Reserving Judgment (Day)

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2009)

Roland Emmerich of Independence Day, The Day after Tomorrow and Godzilla fame brings another (doomsday) magnum opus that seems to be pieced together from all three, with a few dollops from say Volcano and the likes. 2012 starts well and the heightening agitation of Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) as events start unfolding that give credence to barely believable theories, and the same along with the sense of urgency of young scientist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are quite well depicted. In fact it is quite remarkable that the failure of this movie is identical to that of The Day After Tomorrow - a lack of believability in the emotional content - beyond the fact that Jackson Curtis does appear to be quite attached to his kids, every other interpersonal relationship in the movie for some reason appears contrived - and this is just why all of the one hour or so aboard the ark is excruciating. In summary, it will be difficult for Emmerich/ Hollywood to keep attracting audiences to these doomsday sagas with ever-improving special effects alone - the movie needs to hold together with genuine human emotion - the rest is just programming