Plot
An epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.
Release Year: 2009
Rating: 5.8/10 (128,306 voted)
Critic's Score: 49/100
Director:
Roland Emmerich
Stars: John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor
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.
Writers: Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser
Cast: John Cusack
-
Jackson Curtis
Amanda Peet
-
Kate Curtis
Chiwetel Ejiofor
-
Adrian Helmsley
Thandie Newton
-
Laura Wilson
Oliver Platt
-
Carl Anheuser
Thomas McCarthy
-
Gordon Silberman
(as Tom McCarthy)
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
-
Sasha
Taglines:
First, the Mayan calendar predicted it...Now, science has confirmed it...but we never imagined it could really happen.
Filming Locations: Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada
Box Office Details
Budget: $200,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $65,237,614
(USA)
(15 November 2009)
(3404 Screens)
Gross: $769,679,473
(Worldwide)
(25 November 2011)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The title refers to the end-date of the current (13th) b'ak'tun of the Long Count calendar, used by the Mayan Meso-American civilization. In their creation myth, we live in the fourth "attempt" at creating the world, while the third attempt was dismissed as a failure after its own 13th b'ak'tun. Though Mayan documents contain no such information, popular culture and certain religions predict an apocalyptic event at this date. It is popularly misunderstood that the calendar "ends" on this date, however the Long Count calendar can express dates from approximately 3000BC (their date for the creation of the current world) to approximately 40 octillion years in the future. It is almost impossible to express this date in a mortally comprehensible fashion.
Goofs:
Continuity:
When Jackson and his kids arrive at the lake in Yellowstone, Lilly is on Noah's left. In the next shot, Lilly is on Noah's right.
Quotes: Professor West:
The equalization of the oceanic seabeds has not turned out to be as extreme as we expected. The waters are receding much faster than we thought, thank God. And this is hard to believe, the Himalayas are no longer the roof of the world. It's now the Drakensberg mountains of KwaZulu-Natal. Adrian Helmsley:
The entire African continent has risen. Professor West:
Several thousand feet, and likely never even flooded. Captain Michaels:
That's why they call it the Cape of Good Hope. We've already set course for it.
User Review
This film had so much potential. What went wrong?
Rating: 5/10
They had all the money, actors and special effects they needed so how
did they manage to screw this one up? Obviously they thought exiting
moments were more important than developing deeper characters and
that's why this story that had great potential stayed so shallow. The
dialog was always cheesy and none of the 'hero's' in this film really
showed any real emotions nor did they give any of those speeches that
give the audience goose bumps. Another thing that really bothered me
was that so much was almost going wrong the whole time. Every second of
the film had a 'close call' which made the film seem totally
unrealistic. Examples are planes taking off just before the runway
collapses or driving just fast enough to not get hit by an explosion.
This can be very cool if it doesn't happen 100% of the time and I have
never seen a movie abusing this way of creating excitement to this
extent. So to sum up: If you feel like turning your brain off and
watching special effects and big explosions with a very shallow
storyline then this movie is for you. But if you feel like watching a
movie with a bit of depth then go and see something else.
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