2012: Future is Past

Ok. This is one of the hottest topics of 2009. 2012. And why was it the most talked about thing? Not because people believed or did not believe in it. It was mostly because of the movie that was released. It was a self igniting fire. The movie was helped by the rumours and the rumours were spread by the movie. In the end we don’t know who started it all but the filmmakers made big bucks after finding a nice reason to exploit the effects of multiple destructive forces of Nature all acting at once. Sounds like the perfect disaster movie. Disastrous in both ways? Probably yes, probably not.

 

I heard and read so much about this movie that I found myself left in the dark while everyone else talked about it. I just heard a single sentence review mostly: “Awesome graphics (everyone uses it now), illogical story-line”. Ok. In one of the most unplanned plans of my life I rushed to this movie almost a month after release and still found myself sitting 2 rows from the bottom! Tickets selling like hot cakes? Hardly any doubt. Is it innocent curiosity about the world coming to an end, or is it ignorant over-confidence to only check out the “awesome graphics”? I would definitely put myself under the second category. Basically no one was interested in the logic of the plot. Good. First thing before watching a Disaster Movie, leave all feelings, emotions, humanity, etc back at home. You’re watching 2 hours of pure destruction and death. Merciless filmmakers and helpless audience. It’s illogical to include logic here. What happens when Godzilla smashes its tail carelessly into an NYC building? Hundreds die, but did we care? No. We couldn’t wait to see its eggs in Madison Square Garden.

 

First of all the movie starts of with a scientist in the Department of Astrophysics, University of Chennai detecting some “neu-thingies” from a mega solar flare causing some kind of action under the earth. Ok catchy stuff there. And what do we see next, leaking rooftops, weird elevator. I didn’t get that. And once they enter the lab, crazy gadgetry, high-tech equipment, what not. Why the stark contrast between inside and outside? And why was an actor with an American accent being forced to speak English with an Indian accent? And also forced to speak Hindi when he clearly couldn’t!! Did the film makers expect no Indian to watch this movie? At least 15 Million people might have watched it in the initial days it self. Alright, he warns this guy and suddenly things fly over board because it’s happening faster than they imagined. And soon California starts disappearing and wheel sets into motion. The end of the world was only days away. It took some time for me to get accustomed to the ‘good luck’ of the main characters. That’s where ‘logic’ comes into play and I began ignoring their good luck. From here I only concentrated on the VFX that everyone was so happily praising.

 

True to their word, I was blown. A plane lacking enough lift flies in between cracks created when the Earth breaks open, and a subway train just flies out of the tube? Ok. I was shocked by the idea, but god, it was awesome. In spite of having quite a good idea about how most of these ‘unbelievably believable’ things are done, I was forced to believe. And the story went on and on and on. Everywhere we find millions just disappearing into deep cracks, under volcanoes, under tsunamis, and what not. The ones being secretly escorted to ‘Arks’ are the high profile guys who got enough load in their pockets to buy the costliest thing on Earth, Life. Until I saw that movie, I never thought Life was for sale. But apparently it is and you got to be filthy rich to buy a ticket to Life. What a destination! Meanwhile the rest of the world doesn’t even know anything until the brave US President stays back and lets the world know. And in between the contrasts, come the ‘normal’ guys who have nothing short of an adventure to crash land into China and Zip off on a Bentley that starts on Voice Command. Somebody finally thinks more ‘human’ and makes an attempt to go rebel. Obviously it’s too late to save the 6 billion people that included the Indian scientist who detected it all. The lead characters in the movie were just those toys that got lucky every time. Somehow they just escaped everything, almost entirely unscathed! Miracle. Either people get killed brutally or are totally safe with their tuxes and leather boots still shining. Finally the drama seemed to come to a close after the ship with a jammed door finally gets sealed. Lives are actually saved from peril and there’s a hero for the first time in the movie. That had to happen or else it would have played to empty seats.

 

Like the other science fiction movies, you’re made to feel awestruck! “Oh! The new south pole is at Wisconsin”. “Oh! They just crashed into Mt. Everest”. “Oh! Hollywood just sank and took with it all the actors and studios and directors, producers, stuntmen, CG FX, etc. but I’m still able to watch a movie”.

 

Nice. I must say I enjoyed the experience. Somehow I couldn’t accept the fact that billions of humans were left to be taken by the Earth while the rich enjoyed Life. The end of the movie didn’t feel like a new beginning, it just felt like The End despite thousands of ‘costly’ lives being saved. The end of human dominance over the world. Is that good or bad? Judging by the current punishment we humans are giving to the Earth, maybe the end of human dominance would be a good thing. Obviously then I wouldn’t have enough freedom to write this post. Probably come 2012 I might be washed away by a NW heading wave as mercilessly as it would wash away my computer. So at least till then I hope to continue.

 

P.S: I didn’t understand why they released this in 2009. Probably they felt these 3 years will give us enough time to build our own ‘arks’ or to earn enough to buy a Ticket to Life.