Action, Doom, and Gloom For Sale and Busines is a Booming: My Thoughts on 2012
The mysterious Long Count Mayan Calendar completion date of its 5125.36 year cycle on December 21, 2012, along with a few promotional Web sites (http://www.thisistheend.com/ and http://www.theinstituteforhumancontinuity.org/), has for Roland Emmerich's 2012 (Sony Motion Pictures) paid off. Released November 15, 2009, the movie “opened at No. 1 domestically with $65 million and pulled in $225 million worldwide.”[1]
The 2012 movie actually navigates around any deep exposition on Mesoamerican mythology; rather, it centers on the drama of average people in the midst of a worldwide catastrophe, which brings out humanities greatest virtues and vices.
2012 begins with Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discovering that solar flairs have caused increased amounts of neutrinos to bombard the earth, thus heating up the earth core to the point where an inevitable near future apocalyptic event would occur, which would include a gravitational pole shift, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and the radical rearrangement of the continents. Dr. Helmsley shares the research to Carl Anheuser (Oliver Plat), who organizes a project to build four massive ships called “arks” to save humanity. Yet, Anheuser has no intention of saving or even warning everyone; rather, he sees fit to only offer salvation to a select few. However, his motive is far from noble, he is not trying to allow the world’s elite to survive to repopulate the earth, but to offer salvation to those who can afford the price of a billion euro-dollar boarding pass.
A polar opposite to Anheuser is Helmsley, who sees an intrinsic worth in each person, and is appalled by the elitism happening, namely the wealthiest individuals being rescued, and the most cherished art persevered, but nominal works, such as his copy of Farewell Atlantis, a novel written by Jackson Curtis (John Cusak), shall be lost forever. Helmsley takes it upon himself to compel G8 world leaders to allow the arks to be opened up for anyone who can get into them before the final mega disaster strikes.
Whatever Curtis lacks as a novelist, he makes up in virtue. As the mega disaster begins to unfold, he learns of Anheuser’s plan to save a few elite individuals on arks from Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), a deranged conspiracy theorist and the most unlikely person to know about such things. Curtis then makes it his sole mission to rescue his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet), their biological children, Noah (Liam James) and Lilly (Morgan Lily), along with Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy), his ex-wife’s new husband. The group takes a wild and dangerous journey to China where the arks are located, but eventually make it to their destination. Curtis’ own selfless love for his family drives him to risk his own life in the deluge, so that those he loves would survive.
Another admirable charter is U.S. President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover), who foregoes his place on an ark, for the sake of accepting the noble duty as the captian who must go down with his ship. Staying behind, he informs the world of the impending doom, and spends his last days in office with the perishing, using his masterful oratory to bring them courage and comfort in their last moments.
The disasters end, and the survivors enter land at the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, but a zoom out shot of the earth reveals massive changes in the continents.
The 2012 movie is not without plot holes. For example, the alleged “science” of neutrinos heating up the earth’s core has been called into question. One source suggests the neutrinos—a electronically neutral particle with very little mass—are “unlikely candidates to kill the Earth,” and points out that “the human body is bathed in 50 trillion solar neutrinos every second,” and “just as many neutrinos can be found entering the Earth’s crust on the sun-facing side of our planet as there are on the opposite side,” and that “they are extremely weakly interacting particles that have zero effect on our everyday lives.”[2]
Overall, I would say the most worthwhile thing about 2012 is the special effects, which provides excellent visuals to keep the suspense of the movie. The themes of self-sacrifice, the intrinsic worth of people, and the way extreme duress can bring out a person’s true colors give the plot some depth; but the movie is more about experiencing the action than a catalyst for deep philosophical discussion.
[1] Associated Press, “Doom Spells Dollars at the Box Office for 2012” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33540693/ns/entertainment-movies/
[2] Ian O’Nell, “ ‘2012’ Sells Tickets, Sells Out Science,” Discovery News http://news.discovery.com/space/the-2012-sells-tickets-sells-out-science.html
The 2012 movie actually navigates around any deep exposition on Mesoamerican mythology; rather, it centers on the drama of average people in the midst of a worldwide catastrophe, which brings out humanities greatest virtues and vices.
2012 begins with Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discovering that solar flairs have caused increased amounts of neutrinos to bombard the earth, thus heating up the earth core to the point where an inevitable near future apocalyptic event would occur, which would include a gravitational pole shift, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and the radical rearrangement of the continents. Dr. Helmsley shares the research to Carl Anheuser (Oliver Plat), who organizes a project to build four massive ships called “arks” to save humanity. Yet, Anheuser has no intention of saving or even warning everyone; rather, he sees fit to only offer salvation to a select few. However, his motive is far from noble, he is not trying to allow the world’s elite to survive to repopulate the earth, but to offer salvation to those who can afford the price of a billion euro-dollar boarding pass.
A polar opposite to Anheuser is Helmsley, who sees an intrinsic worth in each person, and is appalled by the elitism happening, namely the wealthiest individuals being rescued, and the most cherished art persevered, but nominal works, such as his copy of Farewell Atlantis, a novel written by Jackson Curtis (John Cusak), shall be lost forever. Helmsley takes it upon himself to compel G8 world leaders to allow the arks to be opened up for anyone who can get into them before the final mega disaster strikes.
Whatever Curtis lacks as a novelist, he makes up in virtue. As the mega disaster begins to unfold, he learns of Anheuser’s plan to save a few elite individuals on arks from Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), a deranged conspiracy theorist and the most unlikely person to know about such things. Curtis then makes it his sole mission to rescue his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet), their biological children, Noah (Liam James) and Lilly (Morgan Lily), along with Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy), his ex-wife’s new husband. The group takes a wild and dangerous journey to China where the arks are located, but eventually make it to their destination. Curtis’ own selfless love for his family drives him to risk his own life in the deluge, so that those he loves would survive.
Another admirable charter is U.S. President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover), who foregoes his place on an ark, for the sake of accepting the noble duty as the captian who must go down with his ship. Staying behind, he informs the world of the impending doom, and spends his last days in office with the perishing, using his masterful oratory to bring them courage and comfort in their last moments.
The disasters end, and the survivors enter land at the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, but a zoom out shot of the earth reveals massive changes in the continents.
The 2012 movie is not without plot holes. For example, the alleged “science” of neutrinos heating up the earth’s core has been called into question. One source suggests the neutrinos—a electronically neutral particle with very little mass—are “unlikely candidates to kill the Earth,” and points out that “the human body is bathed in 50 trillion solar neutrinos every second,” and “just as many neutrinos can be found entering the Earth’s crust on the sun-facing side of our planet as there are on the opposite side,” and that “they are extremely weakly interacting particles that have zero effect on our everyday lives.”[2]
Overall, I would say the most worthwhile thing about 2012 is the special effects, which provides excellent visuals to keep the suspense of the movie. The themes of self-sacrifice, the intrinsic worth of people, and the way extreme duress can bring out a person’s true colors give the plot some depth; but the movie is more about experiencing the action than a catalyst for deep philosophical discussion.
[1] Associated Press, “Doom Spells Dollars at the Box Office for 2012” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33540693/ns/entertainment-movies/
[2] Ian O’Nell, “ ‘2012’ Sells Tickets, Sells Out Science,” Discovery News http://news.discovery.com/space/the-2012-sells-tickets-sells-out-science.html
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