Widely touted as the biggest disaster film of all disaster films, director Roland Emmerich’s apocalyptic blockbuster 2012 is a visual spectacle not to be missed.
Some of the breathtaking special effects show massive tsunamis crashing over the Himalayan Alps, the city of Los Angeles plunging into a deep cavern caused by immense earthquakes, and a super volcano erupting in Yellowstone National Park, shooting fireballs across the plains.
However, 2012 isn’t just another adrenaline- pumping, hopeless doomsday death fest.
It is also a comedy.
While there are many ‘laugh out loud’ points in the movie, there are five main scenes that are completely over-the-top and unnecessary, so their inclusion in the film must be noted.
5. Escaping A Crumbling Los Angeles In a Limousine
When John Cusack’s character manoeuvres his limousine with the family in tow through Los Angeles, weaving in and out of collapsing skyscrapers and concrete overpasses, this was just too much.
In real life, the family would have been swallowed into the earth within minutes of leaving their house (provided they made it outside their house) and attempting to outrun the cracking pavement beneath them. It is not even remotely believable and that’s what makes it funny.
4. Woody Harrelson Getting Demolished By a Massive Fireball
Not really sure why this actor was in this movie, other than to generate comic relief amongst the ensuing chaos. His lines were cliché and so was his fanatical radio hippy character. It seems every end of the world movie needs to have a crazy guy. But, when he was broadcasting live in front of the erupting super volcano and the oversized rock crushed him, it was simply hilarious.
3. The Russian Pilot’s Face Before He Dies
Whenever a minor character in a disaster movie lets out a sigh of relief or smiles thinking he or she has just escaped a terrible death, it is almost certain they will die within minutes.
This comedic event starts unfolding while the film’s protagonists are flying to China in a Russian jumbo jet. Before arriving, the engines begin to fail (surprise, surprise). Thinking they are above miles of ocean, they begin preparing for a water landing.
They quickly discover they are actually descending into the mountain ranges of China due to the shifting of the earth’s poles, as explained earlier in the film. The pilot makes an emergency landing on a snowy makeshift landing strip while the others escape out the plane’s cargo door in a Bentley.
The plane then skids and stops just on the ledge of a cliff. The Russian lets out a cry of joy, smiles, and then the plane suddenly tips forward, falling down and blowing up at the bottom of the cliff. Perfect.
2. Gordon’s Ability To Fly Two Different Planes Almost Perfectly Without Any Real Prior Training
There is nothing more to be said about this character and his superhuman skill to manoeuvre whatever plane he finds himself in between falling skyscrapers, a rainfall of fire or a thick cloud of ash.
1. The Fall Of Yuri Karpov
The Russian billionaire sacrifices his life near the end of the film by heaving his heavy son onto the rising door of the ark. It would be a redeemable, emotional moment if it weren’t for the sound Karpov makes as he falls down the ledge into the pit below with his arms spread out. It sounds more like an ‘arrggh’ or the sound one makes when hitting his or her thumb with a hammer.
While these scenes are ridiculous, they definitely provide balance to the destruction and chaos throughout the movie and help the audience to laugh while watching Emmerich's world collapse.
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