I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but where I am, the weather’s getting colder. And when outside gets cold, there’s no place I’d rather be than inside somewhere, under a blanket and curled up with a book, or on the couch watching a good movie. Heck, it doesn’t even need to be a good movie. A bad movie will do just fine if it’s the kind of bad movie that’s also kind of great.
Part of me wants to tell you that I’m not here to try to defend Roland Emmerich’s 2009 disaster movie, 2012, with its overflowing cast of characters, fairly convoluted plot, and extremely long runtime (two and a half hours?!). Its 40% Critic score on Rotten Tomatoes seems fair to me, and the audience score isn’t much better. I can’t defend the ratings, but I still like watching this movie.
Like every two years or so, I get a hankering for it, the same way I do some other disaster movies I can’t really defend. Honestly, when I recently saw that 2012 was streaming for free, I knew the odds were high that I already owned this movie on digital at some point. And I did, so I’m set, but if you want to revisit this movie and you haven’t already secured your own copy on home video, as of this writing, you can watch it for free with ads on Tubi.
What 2012 Is About
Like many disaster movies, the plot of this one centers around the end of the world — in this case, due to something involving the earth’s core heating up and a sciency explanation I won’t even try to paraphrase here (there’s a helpful animated video courtesy of Woody Harrelson’s conspiracy theorist character that makes it really simple to understand). All you need to know going in is that this is an apocalyptic situation that’s affecting the whole world. And as you’ll see in the first two-thirds of the film, major catastrophes unfold, from earthquakes to volcanic eruptions and all sorts of other nightmarish scenarios as a result of these natural disasters.
I’m going to be vague at this point, because it is quite suspenseful if you haven’t seen it, but this is one of those disaster movies where there’s a secret place only a small percentage of the earth’s population is aware of or allowed to go to in order to survive the end of the world, and our heroes (and some not-so-heroes) are trying to get there.
Oh Yeah, And The Cast Is Fire
The cast for this movie is great. The main characters include Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), an author and father trying to protect his family, including his kids and his ex-wife (played by Amanda Peet). Oliver Platt plays the White House Chief of Staff, while Danny Glover plays the President and father to Thandiwe Newton’s character, Laura Wilson. As I mentioned, Woody Harrelson makes an appearance as a science conspiracy guy who’s not entirely wrong about the ideas he’s raving about, while Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the actual scientist who advises the president.
2012 Isn’t Perfect, But It Also Never Lets Me Down
Here’s the thing. I do think Rolland Emmerich (who co-wrote the film, in addition to directing) made a solid effort to try to make something more out of your standard disaster movie. There’s just a lot going on in the film and with so many different characters brought in and out amidst what’s happening with the main characters, it’s kind of hard to feel invested in anything as much as I think I’m supposed to. I always find myself wishing I felt more about the characters and story by the end of the movie than I do, but it’s not so bad that I regret watching it in the first place (and not so bad that I know I’ll want to watch it again at some point in the future).
There are life-and-death scenarios happening left and right in 2012, all of which deliver the kind of visual spectacle we’ve come to know and appreciate from the director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. From cities collapsing to lava raining down to John Cusack’s character and his family outracing danger in a limousine, a camper, and more than one airplane, the chaos reigns in this one and doesn’t let up. Best of all, if you don’t already have this title in your digital library like I do, there are a few ways to see it: