For its genre, a world-wide destruction movie, it's pretty good.

Rating: Null/10 (14 May 2010)

Everyone going in to see this movie should already know the reference to 2012, the ancient Mayan calendar supposedly predicted the end of the world as we know it would happen around December 21st, 2012. Wow! That's just a little more than 2 years from now. I'd better get that date with Heather Locklear (inside joke with my wife) before it is too late.
This story starts in 2009 when astrogeophysists monitoring what they monitor notice the largest and most powerful solar flares ever. Then in India, in old copper mines over 2 miles below the surface of the Earth are measuring neutrino activity never before seen. They mention that these neutrinos have "mutated" such that their energy is acting like intense microwaves, heating up the interior of the Earth.
The story moves to 2010, then into the near future 2011 and finally 2012. During this time they predict then witness increased volcanic activity and movement of plates, with the ground splitting open in ways they did not predict. All this gets them to alert the POTUS, and in turn the other world leaders, to plan some action.
Logically we know all this cannot be true, ancient Mayans could not have predicted unusual solar activity and the resulting destruction. but if we suspend our disbelieve for 2 1/2 hours, and just watch it, there is much there to be entertained with. If watching your Earth destroyed can be entertaining.
John Cusack is Jackson Curtis, an author. His role in the story is to have him and his children in jeopardy so we can see if they can escape to safety. Amanda Peet is his estranged wife Kate Curtis. Chiwetel Ejiofor is Adrian Helmsley, the head astrophysicist on the case. Thandie Newton is Laura Wilson, the daughter of the POTUS.
The most interesting character is Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost, and we first see him at Yellowstone as he awaits its eruption. Seems he had collected evidence over the years that this was coming, he broadcast a radio show from his traveling motor home, and he claimed he had maps of the location of ships that were being built to save a few hundred thousand people when the doomsday came.
Danny Glover is fine as the President of the USA, Thomas Wilson. Just a step down from Morgan Freeman who is usually God.
My wife and I enjoyed the movie, decent story and really good destruction special effects.
SPOILERS: As it turned out several (at least 8)very large vessels, modern arks of sort, capable of holding hundreds of thousands plus animals, were being built in the mountains of China, so that when the predicted giant tsunamis from the east came they would float above the destruction and eventually re-settle the Earth once the destruction had subsided. The "road trip" part of the story was to see if Jackson Curtis, his 2 kids, his wife, and a few others could find and then sneak aboard the ark to save their own skins. They make it, barely. The result of all the geologic activity was the north and south poles flipped, the south pole was now in Wisconsin, and a range in South Africa was now the tallest in the world. Plus many others, too numerous to mention. Now all the survivors were preparing to start new lives in this strange new world.