2012 is a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver. Although it received generally mixed reviews, its worldwide theatrical revenue reached about $770 million.
The film includes references to Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in 2012.
Emmerich has announced that 2012 will be his last film involving disasters.
Plot
In 2009, Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an American geologist, visits astrophysicist Dr. Satnam Tsurutani (Jimi Mistry) in India and learns that neutrinos from a massive solar flare are causing the temperature of the Earth's core to increase. Adrian informs White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) and United States President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) that this will trigger a catastrophic chain of natural disasters.
In 2010, Wilson, along with other international leaders, begins a secret project intended to ensure humanity's survival. Approximately 400,000 people are chosen to board ships called "arks" that are constructed at Cho Ming, Tibet, in the Himalayas. Additional funding for the project is raised by selling tickets to the private sector for €1 billion per person. By 2011, humanity's valuable treasures are moved to the Himalayas under the guise of protecting them from terrorist attacks with the help of art expert/First Daughter Dr. Laura Wilson (Thandie Newton) when she meets with the Louvre director Roland Picard (Patrick Bauchau).
In 2012, Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a science fiction writer in Los Angeles who works part-time as a limousine driver for billionaire Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Burić). Jackson's ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) and their children Noah (Liam James) and Lilly (Morgan Lily) live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy).
Jackson takes Noah and Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park. After their encounter with Dr. Helmsley, Jackson and the kids meet Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson) who hosts a radio show from the park. That night, Charlie plays a video of Charles Hapgood's theory that polar shifts and the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar predict that the 2012 phenomenon is going to occur. He has a map of the ark project in addition to information about government officials and scientists from around the world who were murdered after planning to alert the public about the project and the upcoming apocalypse.
The family returns home as seismic activity increases along the west coast of the United States. Jackson grows suspicious and rents a plane to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon as the Earth crust displacement begins, and they escape Los Angeles first using a limousine and then a Cessna 340 as the city slides into the Pacific Ocean in a mega earthquake that ruptures the San Andreas Fault.
As millions die in catastrophic earthquakes worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve Charlie's map, escaping as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Staying behind to broadcast the eruption, Charlie is killed in the blast. Learning the arks are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas. They meet Yuri, his twin sons Alec and Oleg (Alexandre Haussmann and Philippe Haussmann), girlfriend Tamara (Beatrice Rosen) and pilot Sasha (Johann Urb). The group secures an Antonov 500 aircraft and departs for China. Also heading for the arks aboard Air Force One are Anheuser, Helmsley and Laura Wilson. President Wilson chooses to remain in Washington, D.C. to address the nation one last time. With the Vice President dead and the Speaker of the House missing, Anheuser assumes de facto leadership. President Wilson is later killed by a megatsunami that sends the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House.
Arriving in People's Republic of China in a crash landing that kills Sasha, the group is spotted by the People's Liberation Army. Yuri and his sons, possessing tickets, are taken to the arks. Meanwhile in Eastern India, Satnam phones Helmsley to warn him about a megatsunami that would arrive at the location of the arks earlier than expected. Satnam is then killed along with his family and other Indians scaling the Nampan Plateau when the airlift for his family never showed up. Then the Curtis family, Gordon and Tamara are picked up by Nima (Osric Chau), a Buddhist monk on his way to the arks with his grandparents (Lisa Lu and Chang Tseng). They stow away with the help of Nima's brother Tenzin (Chin Han), who has been working on the ark project's construction crew. As a megatsunami approaches the site, an impact driver becomes lodged between the gears of the ark's Hydraulics Chamber, preventing a boarding gate from closing and rendering the ship unable to start its engines. In the ensuing chaos, Yuri, Gordon and Tamara are killed, Tenzin is wounded, and the flooding ark is set adrift. Jackson and Noah dislodge the impact driver and the crew regains control of the ark, preventing a collision with Mount Everest.
After flood waters from the tsunamis recede, the arks set sail for the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa where the Drakensberg Mountains have risen in relation to sea level and become the tallest mountains in the world. Jackson is reconciled with his family and Helmsley starts a relationship with Laura. The film ends with the camera panning out to show Africa on the Earth's new landscape.
Cast
- John Cusack as Jackson Curtis, a struggling science fiction novelist who occasionally works as a limousine driver.[4]
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Dr. Adrian Helmsley, geologist and scientific advisor to the President of the USA who is a big fan of Curtis' work.[5]
- Amanda Peet as Kate Curtis, a medical student and Jackson's ex-wife.[6]
- Liam James as Noah Curtis, Jackson and Kate's son.
- Morgan Lily as Lilly Curtis, Jackson and Kate's daughter.
- Thomas McCarthy as Dr. Gordon Silberman, Kate's current boyfriend, a plastic surgeon.[7]
- Danny Glover as Thomas Wilson, the President of the United States.[8]
- Thandie Newton as Dr. Laura Wilson, art expert who helps gather the world's art treasures and President Wilson's daughter.[8]
- Oliver Platt as Carl Anheuser, the President's Chief of Staff.[8]
- Zlatko Burić as Yuri Karpov, a Russian billionaire.
- Beatrice Rosen as Tamara, Yuri's Russian girlfriend.
- Alexandre Haussmann as Alec Karpov, one of Yuri's sons.
- Philippe Haussmann as Oleg Karpov, Alec's twin brother.
- Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost, a scientist disguised as a Yellowstone hermit who explains the Mayan 2012 legends to Jackson Curtis.
- Chin Han as Tenzin, a worker in Tibet.
- Osric Chau as Nima, a Buddhist monk and Tenzin's brother.
- Lisa Lu as Grandma Sonam, Nima and Tenzin's grandmother.
- Chang Tseng as Grandpa Sonam, Nima and Tenzin's grandfather.
- John Billingsley as Professor Frederic West, an American scientist.
- Ryan McDonald as Scotty, Dr. Helmsley's assistant.
- Johann Urb as Sasha, a Russian pilot and Tamara's lover.
- Blu Mankuma as Harry Helmsley, Adrian's father and Tony's musical (jazz) partner.
- George Segal as Tony Delgatto, an elderly traveling musician and Harry's musical (jazz) partner.
- Patrick Bauchau as Roland Picard, the curator of the Louvre who is killed by the government when he gets too near the truth.
- Jimi Mistry as Dr. Satnam Tsurutani, an Indian scientist who helps discover the events leading to the catastrophe.
- Karin Konoval as Sally, President Wilson's secretary.
- Stephen McHattie as Captain Michaels, the captain of the ark that Jackson and his family stowaway on.
- Henry O as Lama Rinpoche
- Gerard Plunkett as Isaacs
