Friday Film Club

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Comment by Nitin Sen on November 15, 2009 at 7:44pm

Review of '2012'

Rating: * *

2012 is a disaster film. Let’s be a little more obvious and accurate. 2012 is a disastrous film. Regardless of whether you come in with expectations or without any pre-conceived notions.

Watching it makes you philosophical. Not about how the world’s going to end in three years and that we should live our life to the full. About how money cannot buy everything. About how a $ 250 million budget cannot buy you a good story, arresting dialogue and characters you want to root for.

The story is pretty simple and can be told in five short bullets. Well. you got me there, lovers of conspiracy theories! Five is the total of ‘2012’ ! Whatever.
- According to the Mayans, the earth will be destroyed by 21/12/2012 which is such a bummer. 20/12/2012 would have been so much prettier to look at.
- The sun is releasing neutrinos which are now acting like microwaves on earth, literally cooking it. The first signs are noticed by an Indian scientist in ‘far off India’. In 2009, our young scientist from the US (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is driven in a 1950s Morris taxi by a turbaned driver (oh! when wll the caricatures end?!) to see a remote copper mine which his Indian counterpart has discovered to be showing all the signs of the impending destruction.
- Our scientist hastens back to the US and manages to convince the higher ups that the End is Near.
- It’s strange that the higher ups need convincing since they have been planning for this very scenario for years (and bumping off whistle blowers who want to prematurely reveal the plan) by building seven arks in China which can help perpetuate the human race again (healthy, genetically diverse and intelligent individuals but largely comprising the politicians as well as the rich, the latter having paid a 1 billion euro ticket to ride out the waves)
- Caught in all this is our ‘everyman’, struggling writer John Cusack who has written some vague novel about the end days and loving everyone or some such, his estranged/divorced wife (Amanda Peet), their two kids and the wife’s boyfriend.

Unfortunately, the film fails at all levels, except of course the CGI which in itself can get dreary, the geological action akin to a dog snapping at your heels. So the thrills largely come from the ground collapsing just behind you as you try and take off in a plane and variants thereof. It remains a persistent and irritating fact that CGI can enhance a story, not replace it. A film finds place in the heart and a run at the box office with the same old chestnuts- story and characters into which the public invests emotionally.

In trying to make the film jargon-free so that it’s intellectually accessible to all audiences, Roland (also the co-writer) treats us to very little of (pseudo) science or history in the movie. The sun is heating the earth and the ice is melting, hence the waves. The earth’s core is shifting, hence the earthquakes. That’s it. Now be a good boy and enjoy the CGI. Other plot elements like early whistle blowers who are being assassinated for years are not fleshed out. Roland also tries to communicate something through Cusack’s failed book (which has sold 422 copies), but I’m not sure what that is. And finally, Cusack and Amanda Peet bring nothing to their roles and simply fail to connect with the audience. Or with each other, now that I think of it. But then, they’re estranged, so probably that was deliberate. The kids are also ho-hum, especially the boy whose loyalty vacillates between dad and step dad depending on what is favourable to him under the circumstances. The girl’s fetish for hats is, however, cute. A better writer could have made it integral to the story, but it remains yet another thread, hanging about.

The film does not justify itself to be three hours long. You get a feeling that everyone is only going through their paces with the film having familiar and stock characters, pacing and tempo. The dialogue is pedantic and even the US President’s final speech to ‘my fellow Americans’ is but three sentences long. The only notable speech is by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the end when he pleads to let in as many people in the arks since ‘a new beginning cannot be based on an act of cruelty.’ One nice speech in a film three hours long? That’s kind of measly.

Now for some asides. It’s interesting that in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis, Chapter 9, verse 11, after the flood relating to the famous Noah’s ark, God promised that “Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." But hey, what do the Jews know, right? The Mayans were a superior race. They just happened to collapse in the 10th century. But seriously, the film does a disservice to the whole global warming/climate changing initiative. It doesn’t matter whether you are a rabid ‘go-green’ apologist or a conspicuous consumerist. We should all try to keep a small carbon foot print and conserve the earth’s resources. This film implies that (i) the sun is going to fry us anyway regardless of our activities and (ii) it’s going to do so in three years (so enjoy and consume to your heart’s content). If only Roland had put in a line or two about the ozone hole, greenhouse gases or deforestation contributing to the peril, it would have been great. Finally, you can’t help notice the robust mobile network which affords people to say last minute goodbyes when everything is imploding around them! Even in these peaceful times, I get at least Rs. 50 discount on my monthly mobile bill for dropped calls! But hey, what do I know, sitting all turbaned and dhoti-clad in a country which drives Morris cars of 1950s vintage!

Comment by Parul Sharma on March 26, 2009 at 3:26pm

MALE ACTORS WANTED

Film : Udaan
Producer: Anurag Kashyap
Director: Vikram Motwani
Production House: Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt. Ltd.

Job Profile: Actor(Male)
Age: 17-20yrs
Height: 5'7-5'10

Please mail your resume or details and pictures to casting.parul@gmail.com.

Comment by Vinayak in pursuit of happiness and in an attempt to get rid of recession on February 10, 2009 at 5:05pm

hey u ppl, movies are the centre of my world and the last two weeks have been great. Its been some great movies in theatres and on dvd. LUCK BY CHANCE was good and DEV D was kickass. But wat i want to talk abt is my romance wit my dvd (women are not interested so i ve to compensate myself wit dvd). I saw BEN AFFLECK and GWYNETH PALTROW starrer BOUNCE. I guess the movie was ok but could ve been much better and after that it was a trilogy by WHIT STILLMAN- METROPOLITAN, BARCELONA n THE LAST DAY OF DISCO. Well these movies were in a way thought provoking and entertaining at the same time. Of course the movies ve slow pace compared to other teen movies (these movies have teenagers and ppl in their early 20s as their leads... so i guess its not a taboo to call them teen movies with political and sociological inneundos) But every line mouthed by the actors, every expression, every shot and every song in the movie tries to say something. I seriosly refer these movies to u.

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Comment by ishant on November 13, 2008 at 9:39am

hello people
i hope truth is the policy and not the rumour.....

Comment by NC-nitro... on April 1, 2008 at 4:11pm

hey u all people.......i saw in wassup youngistan dat race is good....but JAM says its disg*RACE...plz comment dont leave me confused.......