2009s 2012 is pretty OK

Submitted by samsqanch t3_12636qn in movies

SPOILERS if you have not watched it and don't know what happens please please leave this thread and talk to no one before watching, not knowing what's going to happen is an important part of the experience.

I honestly love this movie, I think it's one of the best disaster movies ever made.

It's a hilarious over the top ode to classic disaster movies, but unlike so-bad-it's-good movies like The Core or Volcano, I think this movie was made to be funny.

I wouldn't call it a parody, but it definitely had tongue firmly in cheek, if anything it may have been to subtle to the point where people were confused.

The marketing did not help either as it was promoted as a straight action disaster flick as if it were part of the terrible 2012 crap that was everywhere.

I waited a long time to watch it because I was sick of all the Mayan calendar, Nostradamus crap, I went in cold knowing only what I'd seen in ads and I was blown away.

It's slow to get going and is over long but, the limo ride, the plane flight, Woody Harrelson channeling Art Bell and the motorhome vs megavolcano, all of these things build up to one of the wildest rides ever, bad science, child endangerment and gigantic stunts, it's classic Roland Emmerich dumb fun right?

Then comes the reveal.

And dammit I have to post it, again DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT!

>!It's fucking boats! Every developed nation spent years and trillions of dollars to make BOATS not rockets to Mars, BOATS to save humanity. It is a brilliant inversion of humanity saving itself by leaping to the stars. This is not just another disaster movie, it's high comedy!<

Double Spoilers!

>!On top of that they launch the boats from the only place that will still have rocks sticking out of the water to endanger them and one of them nearly sinks because a hose gets caught in the mechanism to lift a 100 ton door.!<

Normally I am not someone who likes movie fans desperately trying to revive a movie from their childhood as an unappreciated masterpiece, but I think 2012 deserves a re-evaluation.

I'm not saying it's the greatest movie ever made, but it is seriously missunderstood.

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Next-Mobile-9632 t1_je7dbxw wrote

It was a huge hit, grossing $1.127 Billion in 2023 dollars, World Wide box office--John Cusack finally got a huge epic film

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TheRealClose t1_je7gzy1 wrote

I don’t like the weird vibes at the end that implies that the predominantly white rich folk aboard their ships made by exploited Tibetan & Chinese workers are going to start a new colony on the continent of Africa which has now risen above the sea, presumably after millions of its citizens were drowned.

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PurrfectLuce t1_je7le5g wrote

Oh god, I totally forgot about this movie but now it’s all come flooding back to me. The funniest part I remember was how quickly everyone got over the death of the step-dad. Wasn’t he quite a good guy? Then a few moments after he dies horrifically, the wife is absolutely fine and back with John Cusack.

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kenzo54321 t1_je7ph8e wrote

Easily my favorite mindless disaster film. I like the idea of it being a satire because that's the only explanation for the awful screen writing acting in spots.... Aside from Chiwetel Ejiofor who is way over qualified to be in this movie.

Checkout Greenland if you haven't seen it. It's is a more restrained version of this end of the world scenario with similar themes and plot mechanics but it works better as a film IMO

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tigojones t1_je7yh8x wrote

Man, this film is awesome! " Always remember, folks. You heard it first from Charlie!" Did a disaster movie marathon last weekend, and this was the first one I put on.

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samsqanch OP t1_jea75p0 wrote

Replying to TheRealClose (#2,465,677)

Yeah that was sketchy, there's even a throwaway line about how it might not even been flooded, so it's possible some people there survived.

I guess Earth 2.0 goes straight into colonialism.

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NemesisRouge t1_jebqyuw wrote

I think you're seeing comedy where there wasn't any intended. Boats to wait out the storm are a far more realistic way to survive events of this kind than spaceships would be. We simply don't have the capacity to move large numbers of people off planet and settle them elsewhere.

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