2012, mindless, fun, entertainment

 ★★★☆☆

If you felt déjà vu watching 2012, directed by Roland Emmerich (Stargate, 1994), you are not alone.

Emmerich also directed Independence Day (1996) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004). 2012 seems to be a remake of the latter with a few extras thrown in for color.

2012 stars John Cusack (The Ice Harvest, 2005) as Jackson Curtis, who is a limo-driving author caught up in what is, literally, the end of the world. Cusack goes to Yellow Stone National Park with his kids, and there he stumbles across secret military operations indicating the drastic events to come. Meanwhile, Chiwetel Eljiofor (American Gangster, 2007) plays Adrian Helmsley, an altruistic geologist who advises the President (Danny Glover) on the timeline of destruction, while the very rich make a plan to survive.

2012 is heavy with special effects, and the plot is weakened by a lack of consistency, realism or originality.

If you want to see a movie where someone out runs an earthquake in a limo, then watch this one, but if originality is what you seek, good luck. All clichés of epic and catastrophic humanity threatening films are prevalent.

What was worse than the myriad of clichés was the tidy Disney-like conclusion. Most will be too caught up in watching California slide into the ocean or the crumbling Eiffel Tower to notice.

For an adrenaline rush, the film is fine. 2012 is a fun movie containing mindless action-sequences beginning from the first ten minutes.

But, the plot gives absolutely no background to the Mayan ideal of the world ending at 2012, which is the whole inspiration for the film, not to mention its namesake.

It was amusing to see Woody Harrelson (The Messenger, 2009) as Charlie Frost, the conspiracy theorist bum with a passionate end-of-times obsession.

It was an epic action movie to outdo action movies.

Overall, the only way to enjoy 2012 is to not take any of it seriously.