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The Vow

A saccharine and paint-by-numbers slice of romance, which is largely boosted by the appeal of its two leads.

Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (3D)

The under-utilised 3D adds little to this prequel, which only serves as a sore reminder of the brilliance of the original films.

Any Questions For Ben?

The talented bunch of actors ably cut through the surface gloss, but it’s tough to remain invested in the plight of the self-absorbed lead.

Shame

It starts off as brutal but arresting stuff, and the two lead performances are scorching, but disappointingly dissolves into a case of tragedy for the sake of tragedy.

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2012 (Film)

by Julian Wood | November 11, 2009 15:26 | Edited November 11, 2009 15:27

Wow special effects and a top supporting cast can’t override the numbing length of this best-of disaster movie blockbuster.

Roland Emmerich has made some of the great blockbuster Hollywood movies of recent years; films with slightly grandiose ambitions and/or towering budgets like The Day After Tomorrow, Stargate and Independence Day. His latest, 2012, is a slightly hokey blockbuster, taking on the end of the world as we know it. Don't be misled by all the peripheral gossip about confirming Mayan legends as that soon becomes irrelevant once the rubber hits the road, or rather, once the rubber rocks hit the road. The film is really several disaster movies tucked inside one another, and consequently comes out as one set piece after another.

 

Some sort of solar flare has destabilised the earth's core setting those old tectonic plates into overdrive. As they motor towards each other at un-geological speeds every known weather catastrophe starts to occur at once. Soon the highways are not only jammed but dissolving before our very eyes.

 

True to the tradition of the disaster movie genre the film features a host of really good second string actors like Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson (even balmier than usual), Danny Glover and so on.

 

The leads are Amanda Peet and John Cusack. Cusack is perfect for films like High Fidelity but he is far too slight and too streetwise to be believable as the suburban guy who becomes a sort of superman saving the world.

 

The sight of the physical world collapsing as the tiny characters run to camera is visually well realised - the CGI, models and polystyrene boulders are expertly melded. However, even given the conventions of the genre, they have left out the essential ingredient of characters we can care about.

 

At a mind-numbing three hours it is hard not to end up feeling that it really doesn't matter if a big tidal wave sweeps us all away. Maybe the Mayans had a point and earth does have a use by date.