Not exactly a disaster but not exactly safe either!

Rating: 6/10 (6 October 2010)

Before watching 2012, a friend of mine had shown me the trailer and instantly all I thought was that it looks amazingbut when I saw the movie, I realised that's all the movie really has to offer: looks. The story is mediocre as it was a little bit predictable and it didn't feel strong enough. The setup for the movie is basically "run over there, oh no disaster, escape, run over here, oh no disaster, escape" and doesn't really change for about two to three hours. The acting was alright but I thought that it could have been better in some scenes. John Cusack played his role as writer Jackson Curtis very well and Woody Harrelson was fantastic as Charlie Frost. However, there were a few scenes when the other actors weren't very convincing as their characters, I thought they could have done a better job. The characters were poorly written, they could have definitely been written better as you didn't feel so involved in the movie to care for them enough. The script was quite cheesy and the writing felt a little bit like your average disaster movie and nothing special or out of the ordinary. The cinematography is brilliantly done and the direction is very good from Roland Emmerich but it's nothing like Independence Day. In saying this, it's quite good fun.
In the first half an hour to forty-five minutes, the movie was running smoothly and was great to watch but then slowly after that, it just turned into a CGI-obsessed movie for me. It just screamed "Look, we're not going to follow the story but here's some amazing CGI!" in my face. Don't get me wrong, I thought the CGI was absolutely beautiful to the eye and terrifyingly realistically detailed but if the movie had a great story as well as the CGI, then this movie would have been more memorable. The only way I will remember this movie is the CGI and not for the acting or the characters or the story.
I must admit after watching the trailer, I thought that 2012 would be a mind-blowing experience but yet again, it's a case of 'the trailer's better than the movie'. Yes, the CGI is fantastically mind-blowing and could be impressive for some people but for this reviewer to be impressed, it would have to have a great story to grip you. It should also have plenty of nice twists and turns that you wouldn't see coming, 2012 unfortunately didn't really deliver this as I found most of the story and the ending to the story predictable. In saying this, it's worth watching for the CGI and the action scenes as it really is stunning and probably makes up for the lack of story.