2012 is Best Film of 2009, End of the Earth as We Know It

New Hampshire professor Charles H. Hapgood developed the 1958 earth crest displacement (ECD) theory, and the recently released film "2012"s writers Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser did a fascinating job of bringing this theory to the big screen.

In 2009, American geologist Adrian Helmsley (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) traveled to India to visit his fried Dr. Satnam Tsurutani (played by Jim Mistry) who gives a fancy analysis about a solar flare that has put the world in danger. Adrian takes this information back to DC after traveling twenty hours straight, crashes a black tie party and demands to speak with a very rude White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt). But after Carl hears Adrian's confidential information, Adrian becomes very valuable to the government and to the United States President Thomas Wilson (played by Danny Glover). I did a victory dance in my seat knowing the president wasn't just black in the movies but in real life too. Too bad the end of the world was near-in the movie, that is.

Within the next three years, "2012" viewers meet other important people who are also finding out about this confidential information-a divorced father and author named Jackson Curtis (played by John Cusack), a wacky but intelligent conspiracy theorist radio host named Charlie Frost (played by Woody Harrelson), Jackson's ex-wife Kate Curtis (played by Amanda Peet) and her new husband and plastic surgeon Gordon Silberman (played by Thomas McCarthy), the president's daughter Laura Wilson (played by Thandie Newton), boxer and billionaire Yuri Karpov (played by Zlatko Buric) and more.

Only twelve people were supposed to know about the earth ending in 2012, and some of the others who find out and try to inform the rest of society are killed mysteriously. Meanwhile the government is trying to fix the issue and build arks to rescue 400,000 elite. Of course other billionaires are given the opportunity to purchase a rescue ticket for one billion euros each.

However, Adrian realizes that the warning he received from Satnam about the world ending happened just a little bit earlier than expected so the government has to get a move on. Who will stay? Who will go?

I can count on one hand the number of action movies I've enjoyed. Action films are usually unrealistic and too many convenient things happen in them, but "2012" was about as real as an action movie can get. This was definitely not your happy ending type of film where everyone is safe and sound, but that's why I enjoyed the film. "2012" explored the greed, love, curiosity, evil and inventive characteristics in humanity that we're all very familiar with, but I was fascinated with how "2012" handled the bystander effect. I was also elated that some of the people I just knew were going to die within five minutes of this film hung in there and managed to live until the end or longer than I thought.

A couple of times I buried my head in my fleece shirt because I just didn't want to see the look on some of these people's face when they found out their fate, and other times my mouth dropped open and my eyes widened. This film had some amazing actors. "2012" was a little over two and a half hours long, and I never got bored. At some points the movie seemed so realistic that I did shed a few tears, and I'm definitely not the movie crying type. The irony is that this is a science fiction action film, but it's more horrifying than my favorite horror film this year, "Paranormal Activity" because we hear so much about global warming.

I've been hearing a lot of people claim that "2012" is really going to happen, and although I'm not convinced or worried about it, this sure was one helluva movie. The movie is rated PG-13 and due to some very realistic scenes, I definitely wouldn't recommend bringing anyone under the age of 13 to see this one. There are some grown-ups who may not be ready to see it either. I give "2012" an easy five out of five stars.