2012 (2009) **1/2 For a disaster flick that's entirely comfortable following the template (no plate tectonics in that, neh?), they do manage to take some chances. They get the disaster sequences going early in a 150 minute film, they start playing their sentimental courage in the face of death cards right away, they deal out Woody Harrelson, arguably the best of the usual boatload of characters. In so doing they raise the emotional levels to something along the lines of Deep Impact , but they can't sustain it, they never come up with anything remotely reminiscent of the dirtbike scene. So for a movie depicting the effective end of the world, it calms down, emotionally. It still works because the effects are cool and several of the actors give us good characters that we can care about one way or another (Blu Mankuma, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Johann Urb, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Danny Glover, Beatrice Rosen, Zlatko Buric....it's a good cast for this sort of thing, these people get it going with a few lines or a look)...it turns out to be what you'd expect, rather than what you'd hope for, only disappointing because they managed to get me looking for more. I can see why the Mayans were kind of pissed off...they're supposed to be the central part, but after a brief and not particularly flattering mention early on, they're entirely forgotten and not even marginalized.
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