2012

For my second movie review, I am going to review a movie that isn't Oscar bound (well, maybe for special effects), is not a movie that many critics will like, and is what movies are supposed to be: entertainment!  That movie is 2012 starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet.  The premise is very similar to The Day After Tomorrow where a scientist finds out that our world is crumbling around us little by little. The difference with this movie is that the government is actually listening to the scientist and they begin to plan for December 21, 2012 when the scientist says the world will end.

John Cusack and Amanda Peet come in a estranged exes who still harbor feelings for each other and have to navigate through the world to get to the safe harbor that the government has been working on since 2009 when the science team found out about 12/21/2012.  Still with me? Let's move on then! Cusack takes his kids camping in Yellowstone National Park to find that the lake where they would be camping is completely dried up due to the earth's core burning the earth from the inside out.  This is how he finds out that the government is building arks for when the world becomes a water world (sounds very familiar). Here is where the interesting part comes into play and if you don't want to be spoiled DO NOT READ THE REST. You have been warned.

It is found out that even though these arks are being built that can hold up to 100,000 people on each (there were 5 made but one was damaged beyond repair) the citizens of the world were not known about it. There was no lottery for them to try and get on. The political heads of the world were given passes and then geneticists were tasked with picking people with the right genes to repopulate the world after 12/21/2012.  In other words, if you didn't have the right genes you were not allowed on the arks; you were left for dead.

When our societies do not work together, this is what will happen.  Bureaucrats will let themselves survive rather than their own people , the ones they serve. They will have people of influence, the rich survive while the middle and poor classes will not get on because they are not deemed worthy or eligible of continuing our world and society.  Our worlds need to work together to protect this world from ourselves and our petty differences. In the end, when it comes down to the end of the world, we are all human beings and nothing more. Even though 2012 is a movie, dramatizing the fictional end of the world, the emotions and life lessons still ring true. Science Fiction and Fantasy movies especially are one of the best outlets to get certain opinions about today's issues out in the open without actually saying them.  These types of movies take you to another world so you don't think of your own but in reality, the issues in this other world are the same issues we deal with here - that no one wants to talk about.

I enjoyed this movie. It was thought provoking, sad at times (but what disaster movie isn't), happy at times and at the end, it made me want to write about it and show the world (aka people who read this) what the movie was trying to say ever so subtly. As I mentioned before, this movie isn't an Oscar worthy movie with regards to acting or directing or producing. What this movie is and why it is good, its entertainment. The reason people go to the movies is to be entertained by the actors, the plot, and anything else that goes into a movie.  It is cheaper than a play or comedy show (as long as you don't get a lot of food at least). If you like science fiction, disaster movies then you will be entertained by this. And the fact that John Cusack is in this kind of movie instead of a drama or romantic comedy is also something to entertained by. He isn't a bad action film star. If you decide to watch it, let me know what you think!

Until next time . . . .