Not a disaster - but ... (some spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 2009)

I'm always attracted to disaster movies for the sheer escapist thrill and German director and writer Roland Emmerich, who gave us "Independence Day" (1996) and "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004) as big budget contributions to the genre, now offers "2012" as what must be statistically the biggest disaster movie of them all (over six billion die - sorry if that's a spoiler).
The actors are almost incidental to what is a feast of fun special effects, but John Cusack is engaging as Jackson Curtis (note the initials) who manages single-handedly to save humankind (oh dear, another spoiler) and, in the process win back the heart of the cute Amanda Peet as his ex-wife plus the affections of their children Noah (original name for someone destined for an ark) and Lily. All the characters are caricatures though - and how can one believe that the US President could be black?
The science - something about pesky neutrinos - is laughable and whatever the problem was seems to sort itself out very rapidly (and conveniently) at the end (ups - another spoiler). Meanwhile the mobile networks seem to carry on working fine and the Chinese (bless them) show a remarkable capacity to build vast arks at great speed without anyone noticing. There's a political correct message, as what is left of humankind returns to Africa where it all started (gosh - another spoiler).
In short, "2012" is unlikely to figure on anybody's list of the top 10 or 100 or 1,000 films ever made and it's not even the best disaster movie ever produced ("Towering Inferno" in 1974 was the most gripping human drama), but it's entertaining enough and never takes itself seriously.