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 Does anyone know a movie with a four digit number as a title starring John Cusack as a failed writer, with an African-American co-star as a fan of his book, where John must go through an incredible ordeal with his estranged wife, and all of this will eventually makes them closer? Sound like “1408”? No, it’s “2012”! But the similarities are scary, huh? It must be a sign of the apocalypse! Anyway, “2012” was released just a few short weeks ago in 2009, which is where the story actually begins. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Adrian Helmsley, a geologist in India who discovers the beginning of a cataclysmic event from a colleague of his. Essentially, because of the solar alignment, the sun is releasing massive amounts of radiation that are microwaving the Earth’s core. Wild right? Three years later, we meet Jackson Curtis, played by John Cusack, who decides to go camping with his kids. Well, not everything goes as planned. Rather than a peaceful quiet weekend, they get detained by the government, held up by a crazy hippie (portrayed by a hilarious Woody Harrelson), and then a mountian blows up! Guess the Mayans were right. Soon, Jackson and his family are on an insane, special effects fueled adventure to get to the government funded fort ships. Now, “2012” had a lot going on and I mean a lot. “2012” has a boatload of character arcs. Maybe too many for its own good. Too many people are introduced at one time, and we begin to lose track of the ones already seen. This was a disappointment, since many characters are never developed to their full potential. John Cusack’s character is ignored for annoyingly long amounts of time, just to show off cool special effects and the masses dying. Now don’t get me wrong, the special effects are absolutely breathtaking. I don’t think effects have ever been exploited so well in a movie. Not a single scene is cheesy, and that is saying something when you’re watching a disaster movie. The acting here ranges from pretty bad (Thandie Newton) to typically spectacular, like Cusack, Harrelson, and Danny Glover as the (second?) African-American president. One of the major strengths and weaknesses of the film lies within its sense of humor. I found it especially amusing when the jazz duo sang “It’s Not the End of the World” right before a tsunami sent their boat flying into the White House, but the movie relied far too heavily on it. I began counting the little ironic statements about halfway through, and lost count soon thereafter. And as fun as “2012” was, it got very repetitive. There seemed to be a basic formula of tranquility, sudden chaos, everyone running, Cusack and crew escape, back to tranquility, now cut to some other people trying to fix Earth. Repeat. Over and over. Anyway, “2012” is a visually incredible flick, with generally good acting, but it fails in the execution of its idea, and eventually comes out to a slightly-better-than-average disaster flick. But that’s not saying much. I therefore award “2012” with two and a half lions out of five, as this Fall’s action blockbuster, and soon to be 2013’s funniest comedy.