2012(2009)

PG-13
2h 38m

Release Date: Nov 13, 2009 | Wide

40%
47%
B+
5.8

A frustrated writer struggles to keep his family alive when a series of global catastrophes threatens to annihilate mankind.

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Director & Top Cast

Roland Emmerich
Director

John Cusack
Jackson Curtis

Thandiwe Newton
Laura Wilson

Chiwetel Ejiofor
Adrian Helmsley

Amanda Peet
Kate Curtis

Oliver Platt
Carl Anheuser

Tom McCarthy

Gordon Silberman

Woody Harrelson

Charlie Frost

Danny Glover

President Thomas Wilson

Liam James

Noah Curtis

Morgan Lily

Lilly Curtis

Zlatko Buric

Yuri Karpov

Beatrice Rosen

Tamara

Alexandre Haussmann

Alec

Philippe Haussmann

Oleg

Johann Urb

Oleg

John Billingsley

Professor West

Chin Han

Tenzin

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital,DTS,SDDS

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,French,Tibetan,Mandarin,Russian,Hindi,Portuguese,Latin,Italian,Spanish

Summaries

Plot Summary

In 2009, an American geologist named Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) 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 rapidly increase. Adrian and Satnam visit the Naga Deng Copper mine and go 11,000 feet below the ground. Satnam says that the neutrinos from the sun have mutated into a new kind of particle, which is causing a physical reaction. They study a well in the mine that goes down another 6000 feet, and the water inside it is absolutely boiling.Arriving at a party in Washington, D.C., Helmsley presents his information to White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), who takes him to meet the President.In 2010, U.S. President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) and other international leaders from over forty-six nations begin a secret project to ensure humanity's survival. They begin building nine arks in the Himalayas, in Tibet. More than 400,000 people are chosen to board enormous "arks" constructed at Cho Ming, Tibet, in the southwest Chinese Himalayas. A Buddhist monk named Nima (Osric Chau) is evacuated while his brother Tenzin (Chin Han) joins the Ark project. Additional funding is raised by selling tickets for Euro 1 billion per person. By 2011, valuable items are moved to the arks with the help of art expert and First Daughter Dr. Laura Wilson (Thandiwe Newton).In 2012, Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a science fiction writer in Los Angeles who works as a limousine driver for Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Buric). Jackson's former wife Kate (Amanda Peet), and their children Noah (Liam James) and Lilly (Morgan Lily), live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon Gordon Silberman (Tom McCarthy). Jackson takes Noah and Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park. When they arrive at the park, they find the park fenced off by the military who arrived. They cross over the fence but are captured by the U.S. Army and taken in to see Helmsley, who recognizes Jackson after he published his recent book, Farewell Atlantis. After they are released from military custody, they meet Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who hosts a radio show from the park (also the person who spotted them enter the restricted area).Later that night, after the military evacuates from Yellowstone, Jackson watches Charlie's video of Charles Hapgood's theory that polar shifts and the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar predict that the 2012 phenomenon will occur. The 2012 phenomenon was a collection of beliefs that the world would end on December 21, 2012. The beliefs were based on the Mayan Long Count calendar, which was used in Central America before Europeans arrived. The calendar's "zero date" was set at 11 August 3114 BC, and the 13th Maya date 13.0.0.0.0, marked the end of the current world.Charlie also tells Jackson that those who discovered this and plotted to inform the public were killed in various accidents. After an earthquake hits Los Angeles, the family returns home. At the Santa Monica Airport, after dropping off Yuri's sons Alec and Oleg, who also warn of impending doom as they board a plane, he rents a Cessna 340A and sets out to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon as the Earth crust displacement begins with a magnitude 10.9 earthquake, and they narrowly escape Los Angeles as California collapses into the Pacific Ocean.As millions of people die in earthquakes worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve a map from Charlie (which shows the location of the Arks), escaping as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Charlie stays behind to broadcast the eruption and is killed. Learning that the arks are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas to find a larger plane. They find Yuri, his twin sons Alec (Alexandre Haussmann) and Oleg (Philippe Haussmann), girlfriend Tamara (Beatrice Rosen), and pilot Sasha (Johann Urb).Helmsley, Anheuser, and Laura Wilson are aboard Air Force One, where they are heading to the arks. President Wilson remains in Washington, D.C., to address the nation one last time. The planet's crust shifts, resulting in billions of people dead in disasters worldwide, including President Wilson. Helmsley had promised to evacuate Satnam and his wife Aparna (Agam Darshi), but the rescue helicopters never arrived and Satnam perishes with his family.Harry Helmsley (Blu Mankuma) is Adrian's father who works with Tony Delgatto (George Segal), a jazz singer aboard the cruise ship Genesis. Adrian is helpless as a Mega Tsunami flips the cruise ship over, killing everyone on board.With the presidential line of succession gone, following the death of the Vice President and the disappearance of the Speaker of the House, Carl appoints himself acting commander-in-chief even though he is not in the presidential line of succession. Back in Las Vegas, the group steals an Antonov An-500 aircraft, and they depart for China as the Yellowstone ash cloud engulfs the city. President Wilson is later killed by a mega tsunami that sends the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House.When the group arrives in China, the plane runs out of fuel. As the plane touches down on a glacier, the party uses a Bentley Flying Spur stored in the hold to escape, except Sasha, who stays in the cockpit and is killed when the jet goes over a cliff.They are then spotted by helicopters from the Chinese army. Yuri and his sons, possessing tickets, are taken to the arks, leaving the Curtis family and Gordon behind, along with Tamara, because Yuri knows she had an affair with Sasha.The remaining group is picked up by Nima and taken to the arks with his grandparents. They stow away on Ark 4, where the United States contingent is aboard, with the help of Tenzin. As a mega tsunami approaches the site, an impact driver becomes lodged in the gears of the ark's hydraulic doors, preventing a boarding gate from closing, which in turn prevents the ship from starting its engines.In the ensuing chaos, Yuri, Gordon, and Tamara are killed, and Ark 4 is set adrift. Jackson and Noah dislodge the impact driver, and the crew regains control of the ark before it collides with Mount Everest. Jackson rejoins with his family, and he and Kate reconcile.Twenty-seven days later, the waters are receding. The arks travel to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, where the Drakensberg Mountain range has now emerged. Helmsley starts a relationship with Laura while Jackson and Kate rekindle their relationship.

Storyline

Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world. — Jim Beaver Only a few years after the American geologist Adrian Helmsley's warnings of an impending global Armageddon by the year 2012, the Earth is devastated from end to end by cataclysmic natural disasters. As the President of the U.S. along with other leaders of the G8 Nations complete their secret project in Tibet to build colossal arks to sustain humanity, at the same time, the struggling Los Angeles author, Jackson Curtis, goes through hell and back to reunite with his ex-wife and their two kids. Inevitably, the unfathomable catastrophes are rapidly escalating, while Jackson strives to give his family a future in Tibet, however, can he make it in time? — Nick Riganas A middle-aged male who is worried that the world is going to end does everything that he can to save his family from ultimate disasters that are happening all around the world. He discovers that time is running out for everyone and everything if they want to survive. — RECB3 Geophysicist Adrian Helmsley officially visits India's Dr. Satnam Tsurutani, his pretty wife, Aparna, and their son. From thence, he is led to the world's deepest copper mine, where he finds evidence that the Earth's crust is heating up faster than expected. He quickly collects evidence, and presents it before the President of the United States. Expecting the news to hit leading media, he is instead stunned when he learns that the powers-that-be have no intention of publicizing this catastrophe, and are intent on saving wealthy families that can shell out a billion Euros per family on four mammoth arks - without realizing that if the Earth is indeed headed for the prophetic self-destruction on 21 December 2012 - how can arks and it's wealthy inhabitants survive? — rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com) 1 more All