2012 * * *

2012 is a movie that is implausible most of the time, but entertaining regardless.  The last three quarters of the movie is almost non-stop action.  We get to see the super volcano at Yellowstone National Park erupt into a mushroom cloud, which under normal circumstances would be a major continental catastrophe, but as it turns out, it is least violent disaster that happens in this movie. The scale of worldwide destruction depicted in this movie goes way beyond anything we have ever seen before and the special effects make for good eye candy.

Anyone who knows anything about science knows that neutrinos from the sun in no possible way could make the center of the earth heat up.  This is not a movie that you want to think very deeply about.  Despite how unlikely the science seems, this movie reminds us that the universe is a very violent place.   Natural disasters have caused mass extinctions on planet earth multiple times before, so why not now?

There are other implausible moments, like when they can't start the engine of a giant ship as they go careening toward certain doom.  Nevertheless, it is easy to get caught up in the action, and the many characters are just barely interesting enough to make us care.

I enjoyed seeing Woody Harrelson as a wacked out conspiracy theorist. He is probably the most entertaining character in the movie. Danny Glover does a good job playing the president.