Just watched 2012 made by the brilliant Roland Emmerich.
Scary, and very entertaining. I pray it will not happen.
Read all about it here. Thanks, Wikipedia.
2012 is a disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich.
The film has an ensemble cast, including John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Woody Harrelson.
The film is inspired by the idea of a global doomsday event coinciding with the end of the Mayan Calendar's cycle on or around December 21, 2012 (the northern hemisphere's winter solstice).
Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a divorced father who occasionally works as a limousine driver and writer, while his ex-wife Kate Curtis (Amanda Peet) and children Noah (Liam James) and Lily (Morgan Lily) live together with Kate's new boyfriend, Gordon (Thomas McCarthy).
At the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala, the victims of a mass suicide seem to adhere to the Mayan calendar, which predicts that the end of the world will coincide with December 21, 2012 (the northern hemisphere's winter solstice).
The IHC (Institute for Human Continuity), a covert organisation which is aware of the situation, begins building vast arks beneath the Himalayan mountains designed to withstand most natural disasters in order to save humanity, significant species and mankind's greatest treasures.
There are debates about how and when the world's governments will alert their citizens and discussions about how to select those who will survive Armageddon, but when the governments discover that the global cataclysm is happening faster than expected, they race to complete the ships before all is lost.
Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor, British Nigerian actor), the scientific advisor to the President of the United States informs them shortly after a visit to India where he meets some scientists.
Meanwhile, on a day trip to Yellowstone with his two children, Jackson meets Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who hosts his own radio segment and blog about his belief that the Mayans are right about 2012.
Over the coming days, vast cracks are found within the San Andreas Fault in California, and despite government assurances that all is fine, Jackson isn't convinced.
Hiring a private plane and gathering supplies, he races to Kate's home to save his family and Gordon from the consequences of the Earth's crust displacement, occuring all around them.
After a dangerous race through collapsing streets to Santa Monica Airport, Gordon uses his pilot skills to fly them to safety.
They fly through the crumbling city of Los Angeles, which quickly collapses into the Pacific Ocean.
When the plane runs low on fuel, the group is forced to land in Wyoming.
Jackson uses this chance to contact Charlie.
Against Kate's will, Jackson and his daughter go to look for Charlie.
They find Charlie's van empty.
However, Charlie informs his followers via the radio that he has gone into the mountains to watch the imminent catastrophe.
Jackson takes the van and speeds off to find him.
His pursuit proves successful, but the ground below them begins to rumble.
Jackson warns Charlie that they must leave, yet he refuses as he finds the scenery "too beautiful."
Before Jackson escapes, Charlie informs him that he has a map in his van that will provide information concerning a possible escape route.
As the volcanoes erupt behind him, he heads back towards the plane.
Again, Jackson finds himself on a dangerous race as the large chunks of boulders strike the ground nearby.
Upon his arrival, his daughter charges out of the van into the plane, but Jackson remains in the van to search for the map.
He recalls that Charlie told him it was "between Roswell and Marilyn Monroe".
As the earth opens up, the van falls into a gap.
The family is horrified, but must leave before it is too late.
The ground is continuously crumbling.
Jackson finds himself falling but manages to grab onto the ledge.
He pulls himself back up and runs back to the plane as the ground behind him continues to collapse.
He is just fast enough to enter the plane.
It soon becomes clear that it's not just California that's experiencing disaster.
The Yellowstone Supervolcano erupts.
Las Vegas is destroyed by a massive chasm that cuts through it and by an ash cloud from the Yellowstone eruption.
Massive earthquakes begin to occur in South America and destroy Rio De Janeiro and Buenos Aires.
Washington DC is flooded by an enormous tsunami in which the USS John F. Kennedy crushes the White House.
St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City crumbles into oblivion, killing thousands in prayer.
Another tsunami hits New York City, toppling the Statue of Liberty.
As massive tsunamis begin to sweep across the Earth, the US government declares the end of the world.
A group of survivors, including Jackson and his family, must fight their way to China before they can board the great arks and save themselves from the gigantic tidal waves flooding the Earth.
They realise that their plane will not suffice to fly all the way to China.
They agree that they must land at an airport to find a better plane.
While they manage to find one, it is filled with many other individuals.
Gordon stumbles upon one of his old clients, Tamara (Beatrice Rosen of The Dark Knight).
She is with Russian millionaire Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Buric, Croatian actor).
Upon closer investigation, the family realises that Yuri has bought a plane to escape to China.
Jackson pleads him to allow his family, but Yuri initially refuses.
However, his pilot Sasha (Johann Urb, Estonian actor) alerts him that he requires a co-pilot.
Jackson seizes this opportunity and tells Yuri that Gordon is an experienced pilot.
Subsequently, the group boards a large Russian plane towards China.
Below them, the airport is destroyed by earthquakes.
As they are in the air, Sasha realises that the plane does not contain sufficient fuel to fly all the way to China.
He warns Gordon of this and both agree that they will have to land in the water.
Gordon tells this to Jackson.
They wake up the others on board to warn them.
Kate and Jackson hand life jackets to their children as they prepare themselves for the landing.
Meanwhile, Sasha discovers that they are no longer above the ocean.
The Earth's crust has shifted by thousands of miles and they are heading right towards the Himalayas.
The group must rapidly concoct a new plan.
They all decide to go into cars while Sasha opens the door from the cockpit.
Time is running out and the plane is charging right into the mountains.
Gordon abandons Sasha and runs back to the car just in time to escape with the others.
Sasha lands the plane on a cliff.
The weight of the plane causes the ground below it to break leading Sasha to his death.
The remaining group members land safely with the cars.
Tamara weeps and demands they go back to find Sasha.
Yet before they have time to act, Chinese helicopters holding large animals, such as elephants and giraffes, fly above them.
One helicopter notices the group and goes down to greet them.
However, the group immediately understands that they will need to pay to get into the helicopter.
Yuri pays for him and his sons, but refuses to pay for the others.
Before boarding the helicopter, he tells Tamara he knew of her relationship with Sasha.
The group now has no choice but to walk through the mountains in an attempt to find others.
Soon enough, a car drives by them.
In it are Tibetan Buddhist monk Nima (Osric Chau, Canadian actor) and his grandmother (Lisa Lu, American actress).
Jackson throws a rock at it.
The car backs up and they allow them to join the ride to meet Nima's brother Tenzin (Ng Chin Han, Singapore's hottest new star).
He has a plan to escape.
Upon their arrival, Tenzin is infuriated.
He tells Nima his plan cannot account for so many people.
Nonetheless, Jackson and Kate insist that they take the children.
After further discussion, Tenzin allows the entire group to join him.
His plan is to sneak into an ark that has been created by governments around the world as a way to save a select few.
Jackson and family manage to sneak into one of several arks with the help of Tenzin.
Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), the President's Chief of Staff who is now in charge of the arks, orders that the gates of the arks to be closed as the supplies are not enough to cater for all the survivors.
Thomas Wilson, the President of the United States (Danny Glover), is dismayed at Anheuser's action and convinces the leaders of various nations to open the gates to save the survivors.
When closing the gates, part of Tenzin's leg is crushed.
Gordon, Tamara and Yuri also die though Jackson made an attempt to save them.
The cable brought by Tenzin is stuck in between the gears and the gears grind to a complete halt.
The gate is now partially closed.
As the tsunami hits Jackson's ark, one of the main supporting structures of the ark breaks down causing the ark to float in the direction of Mount Everest.
The engines of the ark cannot be started even with manual settings unless the gates are closed.
Jackson decides to remove the cable from the gear with the aid of his son.
He succeeds.
The gears are operating again and the gate closes.
The engines are activated and are engaged in a reverse position to avoid an impact.
However, the ark still hits Mount Everest but with minimal damage.
The survivors inside the ark cheer for Jackson saved them.
When the catastrophe ends, the water recedes and the world unfloods.
The captain of Jackson's ark along with its sister arks decides that the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa is a good place to lead a normal life.
The survivors walk out from the ark and are able to see the sunlight and the vast sea again.
These include Jackson's and Tenzin's family, the President, his aides and his daughter Laura (Thandie Newton) who has salvaged a great many works of art around the world.
The film ends with the sight of the African continent, capable of supporting human life in the future.
Director Emmerich and composer-producer Harald Kloser co-wrote the film script.
They filmed it at Vancouver, Canada.
Cast:
- John Cusack as Jackson Curtis, a science fiction book writer who occasionally works as a limousine driver.
- Amanda Peet as Kate Curtis, Jackson's ex-wife.
- Liam James as Noah Curtis, Jackson and Kate's son.
- Morgan Lily as Lilly Curtis, Jackson and Kate's daughter.
- Thomas McCarthy as Gordon, Kate's current boyfriend and a plastic surgeon.
- Danny Glover as Thomas Wilson, the President of the United States.
- Thandie Newton as Laura Wilson, the President's daughter, an art conservationist.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Adrian Helmsley, scientific advisor to the President and Laura's love interest.
- Oliver Platt (cousin of the late Princess Diana of Wales) as Carl Anheuser, the President's Chief of Staff.
- Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost, a man who prophesies the end of the world.
- Ng Chin Han as Lin Pang, a worker in Tibet.
- Zlatko Buric as Yuri Karpov, a Russian millionare.
The original score for the film was composed by Kloser and Thomas Wander.
Singer Adam Lambert from American Idol 8 contributed a song for the film called Time For Miracles.
