2012 - It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel… thrilled

Cinema’s master of disaster is back! Roland Emmerich unleashed invading extraterrestrials in Independence Day, a giant mutant lizard in Godzilla and a new ice age in The Day After Tomorrow. With new movie 2012, however, he really lets rip.

If you’ve boned up on Mayan prophecies recently, you’ll know what’s in store.  2012 is the date of the apocalypse according to a thousand-year-old Mayan calendar that probably wasn’t consulted when London bid for the next Olympics. In Emmerich’s movie, however, the end of the world is well and truly nigh, which is bad news for leading man John Cusack, his US-centric co-stars and the rest of the planet.

Cusack plays divorced dad/struggling writer/limo driver Jackson Curtis, who gets wind of the impending catastrophe while on a camping trip to Yellowstone Park with his young son and daughter. There he runs into flaky pirate radio host Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson at his most bonkers), who is busily prophesising imminent doom to his listeners from his RV.

2012 - John Cusack’s Jackson Curtis learns about impending disaster from Woody Harrelson’s flaky Charlie Frost in Roland Emmerich’s blockbuster movie

The man who really is in the know is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s boffin, the US president’s chief science advisor, Adrian Helmsley. He’s worked out that the planet’s core has been overheating for years. In consequence, the earth’s crust is beginning to shift and is about to set off an unstoppable chain of volcanoes, earthquakes and giant tsunamis around the globe.

Nothing can be done to avert disaster. But do the world’s leaders have a plan? And can Cusack’s Jackson gather up his estranged family (including ex-wife Amanda Peet and her new boyfriend) and get them to safety (where?) before the planet falls apart?

2012 - Skyscrapers topple in Roland Emmerich’s blockbuster disaster movie

As Jackson strives frantically to keep his nearest and dearest a step ahead of disaster, it’s clear that Emmerich really knows what he’s doing. In a few years time (if we’re still around) the film’s special effects will probably look hokey, but for now 2012’s cataclysmic visions are incredibly exciting. Volcanoes spew lava bombs, earthquakes tear up city blocks, skyscrapers topple, California sinks beneath the waves, and it’s an amazing thrill ride - from the safety of your seat. Who would have thought the end of the world would be so… exhilarating!?

Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.