2012 (2009)
You may wonder why all of a sudden I jump to a movie that is so new comparing to the three I have mentioned previously on this blog. Ah ha, that's because I just watched it last night and found it too crap, too crap that I just have to talk about it a little bit. My expectation was always low on this film, so it wasn't because I was hoping for too much. Before I talk about why I thought it's so bad, I have to admit that I like The Independence Day, it's classic, for those days, although I do not like the idea of "Aliens always come to take over the world".
Let's talk about the CG first because this is what people are expecting to see when they go for 2012. The CG is good. The destructions, falling apart, tectonic sliding, tsunami, lava, geo-movements... all look sensible to me (sorry I am no scientist so all I can say is "look sensible"). Was I really amazed by the effects? Sorry, no. Maybe it's just me not know about CG enough to impress the difficulties they have to go through to get those effects, and not impress enough to overcome the disappointment brought by the story itself.
So here are things make this movie so bad:
What an Indiana Jones x Superman movie: SO this is a movie about a Mr. Invincible who although was only a <500 copies of book sold writer and a driver of some rich dudes, however in dodging all the falling lava and buildings, driving on roads that always fall apart from behind, he is the untouchable man, never failed, and never will. I want to say it's not realistic, but maybe that's not right because we are not expecting to see realistic film here anyway. So maybe my comment is: that's out of my knowledge of normal human capability and I thought this is not a superhero movie. Nevertheless, it's not just a special treat for the protagonist. Thanks to the amazing pilots who can always take off in the very last last last millisecond, dodging every single thing fall from the above perfectly, and fly all the way with a single engine airplane. At the moment they ran out of fuel, thank God, the continent has moved and of course they are just landing on China, where helicopters just over their head.
What a heroic story: the hero who saved everyone on board basically has just solved the problem he caused earlier. The wheels were jammed all because these people tried to sneak in! If this group of main characters never exist, then people are saved much earlier. If Roland Emmerich's intention was sarcasm, that's a good one then. Yeah, true, human beings are always fixing problems they have introduced earlier, and claiming themselves as the heroes afterwards, and everyone cheers for the heroes, forgetting they are the one who make the troubles in the first place.
What a romantic family love story: The wife and her boyfriend and the kids were happy family, the boy like her mum's boyfriend, and she loves him too. Now just because we have to get a happy family ending for the protagonist, let's randomly kill the wife's boyfriend in some super random way. And sorry, no matter how much the boy and the wife like this guy here, he's not important anymore once he's dead. Yay, I got my father/husband back, who cares about that dude? Sorry man, although you fly us all the way here, you are dead now and so let me just kiss and love my ex-husband a few minutes after you died. Thanks for your contribution.
What an amazing concept of equality and idea about right and wrong. I am not going to elaborate on this one here because this is one of those you have to think about it yourself: the realistic relationships between wealth, natural selection, equality, right, survival strength, selfishness, and sacrifice. We are not trying to discuss human nature here, but unrealistic cheeky speech doesn't buy you any point.
Well, after all, you can still like 2012, for it's CG or whatever you find good and attractive. But to me, a crap story is deadly for a film, and here is one, which I don't even bother trying to appreciate some other elements in it.
Sorry to say, but one of the worst I have ever seen.
Let's talk about the CG first because this is what people are expecting to see when they go for 2012. The CG is good. The destructions, falling apart, tectonic sliding, tsunami, lava, geo-movements... all look sensible to me (sorry I am no scientist so all I can say is "look sensible"). Was I really amazed by the effects? Sorry, no. Maybe it's just me not know about CG enough to impress the difficulties they have to go through to get those effects, and not impress enough to overcome the disappointment brought by the story itself.
So here are things make this movie so bad:
What an Indiana Jones x Superman movie: SO this is a movie about a Mr. Invincible who although was only a <500 copies of book sold writer and a driver of some rich dudes, however in dodging all the falling lava and buildings, driving on roads that always fall apart from behind, he is the untouchable man, never failed, and never will. I want to say it's not realistic, but maybe that's not right because we are not expecting to see realistic film here anyway. So maybe my comment is: that's out of my knowledge of normal human capability and I thought this is not a superhero movie. Nevertheless, it's not just a special treat for the protagonist. Thanks to the amazing pilots who can always take off in the very last last last millisecond, dodging every single thing fall from the above perfectly, and fly all the way with a single engine airplane. At the moment they ran out of fuel, thank God, the continent has moved and of course they are just landing on China, where helicopters just over their head.
What a heroic story: the hero who saved everyone on board basically has just solved the problem he caused earlier. The wheels were jammed all because these people tried to sneak in! If this group of main characters never exist, then people are saved much earlier. If Roland Emmerich's intention was sarcasm, that's a good one then. Yeah, true, human beings are always fixing problems they have introduced earlier, and claiming themselves as the heroes afterwards, and everyone cheers for the heroes, forgetting they are the one who make the troubles in the first place.
What a romantic family love story: The wife and her boyfriend and the kids were happy family, the boy like her mum's boyfriend, and she loves him too. Now just because we have to get a happy family ending for the protagonist, let's randomly kill the wife's boyfriend in some super random way. And sorry, no matter how much the boy and the wife like this guy here, he's not important anymore once he's dead. Yay, I got my father/husband back, who cares about that dude? Sorry man, although you fly us all the way here, you are dead now and so let me just kiss and love my ex-husband a few minutes after you died. Thanks for your contribution.
What an amazing concept of equality and idea about right and wrong. I am not going to elaborate on this one here because this is one of those you have to think about it yourself: the realistic relationships between wealth, natural selection, equality, right, survival strength, selfishness, and sacrifice. We are not trying to discuss human nature here, but unrealistic cheeky speech doesn't buy you any point.
Well, after all, you can still like 2012, for it's CG or whatever you find good and attractive. But to me, a crap story is deadly for a film, and here is one, which I don't even bother trying to appreciate some other elements in it.
Sorry to say, but one of the worst I have ever seen.