ROTTEN TOMATOES: 12 Facts About 2012

12 Facts About 2012

We take a journey through Roland Emmerich's disaster epic.

by Matt Mueller | November 02, 2009

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Did the Mayans really predict, all those centuries ago, that Earth would be visited by planetary apocalypse three years from now? It's open to interpretation -- Roland Emmerich has a gargantuan disaster movie to sell and even he admits the whole 2012 theory is just, "a nice hook for the audience." John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Woody Harrelson and Danny Glover are a few of the stars swept up in Emmerich's latest cataclysmic shocker. Rotten Tomatoes meets the cast and director in Cancun, Mexico - close to the once-throbbing heart of Mayan civilisation -- for a 2012 fact-finding mission.

Continue onto the next page and beware some mild spoilers as we start our journey through the world of 2012.

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(1-20 of 135 posts) | Reply

Gordon Franklin Terry Sr writes:
on Nov 02 2009 07:40 AM

2012 looks like a HUGE a waste of time and money (to me) . . .
and that's a fact.

(Reply to this)

Max the Movie Kid writes:
on Nov 02 2009 07:52 AM

2012. Oh, 2012. 2012, 2012, 2012. I've seen it advertised everywhere, and the special effects, epic song and horrible rip-offs are just forcing me to see it, no matter how wrong and anti-Hollywood it will be...

I think the 2012 hype is damaging everyone's brains, and hopefully I'll be a survivor of the mental retardation plague...

(Reply to this)

hugz4thugz writes:
on Nov 02 2009 08:06 AM

Fact #13: It sucks

(Reply to this)

Escapefromalcatraz writes:
on Nov 02 2009 08:11 AM

"German" accent? Isn't Arnold Austrian?

(Reply to this)

vashfanatic writes:
on Nov 02 2009 08:16 AM

"no one disputes the fact that their sophisticated 'Long Count' calendar comes to a crashing halt on December 21, 2012."

I dispute it. Almost every Mayanist in the world disputes it. The Long Count measures time from the supposed start of the world; what comes to an end in December of 2012 is the 12th bak'tun, a period of a little under 400 years. It's more like an odometer rolling around than an end. Mayan monuments list dates for times later than 2012. The Mayan number system is based on 20, so we won't "run out" of bak'tuns for more than a thousand years - and some Mayan monuments use an even larger measurement, a pik'tun, so there are potentially dates even further in the future.

The whole end of the world scenario is a Western, Christian idea grafted onto a Mayan cosmology. What's more, the ties to "quetzalcoatl" and a shift in the earth's crust (major earthquakes) are actually related to the AZTECS, not the Mayans - and the Aztecs anticipated the world ending already. Don't spread this stupid misinformation any further than it already has been. The Mayans DID NOT believe the world would end in 2012.

(Reply to this)

Paul M. writes:
on Nov 02 2009 08:29 AM

"That's the problem with our world. If you would destroy Mecca, I would have a fatwa on my head. So we stayed away from it."

But killing Christians is OK because we won't fly planes into buildings killing thousands of civilians.

So cowardly Roland...screw the radical muslims...I say we show Mecca being overrun by pigs.

(Reply to this)

Johan D. writes:
on Nov 02 2009 08:37 AM

Does anyone really care about the "facts" concerning the Mayan calendar? It's a disaster flick. The only thing you really need for a good disaster flick is a just "premise" about something bad and then let the whole thing unfold an enjoy the mayhem.

What if..
A high rise caught fire = Towering Inferno
The pilot/co-pilot were incapacitated = Airport
Global warming caused an ice age = Day After Tomorrow
Nuclear testing created a large lizard = Godzilla

So who cares if there is a calendar, a prophecy, the actual biological means of radiation making lizards grow or whether global warming is real. All we want is to see arrogant modern man beat by something he can't control. Just to bring him down a few notches right? So I say destroy a lot of stuff and kill lots of people in interesting ways and you'll have a winner. Oh and I suppose a plot and some dialog would good too. :)

(Reply to this)

John A. writes:
on Nov 02 2009 08:44 AM

In reply to this comment (#2557903)
Thank you vashfanatic for posting pretty much my thoughts on the subject.

I have nothing against blowing **** up in movies, but making **** up about real-world events in order to play on people's paranoia does kind of annoy me, especially when the truth would make a far more interesting movie.

(Reply to this)

Andrew W. writes:
on Nov 02 2009 08:55 AM

Believing that the world will end in 2012 has been a preposterous creation in western civilization. As pointed out before, the calendar just ends on that date it doesn't mean the Mayans predicted the end of the world. The next ring of dates either was not made or was destroyed and lost in history.

All of the hype and promotion around this film just makes me think its going to be really awful. Emmerich hasn't made a good film since The Patriot.

(Reply to this)

Chris C. writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:00 AM

So where do we go from here? He's apparently destroying the entire planet in this one. I suppose his next movie will involve all of the plantes in our solar system spinning out of orbit and colliding all at once creating a space cloud so big it extinguishes the sun. Will there be any survivors? Was it Dick Cheney's fault again? Will Algore steal scenes from that movie and put them in his next movie and pretend they're actually real footage?

(Reply to this)

Mann is the Man writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:04 AM

In reply to this comment (#2557894)
Gordo seems like a HUGE wast of this message board space (to me)....
and that's a fact.

(Reply to this)

The NewHampshire Database writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:06 AM

In reply to this comment (#2557922)
Was going to say the same thing. Couldn't agree more.

(Reply to this)

Salty Gritts writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:11 AM

This movie looks like complete and utter crap. Godzilla anyone? Because that's all I can think of when I watch the trailer for this film.

As for the real 2012 apocalypse, if the would really does end in 2012, all I can say is it's about damn time, we're long overdue for a global apocalypse.

(Reply to this)

fullmetalnek writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:18 AM

Actually, I think Gordon's posts are improving. This might be his best.

(Reply to this)

AetasMutuo writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:19 AM

In reply to this comment (#2557903)
"vashfanatic" is right.

Also, disaster porn has always been fashionable. With few exceptions, it is just being made for a lower and lower common denominator as the years roll on. Dumbing things down and making them more sensational are always more entertaining and profitable ventures... That has always been the case.

(Reply to this)

vashfanatic writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:27 AM

In reply to this comment (#2557907)
I don't have a problem using any premise, no matter how crazy, to make a disaster film; but claiming that it's a fact, that the Mayans really did predict this, is just wrong and even irresponsible. A host of cable channels have jumped on this bandwagon, running scare-tactic shows about how every prophecy in the world somehow says it'll all come crashing down in 2012. In the name of truth, you need to make it clear that this is just a premise, not a real prophecy.

(Reply to this)

Eric B. writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:29 AM

In reply to this comment (#2557903)
Dude, its a f***ing movie. Get off your intellectual high horse. If the entertainment business was full of **** heads like you we'd never see a good film in theatres.

(Reply to this)

Eric B. writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:35 AM

In reply to this comment (#2557903)
Oh, by the way, King Kong was a prophecy the Mayans exposed in their writings of Skull Island.

(Reply to this)

mastershake616 writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:37 AM

0-10% on the Tomatometer most likely. Will probably be worse than Godzilla.

(Reply to this)

vashfanatic writes:
on Nov 02 2009 09:41 AM

In reply to this comment (#2557932)
Hey, like I said, I don't mind that they say, in the movie, that the world will end on 2012. I mean, why not? As a work of fiction you can say whatever you want and have a lot of fun with it, be it science or religion or history. Example: "Gladiator" may play fast and lose with what actually happened, but it makes for a really good story.

It's the insistence that in the REAL WORLD the Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012 that is stupid and that I have a problem with. Roland Emmerich can say what he wants in his movie, it's this article's claim that the 2012 prediction is "fact" that ticks me off.

(Reply to this)

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