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By Christina Espinoza / Asst. Inscape Editor
( Sony Pictures)
By Christina Espinoza / Asst. Inscape Editor
The end is near.
Armageddon, doomsday, the apocalypse, global annihilation and a world filled with utter chaos; this seems to be a favorite theme for director Roland Emmerich.
Emmerich already threatened human existence with an alien invasion in “Independence Day” and froze over the planet with a new ice age in “The Day After Tomorrow.”
With all the global disasters Emmerich has already produced, the only thing left to do is kill all life on earth.
“2012” is a thriller about the end of the world and even if some viewers may be skeptics of ancient Mayan calendar predictions, there is no denying the value of entertainment felt when one sees destruction brought to life with fantastic special effects.
People from all walks of life fear that Dec. 21, 2012 will be a catastrophic day for the entire world so the brilliant creators of “2012” decided to bring those fears to life, while banking in on the proceeds.
John Cusack, plays his typical part of an unconventional hero, and Amanda Peet, plays Cusack’s former wife.
The film follows their Los Angeles family as they fight for survival in the final days of the world.
The story line is weak and the washed out love story is pathetic; however, the feeble storyline actually made the film more of a success because it provided extra space for scenes illustrating visually impressive cataclysm.
Creators of the film also managed to bring in other well known actors such as Danny Glover, who plays the President of the United States and Woody Harrelson, who plays a crazy mountain man living in Yosemite National Park.
This type of clever casting may help trick the audience to overlook the bad story line.
Emmerich also makes up for the slack with his genius use of directorial manipulation.
In one scene, a small dog performs a tight rope walk toward her owner, barely making it in time before an automatic steel door shuts completely.
While this particular scene can be considered laughable, it was arranged very nicely and it’s this type of suspense and tension felt throughout the film that will no doubt keep viewers on the edge of their seat.
Some of the more serious scenes in the film which include the usual emotional speech from a minor character helping to provide optimism, hope and sincerity to people in distress, are not as good as one would expect but they still tug briefly at the heart.
The action though was truly terrifying and demonstrated the real power of natural disasters showing the devastation of tsunamis, tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanoes and the earth’s crust cracking open to swallow everything in its path.
Leaving virtually nothing to the imagination, the film displayed a rare version of what could potentially happen, making Y2K look like a walk in the park.
At the end of the film, the audience will surely be amused but one question may linger: what will become of this earth on Dec. 21, 2012?
While no one can say for sure what will happen, scientists continue to speculate because there is no real scientific evidence to support that anything will occur; however, but one thing is certain, Prince better start writing a follow-up to “1999,” if he plans on making another comeback before doomsday arrives.
