Apocalyptic microwaves
Apr. 26th, 2010 12:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntiemeeshBeing a bit bored this evening, I popped in a dvd. Up this weekend in the rotation, apocalypse movie of the week, 2012.
What I liked about it:
*the random appearance of Minor Actors I Know, such as Patrick Bauchau and Dean Marshall (oddly enough, I think I recognized both of them by their voices before I saw their faces).
*Chiwetel Ejiofor - the only other thing I've seen him in is Serenity, where he plays The Operator. And I loved him in that, even though I almost never love the bad guys. It was nice to see him not be the bad guy here.
Everything else:
*was mostly stupid. The sun is emitting neutrinos which have mutated to form a new kind of terrible microwave radiation which is baking the planet from the inside out (seriously, as far as I could tell, the entire premise of the movie was that the earth was a potato and the sun was a giant microwave). The world governments sell super expensive tickets to the richest of the rich to come live on arcs, and somehow no one else on the planet finds out until about one day before the apocalypse hits. The entire crust of the planet shifts about 1500 miles in a matter of hours and no one feels a thing (oh, except for the cities that got gobbled up, of course). Some random yahoo who's taken a couple of flying lessons is able to jump in a plane and navigate through a storm of flying volcano debris and a city falling down around him (apparently he's really good at dodging, but not so good at gaining altitude in order to avoid having to dodge). And the list goes on and on and on.
It was entertaining, though. Most of the people that you're rooting for are still alive at the end. A little bit of romance, but mostly just glimpsed in a few scenes, so not enough to be annoying. Enough fast-paced action and adrenaline to keep you from thinking too much about the utter ridiculousness of everything that you're watching.
I didn't love it, and in fact, I'm probably dumber for having watched it, but I didn't exactly hate it, either. I'm very easily entertained. Give me a pretty face (John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor both fit that bill very nicely) and lots of fast action and I'm content.
What I liked about it:
*the random appearance of Minor Actors I Know, such as Patrick Bauchau and Dean Marshall (oddly enough, I think I recognized both of them by their voices before I saw their faces).
*Chiwetel Ejiofor - the only other thing I've seen him in is Serenity, where he plays The Operator. And I loved him in that, even though I almost never love the bad guys. It was nice to see him not be the bad guy here.
Everything else:
*was mostly stupid. The sun is emitting neutrinos which have mutated to form a new kind of terrible microwave radiation which is baking the planet from the inside out (seriously, as far as I could tell, the entire premise of the movie was that the earth was a potato and the sun was a giant microwave). The world governments sell super expensive tickets to the richest of the rich to come live on arcs, and somehow no one else on the planet finds out until about one day before the apocalypse hits. The entire crust of the planet shifts about 1500 miles in a matter of hours and no one feels a thing (oh, except for the cities that got gobbled up, of course). Some random yahoo who's taken a couple of flying lessons is able to jump in a plane and navigate through a storm of flying volcano debris and a city falling down around him (apparently he's really good at dodging, but not so good at gaining altitude in order to avoid having to dodge). And the list goes on and on and on.
It was entertaining, though. Most of the people that you're rooting for are still alive at the end. A little bit of romance, but mostly just glimpsed in a few scenes, so not enough to be annoying. Enough fast-paced action and adrenaline to keep you from thinking too much about the utter ridiculousness of everything that you're watching.
I didn't love it, and in fact, I'm probably dumber for having watched it, but I didn't exactly hate it, either. I'm very easily entertained. Give me a pretty face (John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor both fit that bill very nicely) and lots of fast action and I'm content.
