2012

Hollywood is forever dreaming up ways for the world to end. And this time director Roland Emmerich has taken inspiration from a Mayan prophecy that the Sun will fry the Earth in the year 2012, melting the planet’s crust and mantle. The result is an onslaught of cataclysmic earthquakes, giant volcanoes and mega-tsunamis that divorced-dad Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) must avoid to save his estranged family.

With Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow on his CV, Emmerich clearly has a penchant for the apocalypse. And his appetite for destruction comes across on screen as he joyfully blows up some of the world’s most famous landmark

The plot, characters and science can all be flaky at times, but the action-packed backdrop keeps you entertained right up to the film’s watery climax. 2012 won’t secure a place in history as Independence Day did, but it will put that expensive HD TV perched on your wall to good use.

Released 29 March 2010