Movie Review: 2012

I had mixed reviews from friends & family on this movie. There's about a 50:50 split between people who liked it (& generally this group will also said tht it made them appreciate their family more & vow to spend more time with them) vs. people who find it too fake (not the cinematography / effects, but the storyline about how the whole world's plates are shifting at once). Most of them who fall in the 2nd group entered the cinema expecting something more factual / related to current climate change to the extent tht the line between facts vs fiction is blurred (like Da Vinci Code - the book, not the movie). To the extent tht it's something believable & can actually happen to us in the near future if we don't protect our environment. It was this expectation tht made their experience fall short of the mark.

Amazingly, the crowd for this movie was so huge even after 1 mth on the screen, tht hubby & I had a hard time getting tickets for the movie had we not paid the additional RM1 for booking fee. Anyway, I entered the cinema with very low expectation & I after watching the whole movie, I finally understand the commentaries of all the other movie goers. I'd say my thoughts on this movie is a bit of both the group.

Firstly the synopsis. It's about a young Indian "scientist" / some worker of a coal mine detecting the rise in temperature below the earth surface. He called a good friend of his from the US, who upon knowing the implication of the rise in temperature + some elements released from the sun & its interaction with the earth's crust + the timing of earth destruction, rushed back to the US & finally through some minister, sent the message to the US President. The US President then shared this information with the rest of the leaders of super power nations & collectively they build this craft called Arcs... similar to Noah's Arcs, but slightly less noble because tickets are sold at USD1bln per person, so only the rich can afford to board the craft... and maybe a few intelligent ppl with "good gene pool". They also had animals of various species male + female gathered into the craft.

As the story is building about powerful men & their vast resources building the Arc, alongside, it slips in the story of a divorced book writer who only published 1 book throughout his 30/40+ years of his life. His 2 children (1 son + 1 daughter) is living with their mother who remarried a plastic surgeon.

This writer stumbled upon the classified information tht the government knew about but did not inform the Public to avoid chaos - via a "madman". This so called "mad man" is the DJ of his own independent radio station tht provides updates on the condition of the earth & managed to develop a conspiracy theory tht the government of the world is covering up the truth from the people. Dismissing all this as gibberish / talks of a mad man at first, he finally believes it when he overheard the sons of a rich man saying "while we survive in a ship, you & your family will die" (or something along tht line). Tht's when he connected the dots & rushed to get his children + wife + new husband of wife all packed up in a limo just when the road is "falling" into molten lava & later board a small aircraft avoiding tumbling skyscrapers (this is the part where the 2nd group was complaining abt lack of realism... but the cinematography was brilliant).

Through sheer luck & lots of perseverance, they managed to reach Tibet / Mongolia, where the Arc was built & board the Arc. Along the way the group increased to include the mistress of a rich boxer (don't ask... long story), a young Tibetan monk & his grandparent & the brother to the Tibetan monk who worked for the past few years building the Arc. They managed to infiltrate into the Arc right at the point when the ministers were arguing about whether to open the Arc's doors to allow more ppl (including the Chinese workers who build the Arc) in. Finally sense of humanity won & the Arc doors were open to allow everyone on the platform outside to enter, just before the great Tsunami hits the Arc.

At this point I should mention tht the "Arc" is actually more like a submarine where it's all covered to allow water to come crashing from any direction and the fact tht the US president + the Italian president decided not to board the Arc, giving away their space to others. Reason? US president: because he's an old politician & wht's the use of an old politician when his seat could be used for a young & bright scientist for e.g. He misses his deceased wife & wanted to be with her anyway. The Italian president: because he entrusted his life to faith - he & his family were at the Vatican City praying for the safety of the ppl on the planet when the earth quake happened & the whole dome of St Peter's Cathedral came rolling down.

Needless to say, the family of the book writer survived this catastrophe & even regained love for each other. After many days, everyone on board looked out to the new earth with hope for a new beginning. The earth surface has re-aligned & the Himalayas is no longer the top of the world, replaced by Africa!

Overall an enjoyable experience especially in cinema screen - you need tht wide screen to really feel / enjoy the power of the tsunami, waves & earth quake. Don't expect too much of facts / a reflection of current realities & it'll be an enjoyable experience.

p/s: Makes me wonder what I'd do if / when the time comes for us to face such catastrophes.