At some point, this world will come to an end. 2012 presents us with one option of how this could happen (WARNING: spoilers ahead). A huge solar flare causes neutrino’s to react weirdly, raising the temperature of the Earth’s core. Who knows why. This causes all of the earth’s crust to “detach” and shift by over a thousand miles. Of course this brings with it total chaos and destruction. Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a failed author who is caught in the middle of this disaster, and spends the whole movie saving his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) and their children from certain death. Their journey includes the Yellowstone National Park, two airplane trips, crashing in snow-covered mountains in China, and sneaking onto the biggest ship ever made as stowaways.
This movie was very long and entertaining. But, considering that it tried to portray something that could possibly happen one day, it was one of the most unrealistic movies I’ve ever seen. But in this case, it worked out quite well, since it made me laugh out loud at several points. It was just ridiculously funny how improbable the plot became. There were even a few times where it became so corny, I just wanted to shout out, “Oh, come on!”
Even though the movie might not have been very realistic, it did a good job of beating some other similarly themed “end of the world” movies, like The Day After Tomorrow. 2012 was a more spectacular production, and felt more worth it. If you’re going to end the world, at least make it go down in flames. ;-)
Another little aspect about 2012 that interested me was how human greed and selfishness could take over in such a situation and, for some (actually most), destroy the basic right to life. At least that part of the movie was realistic.
If you’ve seen 2012, would you say it makes your top 10 of the most unrealistic movies every made? What other movies would make it onto your list? For me, Surrogates is also definitely in there. But don’t get me started on that…
