2012

Trying to save the world: Chiwetel Ejioforas Dr. Helmsey

2012 (2009). Director: Roland Emmerich.

Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a special officer of science and technology who is one of the key men dealing with a planet-wide crisis. Solar eruptions are causing the earth's crust to destabilize, causing massive earthquakes and tidal waves. Some feel this is the fulfillment of an ancient Mayan prophecy saying the world will end in 2012. All of the nations of the world have united (an unlikely development) in coming up with a plan to save as many people as possible, and anyone who endangers this very secret scheme is literally assassinated over Helmsley's objections. His chief opponent is a rather ruthless politician named Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt). In the meantime a divorced writer named Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) tries to get his ex-wife, Kate (Amanda Peet), their two children, and Kate's boyfriend Gordon (Tom McCarthy) to one of the ships that will take the specially-chosen to safety. These turn out not to be spaceships (as in When Worlds Collide) but gargantuan arks. 

A tsunami wipes out India

2012 obviously has a lot of material to cover, and while there are some problems with the human drama, the FX and disaster sequences are quite eye-popping and thrilling: Jackson and company driving pell mell to the airport as the city literally collapses all around them; the plane flight as California shatters and sinks into the ocean far below; the collapse of St. Peter's, destroying the faithful; a battleship smashing into the White House as Washington D.C. is engulfed in a massive, devastating tidal wave; a tsunami obliterating India along with the scientist who first figured out what was going on; and so on. 

John Cusack and Woody Harrelson

The real star of this movie is not John Cusack (whom I've always thought of as competent but strictly minor-league) but Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays the real compassionate hero with strength and dignity. Cusack and the others seem more concerned with survival than with anything else -- not that we can necessarily blame them-- and in fact few characters display the effects of such a traumatic and catastrophic situation. Characters rarely express dismay and compassion over the deaths of millions (but then when heroic Gordon dies a terrible death, he is pretty much forgotten by the end of the movie, making the film's claims about how much we should all care for each other ring a bit hollow). 

Danny Glover as the president

Woody Harrelson offers a flavorful performance as a kind of weird doomsayer who turns out to have been right all along, and Danny Glover (of Switchback) is effective as the American president who elects to stay behind with his doomed constituents. George Segal and Blu Mankuma (playing Helmsley's father) score as two buddies who take one last cruise into oblivion, and Zlatko Buric is fine as the stereotypical Russian billionaire who, surprisingly, makes a supreme sacrifice for one of his little boys. Dean Semier's cinematography is first-rate. Roland Emmerich also directed Moonfall.

Verdict: Imperfect but exciting disaster flick with often stunning effects work. ***. 

SHORT TAKES III

Dermot Mulroney and Michael Cudlitz

Silent Witness (2011 telefilm) Director: Peter Markle. A lawyer, Tony (Dermot Mulroney) who was once accused of a rape-murder, goes back to his home town to defend an old friend (Michael Cudlitz) who has been accused of killing a teenage girl with whom he was having an affair. Well-acted and absorbing, with a degree of suspense and a satisfying wind-up. Anne Heche is effective as the defendant's wife; Judd Hirsch scores as a legal associate of Tony's. Anthony Ruivivar and Lisa Berry are also notable in supporting roles. ***.

McConaughey and Phillippe

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011). Director: Brad Furman. Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) defends an entitled, homophobic creep named Louis (Ryan Phillippe) from a rape charge but begins to realize that his client may be even worse than he imagined. Performances help put over this suspense film, with notable work from the two leads as well as from Marisa Tomei as Mick's ex-wife and William H. Macy as his investigator. Macy apparently plays a gay character, but there is no discussion about Louis' remarks about the "faggots"who allegedly pulled him off his victim. Still, this is an interesting and attention-holding flick with some twists. **3/4.               

Bill Pullman

Innocent (2011 telefilm). Judge Rusty Sabich (Bill Pullman), who was acquitted years ago of murdering his mistress, is now put on trail for allegedly murdering his wife, Barbara (Marcia Gay Harden). Richard Schiff and Alfred Molina turn in good performances along with the leads. The picture is confusing at times because it bounces back and forth in time, although it has a decent score. Some of the developments are unlikely. Absorbing enough but ultimately minor. Based on a novel by Scott Turow, moderately well-known for the vastly over-rated Presumed Innocent. **3/4.

Switchback (1997) is a suspenseful, unpredictable and occasionally thrilling movie about an FBI man (Dennis Quiad) who searches for his son's abductor while another man (Danny Glover) picks up a hitchhiker (Jared Leto) and the audience wonders which is the serial killer. Quaid's actions sometimes seem strange, and there's a lot left unsaid about all of the characters but this is an absorbing and well-acted movie. Ted Levine and William Fichtner are also in the cast. Written and directed by Jeb Stuart. .

A Murder of Crows (1998) Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a man who becomes a celebrated author after presenting a dead man's manuscript as his own, but then winds up in deep crap when the book seems to detail a series of murders. Suspenseful if far-fetched, the entertaining picture features some good performances from Gooding, Tom Berenger, Eric Stoltz, Mark Pellegrino, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Written and directed by Rowdy Herrington. ***.