Nov 17, 2009 10:34 PM
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(Updated Nov 17, 2009 10:40 PM)
Personal Movie Rating: 3.75/5 (must watch for visual effects)One of my friend's friend summed this movie nicely "Indian discovered it, Chinese built it, Americans saved it!".
Could not agree more. I am a sucker for movie visual effects and this movie was a with hot chocolate and nuts sprinkled on top treat for me :) I am an artist and the really loved the cinematography of this movie. I will try to give you my review of the movie without giving away too much.
Story line is pretty thin because the "End of World" theme has been used too often in Hollywood movies. " Independence Day, Matrix series, Day after tomorrow, Armageddon, Deep Impact" cases in point. Surprisingly many of these movies are by the same director ( Roland Emmerich) :)) What makes 2012 stand out is the visual treatment given to the subject at a continental scale.
Seeing entire land masses ripped apart, Tsunamis big enough to devour cities (already picturized in Day after tomorrow you say) and Himalaya (not seen before) , volcanoes, earthquakes, continents moving, combination of science (pseudo science some say) with religion prophecies, current happenings retro-fitted into story(including an Afro-american president and China building a dam in Himalayas) make the movie engrossing. I have no idea how they managed to film or animate the destruction of California so damn well. Not even for one second during the entire movie will you think "ha, that's shot in a movie setup" or "what a silly animation". Truly mind blowing visual and sound combination.
Audience response to the movie has been fantastic so far. Movie has grossed over $225M in the opening week, which is not at all bad (INR 20 crore in India!!).
During our show time, until interval time, the audience were gripped and spell bound by the visual extravaganza. No one moved in the movie hall when the lights came on. Many were stunned into silence and the murmuring only picked up as we all went to get popcorn. We all ran back into the movie so as to not miss any scenes. Till 3/4 of the movie, the story keeps you engrossed.
None of the characters are spared the tragic end making it quite realistic (including our protagonist Indian scientist). The last quarter of the movie was a bit of drag with the American hero image being potrayed all over again. Creating a situation to make the hero and his family heroic was not required.
Closing comments: Watching this movie on DVD will be a waste as the true awesome nature of calamity will not be depicted well on a 40" screen. Please go and watch it in a movie hall. This will be closest you will get, to feel a catastrophe and not fear dying in the process. Do not expect too much of acting dramatics or in-depth character development (like the joker character in The Dark Knight).
This is a sci-fi horror depiction of plausible end of the world and treat as such. Please don't take small kids, they will be terrified of the grotesque scenes. We heard small babies cry and kids asking complicated questions while an engrossing scene was on ("daddy is the movie over?!" question by a cute kid) LOL They should probably release this movie in 3-D! :) I would love to see the train falling over the plane in 3-D. What say?
