Now this is how you destroy the world. Roland Emmerich's 2012 pounces on a Nostradamus-style loophole in the Mayan calendar and rams the apocalypse through it, gleefully conjuring up an enormous amount of Saturday-matinee fun in the process. A scientist (Chiwetel Ejiofor) detects shifting continental plates and sun flares and realizes that this foretells the imminent destruction of the planet. Just as the molten lava is about to hit the fan, a novelist (John Cusack) … mehrtakes his kids on a trip to Yellowstone; later he'll hook up with his ex (Amanda Peet) and her new boyfriend (Tom McCarthy) in a global journey toward safety. If there is any safety. The suitably hair-raising plot lines are punctuated--frequently, people, frequently--by visions of mayhem around the globe: the Vatican falls over, the White House is clobbered (Emmerich's Independence Day was not enough on that score), and the California coastline dives into the Pacific Ocean. Unlike other action directors we could name, Emmerich actually understands how to let you see and drink in these vast special-effects vistas--and they are incredible. He also honors the old Irwin Allen disaster-movie tradition by actually shelling out for good actors. Cusack and Ejiofor are convincing even in the cheesiest material; toss in Danny Glover (the U.S. president), Woody Harrelson (a nut-bar conspiracy-theorizing radio host), Thandie Newton, and Oliver Platt, and you've got a very watchable batch of people.
Extras:
DISC ONE
*The Film
Audio Commentary by Co-Writer/Director Roland Emmerich and Co-Composer/Co-Writer/Producer Harald Kloser
"Picture-in-Picture: Roland's Vision" Interactive Feature
Alternate Ending (3:39)
Startup/Bonus Trailers for "Armored", "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus", "Did You Hear About the Morgans?, "Angels & Demons" and "Planet 51"
MovieIQ
BD Live
DISC TWO
Interactive Mayan Calendar
- "Mysteries of the Mayan Calendar" Featurette (3:53)
- "Mayan Personality Profile" Game
- "Mayan Horoscope" Game
- Legend (10 pages)
Deleted Scenes
- Play All (4:55)
- Limo Drive with Twins (0:40)
- President Wilson Talks with Sally (1:20)
- Something Must Have Gone Wrong (1:24)
- Jackson Underwater (1:04)
- Anheuser Apologizes (0:55)
"Designing the End of the World" Featurette (26:03)
"Roland Emmerich: The Master of the Modern Epic" Featurette (9:31)
"The End of the World: The Actor's Perspective" Featurette (7:34)
"Science Behind the Destruction" Featurette (13:19)
"Countdown to the Future" Featurette (22:03)
"Time for Miracles" Music Video by Adam Lambert (4:15)
"Making the "Time for Miracles" Music Video with Adam Lambert" Featurette (2:40)
Bonus Trailers for " Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Michael Jackson’s This Is It", "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama" and "Breaking Bad"
DISC THREE (Digital Copy Disc) weniger