For the uninitiated, 2012 is one of the most awaited films of the year because it’s named 2012. The legends and scientific predictions that the world will come to an end in the year 2012 have further glorified the massive hype surrounding this film. Directed by Ronald Emmerich, who has earlier made Independence Day and Day After Tommorrow, the film ‘2012’ is easily the mother of all disaster films; something which has never been seen on the screen before. Ronald Emmerich’s penchant for disaster films hits a new crescendo and he doesn’t leave anything behind to blow your mind. As a result, ‘2012’ ends up either an over-whelming experience or one of the worst disaster films, the world has ever seen.

What is it about : An Astro Physicist working in Vijayawada (India) finds evidence about unusual activity beneath the Earth’s crust. When he reveals these details to a Geologist who works for an US Government Agency, it becomes clear that situation will soon go out of control. The geologist meets his superior and together they apprise the President of United States about the impending danger. The President calls for a G-8 Summit where he discloses this information and convinces others to prepare themselves for the apocalypse in 2012. Elsewhere, a writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) takes his kids to Yellow Stone National Park for camping. When he comes face to face with the actual problem, he decides to…Run and also save his family. What happens in 2012 when all hell breaks loose? That forms the rest of the story.

What is Good: Ronald Emmerich vision of the ‘Apocalypse’ or World’s End is innovative. He uses Earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic Eruptions and deep cracks to illustrate his point. The action sequences are choreographed to enthrall the audience completely, be it the airplane flying away from smoke clouds or escaping the collapsing skyscrapers. Some of the best scenes in the film are the ones where the Mother Nature’s fury is at its zenith, especially the scene where a Tsunami hits a little monastery in Tibet! Also, the collapsing of several monuments in US, Vatican City, Rio de Jenario is well shot. It’s an Audio-Visual effects extravaganza, which captures your attention at the right places.

What is bad: At a running time of around 160 minutes, 2012 is a terribly painful watch. Further, there are so many sub-plots and locations that it is difficult to keep track of everything. There’s a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo thrown in to explain the seriousness of the situation. The film relies heavily on Visual effects and CGI and it’s a test of your patience of how much you can tolerate. The family drama amidst all this action is a bore and it takes away the attention from all those disaster scenes. The film also tries to send a message about humanity and uses a bunch of cliché’s to narrate its point. On the whole, it’s a completely pointless film.

Bottomline: 2012 is a movie for those who take pleasure in watching big-bang action irrespective of the plot. It’s a tailor made film for your pop corn entertainment. The movie is also a good world tour and its worth your money. If the movie overwhelms a huge number of people, it also thoroughly disappoints millions of others. The film drags on forever and ends when you have already stopped bothering about it. It’s a pity that a catastrophe like an earthquake doesn’t come to your rescue while watching the film! The film has nothing much to offer apart from depicting some buildings collapsing, seas rising to gigantic proportions. Even the suspension of disbelief during the film doesn’t help much. It’s a disastrous adventure which shouldn’t have happened in the first place. But then, the film has just about everything to entertain you if you are prepared for this sort of entertainment!