Apocalypse wow

 

 

Want to see a megapolis other than New York being cataclysmically destroyed? Then, Ronald Emmerich, who has earlier vaporised the White House under a giant alien ray gun (“Independence Day”) and toppled the Statue Of Liberty (“The Day After Tomorrow”) in the wake of a tsunami, offers you the perfect fare with “2012”. Not satisfied with having destroyed parts of the United States, Emmerich with the help of a conspiracy theory fuelled plot filled with more holes than Yellowstone National Park has geysers, this time takes aim at the world at large bringing a supposed ancient Mayan premonition to life – namely the end of the world at the end of the current Mayan calendar that closes on December 21, 2012.

As disasters are unleashed from London to Rio, from Tibet to Las Vegas, because of a sudden neutrino burst from a solar flare governments secretly unleash a plan to continue the human race by herding 400,000 people into ‘arks’ being built in China. All of this excuse for a plot provides enough and more fodder for eye popping special effects (check out the Yellowstone National Park blowing up or Vegas engulfed by a killer dust storm) and adventures more exotic than you can imagine (fancy sailing over Mt. Everest?). And while that department does well, the acting seems weak, and the story haphazard and a tad too long. But to be fair to Emmerich, it would be tough to make much sense of the end of the world anyway.

Enjoy the concoction of apocalyptic conjecture, but take it as seriously as that guy on the sidewalk with that cardboard that says ‘The End Is Nigh’. For the world, it may not be the end but for director Emmerich, I am afraid he might just have emptied his bag of tricks.