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| Never ascend Mount Everest without the proper climbing equipment |
Like all of
Roland Emmerich's disaster movies,
2012 is full of spectacle but lacking in the "sense of wonder" aspect. Introspection was never the director's strong suit. Science and myth are cheerfully misinterpreted for plot convenience. Grandiose statements are delivered with hackneyed dialogue. But I liked this movie far more than
The Day After Tomorrow. The unbelievably rapid sinking of the entire state of
California was a lot more visually impressive than the deep freezing of the city of
New York. The destruction of the world by what was basically a planet-wide earthquake had a certain sadistic appeal. Trying to outrace the ash cloud from the
Yellowstone National Park supervolcano eruption made (slightly) more sense than trying to outrun slowly moving frost by hiding in the
New York Public Library.
John Cusack is a preferable everyman to
Dennis Quaid. And
Chiwetel Ejiofor somehow managed to deliver with utter conviction the crappiest "rally the troops" speech Emmerich could force on an actor.
