Clears your schedule

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2009)

Whether you want to call him dependable or predictable, once you've seen one Emmerich movie(particularly the disaster flicks), you've, to an extent, seen 'em all. Unless it's the first of his you watch or you expect him to surprise you, you can't really blame him if you wind up disappointed. He at least casts different actors in them, and the performances in this one are actually quite good, with fairly few exceptions. The effects are excellent, and this is rather exciting and entertaining, if you allow yourself to be captivated by it. By the time of the second half, logic goes out the window at such a rate that they knock down the entire wall to accommodate it(it never gets downright boring, though). Everything leading up to that point is largely credible enough, apart from the time-frame. The characters are reasonably well-written, and the ones there for comic relief aren't as irritating as they are in many other blockbusters. Humor varies in quality, but while a bunch of it falls flat, it doesn't really try too hard. The moral is marvelous, and relatively well-delivered(I'm not referring to the environmentalist one... that one's got all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face). Editing and cinematography are great, and this tends to get the reaction shots and the human moments in-between all the loud crashes and whatnot, so that we experience what is going on, instead of merely witnessing it. The script contains the usual clichés. There is disturbing content in this, a lot of suspense, and some mild violence. I recommend this to any and all fans of those who made it. 7/10