2012 Review: A German and Austrian Team goes about cinematically destroying the world

Santa Monica destroyed

Everybody loves a good train wreck! In previous disaster movies, whole cities have been destroyed, and what do we see? Limping people. Oh, those poor background actors, covered in dust walking through post-apocalyptic landscapes after surviving the catastrophe. Not so in this movie, featuring admirable German brainpower via SFX from “Uncharted Territory” ’s Volker Engel and Marc Weigert (read our interview). The world is really going down and Los Angeles is utterly destroyed in an impressive manner. No more dust covered extras, just the literal end of the world. Los Angeles is a common disaster target. Somehow the city, home to the movie industry, lends itself to destruction, and for German director Roland Emmerich and his Austrian co-writer Harald Kloser, supported by their team, it’s their third time going at it.Previous attempts were made in the milestone movie “Independence Day,” and the less memorable “The Day after Tomorrow.” But this time they really do it, featuring most memorable the destruction of Los Angeles with Santa Monica meeting it’s oceanic destiny.

this used to be Yellowstone

“2012″ does not emphasize intense character development and finely tuned dialogue. If you are looking for Indie-film style existential conversations, the kind overheard in cheap hotel rooms, (usually filmed there because the productions cannot afford an outside shooting permit), or even French film style repartee delivered in the garden of a dreamy Provence country home, this is not the film for you. Truth be told, the story and dialog are fine and task-oriented, but not the driving force of the movie. They were never meant to be the reason we want to see this two and a half hour roller coaster ride. The special effects depicting the end of the world are what we came for, and to see how the German magicians and computer wizards orchestrated this magnum opus of destruction. And what they have cooked up for us is impressive indeed. Volker Engel and Marc Weigert really outdid themselves making the world go down in style. An impressive workload of pixels have been marshaled to make us believe that the world as we know it, the walkways, the suburbs, the supermarket, the freeways and so on, will fall apart realistically.

Oliver Platt and

This would not be a major motion picture without its outstanding cast. Blockbuster movies like this, with less than Academy Award-worthy dialogue, are the ones that reveal an actor’s true talent and the reason they get paid millions of dollars. The talented casting director, April Webster, put together a wonderful ensemble cast for Roland Emmerich, and even though every one of them does what he or she has been typecast for before, they engage us where less gifted actors would have lost our interest. Especially notable are the character roles; Danny Glover as the president, and the always joyful to watch Oliver Platt as his creepy advisor. Platt never makes the common mistake of playing his role as a caricature, even if we’ve heard all the lines before. And really, does every administration need to have one of these slightly overweight white/pink guys to make the tough decisions and hold things together when all else fails? Do the African-American characters, in this case the President and a scientist (British actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor), always have to be noble, morally correct, and self-sacrificing? Thandie Newton, as the President’s daughter, is gorgeous and gets to romance the good-looking Ejiofor. Otherwise, there are plenty of chances for the actors to stick to the one dimensional, yet they, in particular the talented twotime Golden Globe nominee, Ejiofor, choose to add layers and take the material seriously, and so do we.

John Cusak on a the last calm night in Yellowstone

John Cusak is a lost barely published writer, who’s ex wife (Amanda Peet) has settled for a boring, geeky, but rich plastic surgeon of whom she says, “I love him enough.” Obviously she still has the hots for Cusak, the father of her two children and who can blame her? But again, may we remind you, you did not pay to see this movie to watch a couple in therapy, confronting their deepest darkest issues. Sometimes life is a little soapy and not that deep, and extreme situations have a way of simplifying everything. John Cusak, who in his forties still manages to ooze teenage boy charm, is probably the only actor who can be a “damsel in distress” and the Übermale hero of the story, all at the same time. He also shares the screen with children unlike any other actor, and the relationship with his film daughter is adorable. He effortlessly delivers lines that would sound cheesy from just about anyone else. Even in a huge disaster movie like this, we are reminded of his underrated work in “Grace is Gone,” a film in which he is on a different type of hero’s journey, an emotional one. He brings equal seriousness and vulnerability to both films. As he watches, in the rear-view mirror, all hell breaking loose behind the trailer they are fleeing in, he blatantly, and touchingly, lies to his daughter to quell her fears. And that’s why movie stars are movie stars. They give us believable humans who try their best to work with what they’re given, while simultaneously taking us on a ride through the special effects to the happy end we all hope for.

Tidal Wave over the Himalayas

The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “If you rolled every disaster movie into one spectacular package, you would wind up with something close to “2012,”, and how true that is. In any other movie, the climax would be an earthquake. This is just the opening scene of “2012.” It feels like the SFX guys were just warming up. Yet for someone who lives in and loves Los Angeles, who has been to most of the places destroyed in the movie, the downfall of this city, in the truest sence of the word, hits closer to home than destruction of other parts of the world. The rest of the movie’s special effects feel more removed from reality. Water flowing down the Himalayas, as it does in the movie’s ad campaign,is not as affecting as the earthquake images that are only too true a reality here in Los Angeles.

If you are still not convinced that you should just lean back and enjoy the ride, and absolutely must turn this movie into a deeper political discussion, you can have that too. Because this movie also dares to ask the big questions: What should governments do if they know the end of the world is coming? What is the morally right thing to do, and who dictates what that is? What would happen if the world heated up and destabilized? The sad answer and discussion starter is, this is not a question at all. We are, in fact, already changing our planet. And while Mother Earth is not restructuring in the cinematically extreme way shown in the movie, natural catastrophes are on the rise. So yes, the movie can inspire all kinds of ethical and political discussions. The rest of us may just want to lean back and enjoy 158 minutes of professional actors giving us their best, with 117 of those minutes featuring breathtaking special effects.

LA Times behind the scenes photos

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