2012 - 2009

I didn’t like it. The catastrophe-scenes were good enough, but I didn’t like the story. The story is that there is going to be a massive catastrophe that will destroy our world killing everyone, so the world’s leaders come together with a plan to save themselves: build some big, huge modern arks in China. In order to pay for them they sell tickets to the richest people on Earth, asking for millions each person. 
They tell nothing to the public until it’s too late, of course.  
They discovered that the world would ‘almost’ end three years before it happened, and yet in 2012 they suddenly went: ooopsss I made a mistake, it will happen in a few hours and we haven’t even packed yet!!! So they all hurry to get themselves to China, all but the US president and the Prime minister of Italy who decide to stay and die with their people.... seriously?
There is the usual story of the random family that will find safety (that’s your happy ending), consisting of two children, their divorced parents and the mother’s new boyfriend that although proving himself to be a good nice person will eventually die so that the family can be reunited :-/
Is really the world full of men who cared more about themselves and their work than of their family?? Really? I mean, I think men should rebel at this image that always portrays them like this, I know there’s lots of men who love their family more than anything in the world, specially their children, because you can divorce a wife, it happens, but you can’t, you shouldn’t divorce your children!
Anyway, this Jackson (John Cusack) had met by chance a crazy man, Charlie (Woody Harrelson) who actually proved to be right in all his conspiracy theories, so when things start happening, Jackson takes his family to get Charlie’s map (because he had a map and yet he stayed there to die). The family travels by air, flying over a world totally breaking apart in flames, with big earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis destroying everything mankind created, and also changing the geography of the world. There are many difficulties, of course, but like every movie protagonist Jackson is lucky! He finds Charlie right before he dies, he finds the map right before the camper falls down the earth, gets on the plane on time, then they need a bigger plane, and among all the people seeking escape he manages to find his rich Russian employer who by sheer coincidence has been delayed but has just found a plane and they need a co-pilot and Gordon (Tom McCarthy) can help so they all get aboard. Where there was supposed to be the ocean they now find mountains and they land in the snow, getting out in a car that easily stops when they want :-/ the poor pilot of course dies, after having saved them. When the Russian guy and his two sons are escorted away because they have the pass, our heroes are offered a lift by a monk passing that way on route to the ark... they could as well have shown an angel coming down to take them in his wings at this point!
The Russian guy only paid for his children but not for his girlfriend, but then his ark is broken so he’s left out while she manages to get in thanks to the monk’s brother who smuggles them in, but then Gordon dies :-/ At this point Adrian (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the man who first informed the American government of what was going to happen, makes a speech in front of all the world’s leader in the various arks, saying that being human means compassion and they should let the people in, and what do you know they all agree, no matter that it’s only 15 minutes before the tsunami hits them, no matter that for three years they planned it all just for themselves... now after a few words from him they are suddenly compassionate and open their gate to the people waiting outside the ark (meaning the people who were supposed to be on the broken ark plus the Chinese workers, I think). The Russian guy dies after managing to get his children inside the ark, but then the gate doesn’t close because some big cable got itself into the mechanism when they had the accident that caused Gordon’s death (meaning when the gate suddenly opened), so they can’t start the engine and water gets in. Adrian manages to communicate with Jackson who goes down to free the gate of the cable so that they can finally start the engine. At which point we move a month later, when they say that things are not too bad all considering, and they will have to relocate to the south of Africa which is now the highest point on Earth, or something like that, and Jackson is with wife and children, family reunited :-/
Now, did Tamara (Beatrice Rosen), the Russian guy’s girlfriend, die? I remember that she was like drowning, and at the end her dog was with the children... and yet she was between the little girl and all the passengers on one side and Jackson and his group on the other... how come that they survived on both sides but she didn’t?
What’s more, the disgusting detail that they had no space for more people but they made big luxurious cabins, and they said they didn’t have food for all those people and yet at the end they all looked healthy and they had money to put cameras in every side of the ark, the smallest side of it could be seen via cameras... 
The arks were full of old rich people, their only criteria to what people should be saved was based on power or money... disgusting. Yet, at they end they pretend that humans are great, compassionate, warm hearted... it’s easier to believe that the world might end suddenly that these people would risk it all to let in some more people... still they only saved the people that they had there in front of them, while millions were left to die, so in a way it was because they would have had to watch them die instead of just pretending that they couldn’t do anything for them, and running away before having the chance to see anyone hurt. 
They say they cared about preserving life on Earth, they even took animals like Noah, and yet they spent, pardon me, wasted a lot of money on stupid things. Big cabins, sophisticated equipment... while they should have used the space for people, the money on food and covers. They should have cared about children and teachers. What were they thinking of doing once it was all over, settling on an empty land, since among them there were only rich powerful people? Who amongst them would know what to do, since there was no worker to give orders to??
Lots of things I could say, but let’s cut it short. 
I didn’t like it at all. 
Other actors I want to mention:
Laura (US president’s daughter) - Thandie Newton
The President - Danny Glover

Carl (the man who was the first to know from Adrian) - Oliver Platt