Rating of
2.5/4
Another Beautiful Disaster
Chris Kavan - wrote on 11/15/09
I'll say one thing for Roland Emmerich - no other man can make the complete annihilation of mankind so spectacular. Now, if only he could craft characters and story that were as jaw-dropping as the special effects and he would have movie gold. As it stands, it has to settle for tarnished bronze once again.
So if you've been paying attention to any trailers, you've pretty much already seen most of the outstanding disaster scenes. Still, watching it on the big screen is a sight to behold, whether it's California sliding into the sea, Las Vegas collapsing, Yellowstone erupting or Himalayas flooding - it's catastrophe on an epic, global scale - and really, that's the big selling point.
Yes, there is an story - mostly tailing John Cusack and family around as they improbably escape from death time and time again while trying to reach the safety of the massive ark ships in China. When not watching the happy family scramble for their lives, you can follow Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the scientific adviser/voice of humanity as he struggles to cope with the destruction of the world while the dastardly Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) plots own course for who should be saved.
There's a slew of supporting cast/cannon fodder like Woody Harrelson as the whack-job DJ whose crazy premonitions unsurprisingly come true. However, the blog he has is quite funny. Also, there's a Russian billionaire, his twins and his squeeze. The stoic African American president played by Danny Glover and his art-loving daughter (Thandie Newton). It's not too hard a stretch to figure out whose going to live and die - even if there are some teases along the way.
You know who we don't follow? The other 3 billion or so people who probably die horrific deaths. But it's best not to dwell on the massive loss of life when there's a cute dog to follow! The most egregious error is not in thinking about those people, but how damn schmaltzy the emotions get towards the end. They try to make a big deal about the rich vs. regular man, and craft as much of an uplifting end as possible, but after sitting though a good hour of total carnage, it seems like an afterthought.
In conclusion, if big-budget global destruction trips your trigger, then you'll be more than satisfied. But if you're looking for some kind of message with your eye-candy, you're just going to have to wait for a different movie I'm afraid.
