How this man is allowed to spend the amount of money it must have cost on the special effects on such a complete dumbfest is beyond me.I have no doubt I could have come up with a better film with a tenth of the budget.

I won't totally shit on it - because I fear that if I do, John Cusack won't save us - but like most other cliche-driven disaster flicks, it's very hard to take it seriously, even as art. It's a spectacle piece, and Emmerich should be commended for the grand scale he achieved. And for casting Woody in a borderline-perfect role. It had decent pacing, and I think the scenes in the Antonov aircraft were some of the film's best non-disaster-scenario scenes. But ultimately, it's a forgettable movie.

Another doomsday movie from Emmerich. He certainly can deliver entertainment be it good or bad. Well this movie is like The Day After Tomorrow with better effects I guess. But I like TDAT better. Why? I don't know I just do. (has maybe something to do with Jake Gyllenhaal)

Great special effects, but the idea could have been worked out much better. Way too much Hollywood-drama.

Understands the Mayan calendar about as well as it understands physics, which is to say not at all. It's about an hour too long (and the last hour is bafflingly one single idiotic plot point that doesn't even make sense), the characters are all two-dimentional, it's completely predictable, the discussions of morals the film harps on about are so far over its head it's not even funny. Not enough of Woody Harrelson, way too much of everything else. Seeing as everything else is bad.

Hilarious and well worth watching just for the effects and cgi. The scenes and especially the dialogue are more often than not goddamn hilarious (the mutated particles are destroying the earth's crust!!) and it features an awesome role from Woody Harrelson whose scenes alone would make this movie fun. It does tend to drag on and the dialogue and corniness never gets better, but if you liked ID4 you'll probably like this, it's the disaster movie to end all disaster movies, and it's ridiculous.

for a disaster movie, this is actually pretty good...

Every inch as dumb as it looks, overpopulated and direly overlong (I literally yawned through the better part of what was supposed to be the climax). But in its best moments it does have an awesome sense of spectacle, and Chiwetel Ejiofor is a great, underrated actor who can lend depth to paper-flat characters as written. Probably Roland Emmerich's best disaster film... whatever the fuck that's worth.

Avoid. Aside from some a few (FEW) cool special effects, this film has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Basically, it has no reason for existing.

Damn you Emmerich! You can't cheat me with your shitty effects. That is completely terrible.

well most of the CGI were unbelieveably amazing and perfect ... but why was the story THAT weak and the logic of the movie so stupid, most of the time i was wishing for cusack's death, or one of the kids ... or just someone other than woody harrelson

The effects are ugly and plastic, the characters badly written and equally badly acted and the plot straight out of every other catastrophe movie you've seen.

Did we really need '2012' after 'Day After Tomorrow'? Okay, maybe I love silly big budget disaster films, but Roland Emmerich ought to pass on the torch. At least the forgettable '2012' has some borderline great (yet un-involving) special effects sequences... and that's all. The characters are junk, the story is trash, the heroes/villains fall in their foreseeable order, and the movie jumps into 'repeat mode' for 2.5 hours. On top of that, Emmerich makes humanity look ugly. Pass the popcorn.

This movie made me reconsider the numerous redeeming qualities of GI Joe. Such as how short the aforementioned flick was. The plot/dialog/etc is all exactly what you would expect. The characters however? Never have I ever hated characters quite as much as these jokers. I cheered when one was ground up into a pulp, terrifying the middle aged woman next to me. I am ashamed that humanity has been reduced to peddling crap like this.

Enjoyable. Somewhat lost in it's own mood of having a good time while things are going very bad which takes away the impact of both. Not to be taken too seriously.

Even if you were expecting to see a braindead specialeffectfest with no expectations at all, you'll be bored before you realize the film has another 3 or 4 hours to go before it's finally over.

A little stupid and pretty boring with great special effects.

I went hoping for some fun destruction effects, but each and every shot of the world falling apart was presented in the most banal way possible. It acts like its the first ever disaster movie and doesn't need to add anything to the genre to justify its existence. Instead it rehashes the overused trope of featuring a few bad father/kids husband/wife relationships that mend as the world falls apart. Completely stupid.

Emmerich's best movie by far (although it doesn't mean much). The FX are as expected great, the movie has a great rhythm and I really liked Ejiofor's performance.

ridiculous!!--the whole world is falling into pieces but they got exact satellite pictures and handy connections ?? beside the fact that itŽs so wacky, emmerich tells a boring story. the whole world stick together and opens the gate for the less-well offs *lol* as if... ;-) Emmerich wake up and watch the news there is no cohesion. only the strong ones will survive. boring hollywood crap forget it

Pretty ridiculous, predictable, clichéed and deeply forgettable. However, the special effects were expectedly impressive. Needed more Stephen "Pontypool" McHattie.

While it is visually spectacular, it is also complete HORSESHIT! even more religious in overtone than the movie that inspired (When worlds collide), who knew the Chinese Government were secretly trying to help the world, not rule it. I own a copy, with the option of watching it dubbed into Hindi! Guess what I'm doing next time I'm bored??? Tone4.0

An embarrassing predictable mind-numbing CGI snorefest of unbearable length. You'll pray for the characters' death rather than their survival. I derived great pleasure from making fun of it though with my brother, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Ok, just a suggestion. If you're going to make a long movie, how about putting all the scenes with water at the beginning?

as charlie said...

A hilarious over the top guilty pleasure masterwork. Yes, that disjointed sentence fits this film rather well.

Another disaster movie with stunning special effects, but with incredibly annoying cliches. Stupid phrases, scenes unbelievable, pathetic moral lessons, the father problematic with his family, happy ending. The usual stuff, so boring.

Well, it really seems to be the mother of all disaster movies and the effects are as expected, really good. And the first 1 1/2 hours had some pretty decent moments actually. But after almost every great doomed action scene, comes a corny dialogue just out of nowhere. And the last half hour just sucks...but just for the action and effects alone, worth watching.

Renders every other disaster movie completely obsolete due to it's absolutely massive scale. Good thing too because I, for one, am absolutely sick of these stupid films. Still, I have to give Emmerich credit, the sheer spectacle of 2012 is damn impressive.

Entertaining and good for what it was.

Flotte effekter pakket ind i det værste klichelort man kan forestille sig - latterligt at

Great effects and an entertaining first 90 minutes, but the last hour is jammed with action movie cliches and corny dialog. Way too long.

Ok, if the wold's coming to an end and we're only able to save the politicians and millionaires, should I really care? Also loses points for casting the ugliest child actors I've ever seen (the poodle twins).

Why a disaster movie has to be so boring?

The only good part about this movie is it has Woody Harrilson in it

Parts are beyond stupid. I feel like no one bothered to suggest to Mr. Emmerich that rewriting bad dialogue is always an option. Nevertheless, ignoring the ridiculous "science" and nonsensical plot, it's quite entertaining, and enjoyable to watch. The Earth essentially falls apart for two straight hours and we all get to watch.

The movie is pretty good, other than the suspense of them "barely" making it through every obstacle they face. Its gets boring after the first hour and a half, and you start getting pissed because when something bad happens, you know someone will barely make it anyways. But if you can get past all that, its a decent movie to watch. And Woody Harrelson is pretty funny in it too

A disaster in every way - except for one, great one-liner from Zlatko Buric

Great, very impressive CGI. For the script, I really can't say "it's so bad, it's good" because it reinvents the bad as a concept. I love how in the end, while we are being taught solidarity etc. the director lets the stepdad go in a whimper only to be forgotten in a few minutes - this is "nature" repairing and conserving itself. Hooray for the nuclear family!