero.
4) The hero back helping his ex escape just as disaster strikes and winding up back in a relationship with her at the end.
5) A lovable cuddly character who dies tragically. (Yuri)
6) A pet that was unnecessarily saved.
7) A completely unnecessary dramatic emergency right at the end where our hero survives a suicide mission and saves the day.
8) An expert no one would believe until it was almost too late.
9) A president with no first lady (aka ID4 and Deep Impact) who is overly sentimental and pulls an enormously patriotic act.
10) Interconnecting characters - notice how so many of the characters intersect before disaster strikes.
11) An almost semi-evil, overly ruthless government player. Oliver Platt's character traits were unnecessary and the stand off he has with geological expert in front of world leaders at the end was cringe worthy and embarrassing.
12) Implausibility - with days of warning, we expect airforce one to be loaded with fuel. But the president stays behind, the vice president is caught somewhere at dies, the speaker of the house...well... he's running late.. So that of course, leaves the world in the hands of Oliver Platt.
13) Father reconnecting with children despite the relationship being rocky at the start.
The only different thing about this film was that the film makers had no issue killing off certain characters you would expect to live and keeping alive those you thought would die. The should have drowned Platt. Yet I was expecting the survival of Yuri, the Russian pilot, Yuri's little blonde chic. I also expected the ex-wife's new boyfriend to survive, though I suppose it make it easier for the hero to get back together with his ex-wife if the current boyfriend is crushed and squashed between two rotors!
By the end of the film, I wished those two rotors crushed and squashed up the producers, scripwriters, actors and any other significant film maker involved in this pile of utter crap.
And lord almighty what was way too long. I don't think any of that film ended up on the cutting room floor. To be honest, most of it should.