What Do The Critics Say
"Crowd-pleasing global annihilation is the goal of "2012", and darned if they don't accomplish it. A big, loud, blow you out of your seat blockbuster. On the level of spectacle, "2012" is top-notch. It serves up slaphappy sight gags in the midst of pulse-racing action crises, handling the threat of human extinction with just the right combination of facetiousness and sincerity."
Colin Covert STAR TRIBUNE
"People talk about "formula" almost always as a pejorative, but formulas get to be formulas because they work, and there's something to be said for a formula picture done almost to perfection. Only an audience that feels invulnerable can enjoy watching on screen the wholesale destruction of its civilization and not take it as a threat. A cloud has lifted. It's safe to be happy and brainless again. "2012" may be Hollywood's first post-post-9/11 movie."
Mick LaSalle SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"Disaster movies have been popular since the cinema began, but there’s never been a disaster movie like 2012. It’s easy to scoff at the over-reliance of CGI in contemporary cinema but for a film like this it’s part and parcel of the whole, and computer generated effects have never before been used as spectacularly. You just go along and have fun. Just go for the ride. Popcorn movie par excellence."
David Stratton ABC AT THE MOVIES
"Step right up and prepare to be mesmerized, bowled over, and generally blown away. A movie that is guaranteed to be the last word on impending cinematic Armageddon for the foreseeable future. 2012 is material perfectly suited for the Duke of Disaster Porn, a man who’s killed more continental populations than the Black Plague and Colonialism combined. Though it won’t end up on any critic’s Top Ten lists, it’s surely better than a certain overlong epic about battle intergalactic robots."
Bill Gibron POPMATTERS
"Emmerich and his effects geniuses (and yes, they are geniuses) are like big, happy kids as they figure out ever more massive ways to destroy things while coming up with dozens of narrow escapes for our heroe: for what good is an escape if it's not narrow? Remarkably, "2012" doesn't even really try to be profound, which is a good thing. All it tries to do is what it knows how to do best: entertain. At that, it comes up a winner."
Matt Soergel FLORIDA TIMES-UNION
"This is no less than the end of the world Roland Emmerich is dealing with, and he tosses into the pot so much delirious spectacle that, yes, there are even kitchen sinks in sight. Nit-picking audience members who do not know how to suspend disbelief and enjoy a film like "2012" needn't bother. Yes, it's silly. Yes, it's far-fetched. Yes, the characters are the usual colorful, two-dimensional genre-movie fodder (though, it should be said, not as strictly stereotypical as the norm). Yes, the protagonists more often than not narrowly escape harm in situations that they never could plausibly survive in the real world. That's part of the fun."
Dustin Putman THE MOVIE BOY
"If I had $12 and 2½ hours to spare, hell yes I’d see Roland Emmerich’s latest, greatest disastro-ganza a second time. This may be the ultimate achievement of his career. It’s certainly hard to top.Sets a goal and slamdunks it, squeezing in so much fun that by the credits, I'd forgotten about Woody Harrelson's turn as a pickle-chomping AM radio meteorological messiah."
Amy Nicholson INLAND EMPIRE WEEKLY
"While the prediction of the demise of planet earth in 2012 was announced centuries ago by the Mayans and has since been considered in varying degrees by astrologists, numerologists and scientists, now Hollywood has stepped forward to toss its own scenario into the mix with Roland Emmerich's lavish doomsday thriller, "2012". Emmerich doesn't mess around when intent on messing up the world for good. But his pop apocalypse multiplying man's worst fears, always goes down easy with a side order of popcorn. Apocalypse Wow."
Prairie Miller NEWSBLAZE
"This is fun. 2012 delivers what it promises, and since no sentient being will buy a ticket expecting anything else, it will be, for its audiences, one of the most satisfactory films of the year. It's not so much that the Earth is destroyed, but that it's done so thoroughly. This one ends the world, stomps on it, grinds it up and spits it out."
Roger Ebert CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"You’ve got to hand it to Emmerich, a showman whose passion to create spectacle recalls Griffith or DeMille. Emmerich goes all out in his pictures of doom. A deliriously ludicrous, guilty pleasure of a blockbuster in which the end of the world is turned into a two and a half hour rollercoaster ride."
Mike Goodridge SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
Synopsis
 Centuries ago, the Maya left the world their calendar, with a clear end date and all that it implies. Since then, astrologists have discovered it, numerologists have found patterns that predict it, geologists say the earth is overdue for it, and even government scientists cannot deny the cataclysm of epic proportions that awaits the earth in 2012. A prophecy that began with the Maya has now been well-chronicled, discussed, taken apart and examined. By 2012, we’ll know: we were warned. Jackson Curtis has taken his two children to Yellowstone Park. Here he will meet Charlie Frost, who, during radio broadcasts from his RV, talks about a cataclysmic event and a secret plan the US government has to build some sort of escape ships. Jackson dismisses him as a well meaning looney: until his ex-wife Kate rings. She's had a lucky escape when the supermarket she's shopping in, is torn in two by an earthquake. Little do they know, their lives will soon be turned upside down. And it seems, Charlie is the key to their survival.
The Inside Story
The idea for "2012" first occurred to writer/producer/composer Harald Kloser, Roland Emmerich’s writing partner. "Every civilization on Earth has a flood myth," says Kloser. "Things are going wrong, society isn’t working anymore, and the planet starts over. Some people get a second chance to start a new culture, a new society, a new civilization." The idea crystallized as Kloser and Emmerich discovered a compelling hook on which to hang their contemporary flood story. The Hook was The Mayan calendar. The Mayas calendar, was one of remarkable accuracy and complexity. And, even though their year, a Haab, contained were only 365 days, they were aware that a year is slightly longer than 365 days and their adjustment is said to be more accurate than the Gregorian calendar we use today. The Maya calendar was adopted by the other Mesoamerican nations, such as the Aztecs and the Toltec, which adopted the mechanics of the calendar unaltered but changed the names of the days of the week and the months. It is claimed by some that the Maya calendar is set to reach the end of its 13th cycle on December 21st 2012: and nothing follows that date. That, of course, begs the question: if their calendar doesn’t continue, what will follow? "You will find millions of people, from all walks of life, who believe that in 2012 there will be some kind of shift in society, or a shift in spirit," says Kloser. The scope and variety of theories provided inspiration for Emmerich and Kloser as they penned their screenplay. The key for the director, who is well known for box office hits such as "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow", would be to find a way to set "2012" apart from those disaster epics. "The more I talked with Harald about the story, the more I realized this is really something people today can relate to. There are a lot of philosophical and political elements, which I think add to the disaster element." The story of "2012" is presented from two points of view: those who know about the cataclysmic events that await the earth and those who remain in the dark. John Cusack’s Jackson Curtis is a civilian who stumbles into the news that the world as we know it is coming to an end. Kloser says the part is not only a stand-in for the audience, but for certain filmmakers as well. "I know the Jackson character really well because I have two kids, I’m divorced and I’m a writer. You see where this is going?" John Cusack ("Grosse Pointe Blank" & "Con Air") was cast as Jackson Curtis. "John is perfect, just picture perfect. I couldn’t see anybody else in the part," Kloser enthuses. Jackson, however, is not a picture-perfect family man. A failed author, Jackson works as a limousine driver by day, as he watches his children bond with his ex-wife’s new boyfriend. "He tried to keep his life together," Cusack says. But it was something else about the script that lured the actor in. "It’s kind of an unusual, funny script. I don’t know if I thought the end of the world could be fun, but this movie has a gallows humor to it that I found pretty interesting." 2000 Young Hollywood Award winner Amanda Peet,joined the cast as Jackson’s ex, Kate. She was was attracted to the production by the opportunity to work with Emmerich. "He’s a master of the crazy action sequences," she says. "But I also think he has a light touch and a sense of humor. The characters are very appealing. But most importantly, he has a big heart that not only shows in his movies, but when you work with him. He’s very considerate. He spread out shooting in the water tanks. When Peet asked him why, he replied: "Why not get it all done at once? Do you want to go day after day in the water?"
"The scheduling was for us," Peet realized. "He didn’t want to put us through that." From Peet’s first day on the set, she was dropped straight into a Roland Emmerich movie. "My first scene was the grocery store scene," she recalled. In the scene, Kate is trapped as her local grocery store is ripped to shreds by a major earthquake. "Luckily, I was with my pal, Tom McCarthy, and we were both laughing because we were both so new to the action genre. Roland kept telling us to play it down." The everyman point of view is counter-balanced by the story inside the halls of power in Washington, as seen through the eyes of Adrian Helmsley, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor (pronounced "chew-it-tell edge-oh-for). Helmsley is a government scientist who makes the fast track to the inner-workings of the White House when he discovers a sequence of changes in the earth’s core, crust and atmosphere. "Adrian is the counterpart to Jackson. From the beginning of the movie, he knows what is going to happen and what the government plans to do, but throughout the course of the film, he has second thoughts; he wonders if the plan is really the right thing to do," Kloser explained. Ejiofor, British Independant Film and Black Reel awards winner for Stephen Frears "Dirty Pretty Things", says he found "the central themes fascinating. The script read incredibly well to me, a wonderful kind of page-turner. A great idea. It’s a story about people and humanity and struggling against the kind of natural chaos that can ensue. I think that’s something that we’re all acutely aware of at this particular time. We all ask ourselves, what is our responsibility?" Helmsley eventually brings his conflict to the chief of staff, Carl Anheuser, played by Oliver Platt ("Lake Placid" & "Pieces of April"). "He was probably the most straightforward guy," says Kloser of Anheuser. "The guy in the White House, the tough guy, the guy who is the hawk. But then Mark Gordon brought Oliver Platt in for the role of Anheuser. That immediately changed everything." Platt brought a more human dimension to Anheuser who stands firm by the argument that you can’t tell people what’s going on for their own well-being (if not for the fact that everyone on the planet could not be saved). "He’s a practical guy," Platt says of his character, "trying to figure out an incredibly complex moral situation. And as a pragmatist, he sees his plan as being ultimately very moral. It’s about carrying on the human race. But the fact that not everybody can go is very, very tricky." It’s that very conflict that drew Platt to the part. "We’ve had end of the world movies, but I don’t think we ever had end-of-the-world movies where the government, which is supposed to be the ultimate authority, has to make a decision about who they’re going to tell and who they’re going to save". It was that angle, too, that convinced Kloser that the government story should be a part of the film. "At first, we wanted to tell this story without the Washington storyline," Kloser recalls. "Roland has done it in his previous movies. But after talking about it for a while, you can’t do an undertaking of government in such a magnitude without showing the people who do it." Danny Glover, star of the "Lethal Weapon" franchise and "SAW" was cast as the wise, compassionate, President Thomas Wilson. "He’s a magnificent actor," executive producer Mark Gordon notes. "He brings enormous gravity to the role. And I think audiences haven’t seen him in this kind of movie, in a big Hollywood movie, in quite some time." "I love the saying 'human beings don’t make history; history makes them.' Every one of us is defined by the history that we live, the time that we live," says Glover.
"President Wilson has to make some difficult decisions on circumstances that were unimaginable when he took office. I don’t think he’d describe himself as a 'strong leader', even if that’s how others see him," Glover offered. "He would say he’s simply ordinary and attempting to be extraordinary. He is the kind of person that motivates people, gets others to move and act." Leading the task to procure cherished works of art for preservation is the President’s daughter, Laura, played by 2006 BAFTA Film Award winner Thandie Newton ("Crash"), although she is unaware of the true nature of her assignment until the disaster is imminent. Eventually, Adrian and Laura form a close bond and together navigate the moral terrain of their journey. In "2012", Newton re-teams with Glover (who coincidently provided the voice for President Chen in "Terra"), with whom she starred in "Beloved", and Ejiofor, with whom she appeared in the film "It Was an Accident". "It’s always lovely working with people you like the second time around," she said. "It’s been ten years, and Chiwetel has evolved so much as an actor. He’s got that charisma: you want him to save the world. You want to put your faith in him, his strength and moral goodness. Danny is fatherly: he really cares about me. It’s pretty cool, to have that relationship." 2008 Screen Actors Guild Award winner Woody Harrelson ("No Country For Old Men") was cast as Charlie Frost. "Charlie has set up a pirate radio program, broadcasting out of Yellowstone National Park, living in his RV and pronouncing to the world that the end is coming," says the Harrelson, who will next be seen in "Zombieland". "I like playing guys like Charlie; it’s nice to have a chance to go over the top. In fact, in Charlie’s case, there was no top to go over." And working with Emmerich? "If you only know Roland’s movies, you’d think he was really aggressive, tough, brutal: and then he turns out to be the sweetest, nicest guy in the world. He really knows what he’s doing and really sure of what he wants. He pulls you in, you’re on the edge of your seat and you can’t help but go with it." "2012" was filmed in Vancouver, Canada, over a period of five months. The production utilized more than thirteen soundstages at five different facilities, and two make-shift outdoor 'stages' comprised of a vast 'shaky floor' complete with palm trees and blue screen. The areas around Kamloops doubled for Yellowstone Park and Tibet, where the company shot for one week. Principal photography was completed in Los Angeles with a few exterior shots. Special Effects Supervisor Mike Vézina ('The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus") says that before shots could be filmed, before any sets were built, before any stunts were planned, the filmmakers would have to decide which sequences would be handled by the computer with visual effects and which would be created in the camera using special effects. And how did they achieve the stunning seismic activity? Vezina was responsible for all of the story’s seismic activity, which he achieved by shaking the sets. "We’ve had some of the biggest rigs I’ve ever seen," he revealed. "We went though half a million tons of steel just to build all of these big rigs for all the big shaky decks. Roland likes to see everything real. So all of these effects, running out of the house, earthquake scenes, or at the airport and there’s an earthquake scene, we actually build these huge decks that float and shake. They are about eight thousand square feet, so that he could build his set, put cars on it, put trucks, planes, and everything would shake accordingly. It was quite easy for him to make it real for the actors to react to an earthquake of that magnitude ."
The Verdict
"Over the top? Hell folks, we're dealing with the end of the world as we know it. A modern day Noah's Ark race for survival. And who in their right mind would be so stupid as to think that when the end comes we were are all going to go peacefully in our sleep. It seems a heap of dumb-arsed critics do. They just don't get it. We want entertainment and that's what "2012" gives us. If you could imagine the worse case senario, one other than the whole planet imploding and then spitting us and everything else it contained out into deep space, then this would be it. The special effects are mind-boggling. Forget everything you have seen before: "2012" is the real deal. This is death and destruction on such a monumental level; and there's nothing pretty about it. "2012" will send your senses into overdrive. Adrenaline spikes; a racing pulse; the sound of your heart belting out a tune on your eardrums so loud it will send your head spinning. Could this really happen one day? And what if it did. Reality bites: what if we were faced with such a cataclysmic event. Realistically, if we had no warning, most of us, if not all of us, would never survive. Our frail bodies would be no match for the giant forces of a buckling planet tearing itself apart. What "2012" depicts, is not a pretty sight. As for it ever happening? Well let's hope it doesn't. After all: it's only make believe. It's only a film. So, if you want excitement, drama and your monies worth; here's the answer: go see Roland Emmerich's "2012". An epic disaster film in sense of the word. It's massive! Very recommended. 4 1/2 STARS."
Who Plays Who?
John Cusack
Amanda Peet
Liam James
Morgan Lily
Tom McCarthyn
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Thandie Newton
Oliver Platt
Woody Harrelson
Jimi Mistry
Danny Glover
Zlatko Buric
Beatrice Rosen
Alexandre Haussmann
Philippe Haussmann
Johann Urb
John Billingsley
Chin Han
Osric Chau
Chang Tseng
Lisa Lu
Blu Mankuma
George Segal
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Jackson Curtis
Kate Curtis
Noah Curtis
Lilly Curtis
Gordon Silberman
Adrian Helmsley
Laura Wilson
Carl Anheuser
Charlie Frost
Dr Satnam Tsurutani
U.S. President
Yuri Karpov
Tamara
Alec
Oleg
Sasha
Professor West
Tenzin
Nima
Grandfather Sonam
Grandmother Sonam
Harry Helmsley
Tony Delgatto
The Production Team
Director
Written by
Producers
Original Music
Director of photography
Film Editors

Casting
Production Designer
Art Direction
Set Decoration
Costume Design
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser
Roland Emmerich/Larry J Franco/Harald Kloser
Harald Kloser & Thomas Wanker
Dean Semler
David Brenner & Peter S Elliot
Susan Taylor Brouse/Scott David
Judy Lee/April Webster
Barry Chusid
Ross Dempster/Kendelle Elliott/Dan Hermansen
Elizabeth Wilcox
Shay Cunliffe
Run Time 158 minutes
Rated M [AUST]
Copyright ©2009 - Sony Pictures - All Rights Reserved
©1999-2009 All Rights Reserved The Movie Pages - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.