John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton

An academic researcher leads a group of people in a fight to counteract the apocalyptic events that were predicted by the ancient Mayan calendar.

Flixster Users

71% liked it

289,696 ratings

Critics

37% liked it

195 critics

PG-13, 2 hrs. 38 min.

Directed by: Roland Emmerich

Release Date: November 13, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (18,757)


  • November 21, 2009
    Really enthralling story. It keeps you fixated from start to finish. Loved it!
  • November 21, 2009
    Dont really care for disaster movies, and this was no exception, and despite the Star power, it was just a mess of CGI and a bad script.

    What is with these doomsday movies?? I thought The Day After Tommorrow would be the last, but alas I was wrong... and here we are again with ...( read more)another. What are they trying to do with the flick, I don't know. But it the Russian was funny and it was good to see George Segal and Danny Glover on the screen again.

    Anyways... probably best to give this one a miss.
  • November 20, 2009
    Ok, I don't expect much more from Roland Emmerich than a bunch of stuff getting destroyed. He's good at it and that's about all he's good at.

    Just like how with Michael Bay I expect big explosions, shiny cars and hot actors/-resses. And nothing more.

    And just like how Michael...( read more) Bay let the world down with Transformers 2 earlier this year, Roland Emmerich has let us down with this big ball of cliche called 2012.

    Ok, LA getting destroyed was fun to watch, and the special effects were about as good as we're going to find. The limo getaway scene was pretty intense to watch, though you know the whole time they're going to live.

    But then that scene is followed up by a dozen other getaway scenes and it really starts to get boring. This is an end-of-the-world movie, so let's see the world getting destroyed. Yeah, we see LA. And that's about it.

    Yellowstone? The White House? I want to see London and NYC and Paris going down in earthquakes/floods. Not some village in India.

    The acting is atrocious and the dialogue is even worse. The main characters are escaping LA in a plane and they're cracking jokes? As thousands of people are dying? I thought they'd be a little more somber than that.

    Here was a scene that really bugged me. The Indian guy who was with his wife and kid as the tsunami headed for him. The guy who was promised a plane ride out of there. What does he do right before he dies? He calls his best friend (the one who promised him the plane ride) to basically say "Hey, the plane you promised never showed up and now we're going to die. Have fun living with that on your conscious."

    Seriously? Why the hell would you even make that call?

    There are so many cheesy, cliche and stupid conversation scenes that it gets sickening. We're about to die so the dumb little boy has to ask his dad, "Why do you hate Gordon?" Umm, ok, let's get to that later. Right now, let's focus on surviving. But no, John Cusack has to go over and have another conversation with him.

    Not to mention how cliche it is that they have to have the whole split couple who eventually fall back in love. Well, after the new "dad" dies, of course.

    They could have cut out all of the cliches and still this movie would have sucked. No redeeming quality other than watching LA slide into the ocean.
  • November 19, 2009
    Spoiler warning!!

    This film was abit misleading I discovered at the end, I thought everyone was gonna leave the earth in a spacecraft for deep space, it turns out it was just an ark to sail on the ocean, strange seeing how you are lead to believe the earth is gonna virtually imp...( read more)lode. It then turns out it will be all OK in the end and return to normal!! haha kinda silly as I'm sure the earth wouldn't recover from the kind of destruction that occurs in the film, I could be wrong.

    Despite this I actually liked this film alot, yep that's right, I'm going against the crowd with this one.

    The film is actually very tense and really harrowing in many places, I really got behind the cast as they battle to stay alive and run from impending doom in the form of huge erupting canyons and massive tidal waves. There are tonnes of quite scary and depressing images and scenes of mass human death as the world falls apart, I have to admit it does make you think and sweat haha its very realistic, very impressive looking and you have to be very very strong (or emotionless) not to become upset and maybe even feel a lump in your throat as millions perish. When various characters start to ring their parents and say goodbye as the end nears you just can't help but feel your eyes well up alittle, you just can't help it, its human nature, and this is the grip the film (and others of the same genre) has on you, its easy.

    The cast is very basic here to be honest, Cusack is reasonable, Platt is actually OK and Glover is a good President but the rest are the typical cliched disaster movie breed. The whole movie is one long repeated cliche really, its been done so many times before now with almost every kind of natural event possible, the only difference is the effects get better each time which makes for a more terrifying experience.

    I guess the thing that hits home here is the fact that this could happen and probably will happen at some point in our human history, its a scary notion. This is why these films do well, morbid curiosity, people don't really wanna know what would happen but you have to watch and see and I'm sure what the film depicts is probably quite accurate :(
  • November 19, 2009
    This felt like a near-repeat of "Poseidon" from a few years ago...Found myself wishing it would end, but it just kept going and going and going. There were also a few goofy moments scattered throughout that just didn't work for me. Also, I can only watch asphalt crack and plane...( read more)s outrun explosive fireball clouds so many times...

    I keep giving Roland Emmerich the benefit of the doubt since he made "Independence Day", but after this latest miss, I'm starting to doubt he'll ever match that level of awesomeness. Rental at best.
  • November 21, 2009
    Esta película es de lo mejor.
  • November 21, 2009
    The plots are excellent but there were lot more scope for the viewer.
  • November 21, 2009
    rly good movie... very nice special effects
  • November 21, 2009
    Pretty much what I expected.
    It wasn't bad, pretty good...

    When it comes to the historical events, it seemed pretty dead on. The world had a lot of disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis... but I'm really glad the world didn't blow up or something, 2012 to the Mayans wasn't th...( read more)e end, it was a new beginning.

    A little misleading at parts, but everything comes together in the end.
  • November 21, 2009
    the cg's were good,the storyline sucked

Critic Reviews


November 16, 2009
A.O. Scott, At the Movies

Even though this movie's running time of two and a half hours is about one hour too long, there's still some pretty cool disaster stuff on the way. full review

November 16, 2009
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

2012 is so long, and its special effects are at once so outrageous and so thunderously predictable, that by the time I lurched from the theatre I felt that three years had actually passed and that the... full review

November 13, 2009
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com

Why does Roland Emmerich enjoy killing off humanity? full review

November 13, 2009
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

This oafish epic about the End of Days -- as predicted by the Mayan calendar -- operates in a dead zone roughly equidistant between parody and idiocy. full review

November 13, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

The movie is an undeniable visual spectacle, but just as unequivocally a cheesy, ridiculous story. full review

November 13, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

Roland Emmerich is an apocalypse chef. In 2012 he cooks America till it boils, adding live meat to the process at judicious intervals. full review

November 12, 2009
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Beware 2012, which works the dubious miracle of almost matching Transformers 2 for sheer, cynical, mind-numbing, time-wasting, money-draining, soul-sucking stupidity. full review

November 12, 2009
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

The effects are expensive-looking and impressive enough while you're watching them, although whatever awe they inspire doesn't last long: When you've seen one Washington Monument fall to bits, you've ... full review

November 12, 2009
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

People talk about "formula" almost always as a pejorative, but formulas get to be formulas because they work, and there's something to be said for a formula picture done almost to perfection. full review

November 12, 2009
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Films of this sort are plotted shish kebab style: disaster, change of scenery, new disaster. But on the level of spectacle, 2012 is top-notch. full review

View more 2012 reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • dancergirlvw
    November 19, 2009
    Wow. It sounds a little bit idiotic in my mind... I don't know. One of my friends was on MSN with me while watching this and was telling me how bad it was and how much he hated it and almost laughed because it was so ridiculous.

    "OF COURSE SOME RELIGIOUS LADY TELLS EVERYONE TO GO TO A TEMPLE! THE WORLD'S ENDING OF COURSE THAT'S GOING TO HELP!"

    I definitely do not want to see this movie. It sounds ridiculous.
  • NOORAISSA
    November 17, 2009
    tomorraw im gonna watch it...

    i guess its one of the best movies..
  • fearfearitsselfe
    November 15, 2009
    first off yes very good effects has you on the edge of your seat....but the hole reason i hated this film is because 1 just the media and fear mongers alone have struck fear into so many peoples hearts especially children that are worried about the end of the world and then this? a major block buster? just for amusement? hollywood is starting to loose all sense of morality....my 7 year old brother came home from school scared about this topic.....roland emmerich should be ashamed and if this does happen kick his ass off the boat take care
  • lourdhuraj
    November 15, 2009
    This year's wonderful mega block buster movie and the only movie i can say and i can point out by arguing with the whole world cinema is this film 2012... What a production and what a roles for everyone who acted and what kinda joints between the roles into the whole film... They started this film in India and by that way am really proud to see this film because its my country... and They finishes it by showing only Africa and it made me to think about the world's reconstructions by the nature... wow it was tremendous effort for the whole unit who worked in this film and there was a thin back line tag story into this film and that is the LOVE AMONG HUMANITY...It was a great feel to watch this movie in big screen and yes they have shown the masters destruction all among the world... wow the Tsunami and the earth quakes the volcano's wow wow wow the spaceships that was great and i was speechless when i see this movie with my friends in the big screen it hit the whole audience as those destruction's comes into the theater it was the real feelings to watch this kinda picture the digital sounds and graphics have been used as masters and it never been seemed that they used graphics because the airplanes the whole city and the whole world they have shown in such a wonderful way... Thanks and i salute to all those who have taken much efforts to make this film out to the universe and thanks to the producers and the director Rolland Emmerich he proved once again he is the master... In one word 2012 is "FABULOUS"....
  • crnokosa89
    November 14, 2009
    cool movie...great graphics and great eye for details....some scenes were unnecessary but all in all not a bad movie....and plus it makes you think about how you would act or react to the news that the world is coming to an end...recomend it definitely...
  • rizwankhais
    November 14, 2009
    Its just a movie based upon wt we thing of 2012.

    but the fact is nothing gonna happen on that day so be calm and dont be worry..........
  • rehanpome
    November 13, 2009
    this is not true story just like a only fun & enjoy this movie
  • captrandy
    November 10, 2009
    This must be a great Movie based on what I have seen on TV, and trailers. It's a must see for me!!!!!
  • Rosepetal75
    November 7, 2009
    Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, & governments. A global cataclysm brings to end of the world & tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.
  • aiforge
    October 23, 2009
    Queer as in deviate from normal??

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Official Trailer

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Facts


  • DVD Easter Egg:
    How to find it:
    :O
    What happens:
    :P

Theater Showtimes


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2012 : Watch Free on TV


2012 Trivia


  • The national weather center says there are unique climate changes all over in 2012 Doomsday ?  Answer »
  • Carl believes earths rotation is slowly aligning with the black hole in 2012 Doomsday ?   Answer »
  • Where was Lloyd at in 2012 Doomsday ?  Answer »
  • What was Sarah looking to find in 2012 Doomsday ?  Answer »

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