Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

52 [Rec] 2
xx 12th & Delaware
xx 180° South
90 45365
55 8: The Mormon Proposition
xx Accidents Happen
62 After the Cup: The Sons of Sakhnin United
36 After.Life
73 Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector, The
54 Agora
82 Ajami
78 Alamar
78 Anton Chekhov's The Duel
63 Around a Small Mountain
57 Audrey the Trainwreck
xx Badmaash Company
xx Barking Water
75 Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
62 Behind the Burly Q
62 Best Worst Movie
31 Black Waters of Echo's Pond, The
35 Boogie Woogie
64 Breath Made Visible: Anna Halprin
24 Burzynski
xx Ca$h
59 Cartel, The
68 Casino Jack and the United States of Money
40 Charlie St. Cloud
xx Cheech & Chong's Hey Watch This
48 Chloe
66 City Island
52 City of Your Final Destination, The
56 Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
56 Concert, The
xx Contenders, The
xx Convention
70 Countdown to Zero
83 Crazy Heart
51 Creation
xx Cremaster Cycle, The
73 Cropsey
73 Cyrus
74 Daddy Longlegs
73 Dogtooth
50 Don McKay
66 Double Take
67 Eclipse, The
85 Exit Through the Gift Shop
75 Farewell
76 Father of My Children, The
30 Finding Bliss
52 Formosa Betrayed
60 Fresh
53 Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
43 George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead
71 Get Low
68 Ghost Bird
77 Ghost Writer, The
68 Girl on the Train, The
66 Girl Who Played with Fire, The
xx Gone with the Pope
40 Good Heart, The
69 Good, The Bad, The Weird, The
50 Great Directors
45 Greatest, The
76 Greenberg
59 Handsome Harry
24 Happiness Runs
73 Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suess
55 Harry Brown
80 Have You Heard From Johannesburg?: Apartheid and the Club of the West
57 Here and There
xx Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger
51 Holy Rollers
32 Human Centipede (First Sequence), The
78 I Am Love
91 I Was Born, But...
33 In My Sleep
60 Infidel, The
67 It Came From Kuchar
74 Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
79 Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
57 John Rabe
55 Joneses, The
55 Juche Idea, The
65 Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D
86 Kids Are All Right, The
54 Killer Inside Me, The
53 Killing Kasztner
44 Kimjongilia
xx Kings of the Evening
69 Kisses
62 Kites: The Remix
47 La Mission
xx Law, The
63 Lbs.
xx Le amiche
58 Leaves of Grass
72 Let It Rain
69 Life During Wartime
41 Lightkeepers, The
76 Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
37 Living Wake, The
66 Looking for Eric
72 Lottery, The
36 Love Ranch
83 Mademoiselle Chambon
xx Malice in Wonderland
46 Mercy
78 Messenger, The
47 Metropia
62 Micmacs
75 Mid-August Lunch
54 Misfortunates, The
64 Mother and Child
74 Mugabe and the White African
35 Multiple Sarcasms
xx My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
50 My Name is Khan
41 Nature of Existence, The
xx Nightfall
71 No One Knows About Persian Cats
59 Nobody’s Perfect
72 Oath, The
xx Ocean of Pearls
65 Ondine
59 Only When I Dance
59 OSS 117: Lost in Rio
xx Other Guys, The
37 Paper Man
42 Perfect Game, The
47 Perrier's Bounty
48 Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies
78 Please Give
31 Pornography: A Thriller
41 Princess Kaiulani
90 Prophet, A
xx Raajneeti
67 Raavan
78 Racing Dreams
xx Ramchand Pakistani
xx Red Birds
63 Reel Injun
84 Restrepo
xx Road, Movie
45 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
xx Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
81 Secret in Their Eyes, The
81 Secret of Kells, The
73 See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary
57 Severe Clear
57 Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
52 Shine of Rainbows, A
77 Single Man, A
69 Solitary Man
45 South of the Border
59 Spoken Word
75 Square, The
22 Standing Ovation
76 Stonewall Uprising
53 Tales from the Script
74 Terribly Happy
78 Teza
75 That Evening Sun
49 Thorn in the Heart, The
60 TiMER
64 Tirador
15 To Age or Not to Age
52 Touching Home
33 Trash Humpers
59 Trotsky, The
56 Two in the Wave
62 Valhalla Rising
85 Vincere
xx Visionaries
54 Wah Do Dem
70 Warlords, The
55 When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors
68 Whiz Kids
52 Who Do You Love
64 Wild Grass
xx Wild Hunt, The
69 Winnebago Man
91 Winter's Bone
68 Women Without Men
xx World on a Wire

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

2012

EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures (Sony)

2012 reviews
49
5.6 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 276 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Action  |  Drama  |  Sci-fi  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Roland Emmerich
Harald Kloser

Directed by: Roland Emmerich

Release Date:
Theatrical: November 13, 2009
DVD: March 2, 2010

Running Time: 158 minutes, Color

Origin: USA | Canada

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for intense disaster sequences and some language

Starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson

Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. 2012 is an epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors. (Sony Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

There's something to be said for a formula picture done almost to perfection. In 2012, Emmerich gives you everything you expect, but gives it to you bigger.

Read Full Review >
100

Washington Post Dan Kois

2012 takes the disaster movie -- once content simply to threaten the Earth with a comet, or blow up the White House -- to its natural conclusion, the literal end of the world.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The mother of all disaster movies (and the father, and the extended family) spends half an hour on ominous set-up scenes (scientists warn, strange events occur, prophets rant and of course a family is introduced) and then unleashes two hours of cataclysmic special events hammering the Earth relentlessly.

Read Full Review >
80

Variety Todd McCarthy

The visual effects are pretty sensational, delivering the cutting-edge CGI goods auds want and expect. It will be hard to watch "Earthquake'' ever again after this one.

Read Full Review >
80

Slate Dana Stevens

2012 isn't a bad movie that, out of sheer boredom, you might snicker at once or twice; it's a two-and-a-half hour laugh riot that plays on our expectations of the genre by anticipating and exceeding them.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Post Lou Lumenick

As you might suspect, the 2012 dialogue is pure Velveeta.

Read Full Review >
75

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

For all of its faults, ends up being relentlessly watchable as well, a summertime popcorn spectacle plopped down in the middle of the fall movie season.

Read Full Review >
75

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

God forgive me, but I enjoyed the nerve-racking silliness of this newest, loudest exercise in destruction.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

For visual noise by the ton, Emmerich is my kind of hack, the pluperfect blend of leaden self-seriousness and accidental-on-purpose self-satirist.

Read Full Review >
70

Chicago Reader Cliff Doerksen

Spectacular CGI disasters.

Read Full Review >
70

The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber

Eye-popping special effects ensure that this movie will be a smash hit, and while it's entertaining for most of its excessive running time, the cheesy script fails to live up to the grandeur of the physical production.

Read Full Review >
70

Time Richard Corliss

Any sentient viewer will be able to predict every lumpy twist of this ludicrous, fitfully enjoyable movie.

Read Full Review >
63

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams

This long, ludicrous soap opera is also a mighty spectacle, a new standard in disengaged destruction.

Read Full Review >
63

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

This film that imagines the end of the world not as a whimper but as an implosion is a preposterously diverting, instantly forgettable, big-screen video game.

Read Full Review >
50

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

As far as the new disaster film 2012 is concerned, the world will end with both a bang and a whimper, the bang of undeniably impressive special effects and the whimper of inept writing and characterization. You pays your money, you takes your chances.

Read Full Review >
50

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

Although 2012 is what they call "critic-proof," it's not immune to analysis. It depicts a world where no one, man or God, has much say in what happens to the planet, and where the survival of one family outweighs the deaths of billions.

Read Full Review >
50

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

2012 is totally, certifiably nuts, without being quite as off-the-wall kitschy as Emmerich's last special-effects extravabanzoo, "10,000 BC."

Read Full Review >
50

USA Today Claudia Puig

The movie is an undeniable visual spectacle, but just as unequivocally a cheesy, ridiculous story.

Read Full Review >
50

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

If characters with more than one dimension, a plausible story and some sort of viewpoint are moviegoing musts, you may leave 2012 feeling a tad shortchanged.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Doomsday views are a knockout, but the script is a real disaster.

Read Full Review >
50

Village Voice Chuck Wilson

The two-hour-and-40-minute 2012 is overstuffed with special-effects, but the Curtis clan's mad dash out of town is the closest the movie gets to actually being fun.

Read Full Review >
50

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The last 40 minutes test your patience -- and intelligence -- in a way the rest of this big, dumb, crazy movie never does:

Read Full Review >
50

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The result is a state-of-the-art multiplex three-ring circus whose special effects stagger the senses and play like a video game, whose human drama aims for the cosmic and lands waist-deep in the Big Silly.

Read Full Review >
45

NPR Bob Mondello

Say this for Roland Emmerich's latest movie: It IS a disaster.

Read Full Review >
42

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It occurred to me that Emmerich and Co. might be playing this whole thing for laughs. It probably occurred to them, too.

Read Full Review >
40

Time Out New York Joshua Rothkopf

The set pieces are grand—gloriously dumb and never realistic enough to make you wince at the fact that billions of microscopic souls are dying before your eyes. Rather, you wince at everything else.

Read Full Review >
40

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Despite the frenetic action scenes, the movie sags, done in by multiple story lines that undercut one another and by the heaviness of its conceit.

Read Full Review >
40

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Where else are you going to get a chance to see the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy drift down the side of a mile-high tsunami and take out the White House? Big. Dumb. Fun.

Read Full Review >
38

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Perhaps the strangest thing about 2012 is that the bad parts of the film are among the most enjoyable, because they're so over-the-top ridiculous that it's impossible not to break out laughing.

Read Full Review >
30

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Operates in a dead zone roughly equidistant between parody and idiocy. You do get the connection between tongue and cheek, but much of the humor still goes thud.

Read Full Review >
30

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Emmerich’s main achievement is to take a bunch of excellent actors, including Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Woody Harrelson, and to prevent all of them--with the exception of Oliver Platt and a pair of giraffes--from giving a decent performance.

Read Full Review >
25

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Beware 2012, which works the dubious miracle of almost matching "Transformers 2" for sheer, cynical, mind-numbing, time-wasting, money-draining, soul-sucking stupidity.

Read Full Review >
25

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

As always in Emmerich's rollicking Armageddons, the cannon speaks with an expensive bang, while the fodder gets afforded nary a whimper. Of course, that's just part of disaster's simple recipe: Blow us up, then blow us off.

Read Full Review >
25

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

2012 is ultimately only about finding new ways to topple monoliths. Only they don’t feel that new.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.6 (out of 10) based on 276 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Captain Nemo gave it a0:
Two... hundred... million dollars! FOR THIS?! After stopping it twice, I finally watched it through to the end simply through morbid curiosity, and now I'm genuinely infuriated at it! I'm going to the DVD store and asking the shy timid counter boy for my money back at full volume!!! Then I'm going to buy all the copies they have and BURN them in a fire out the front of the shop so that the stupidity doesn't spread any further. Then I'm going to find out where the director, the writer AND the producers live and have them all savaged by starving komodo dragons until only their molars remain.... Every terrible cliche was there... the black president, the doombringer scientist, some idiot saying "By God.... That's impossible!", the lowly scientist being sent straight to meet the President, the useless divorced husband winning the wife and kids back.... I am now certifiably down to 50 IQ points with the rest of the people who watched this piffle. They should rename it "Daddy Runs From Armageddon" in reference to the six, count them, SIX times Cusack drives a car, a plane, a campervan or whatever.. out of the incoming firestorm/wave/pig stampede. It now tops my list as the worst movie I've ever seen.

S Rowe gave it a0:
Nearly as bad as "Speed 2". For example, the family just make it into a plane and just manage to take off, and just avoid falling buidlings / trees / mountains in the plane - 3 times. It was like de ja vu all over again.

Eli J. gave it a1:
I don't know why the main characters have to dodge death twenty times in the movie. Its a disaster movie so i'd expect one or two times where death is avoided only by a few feet...but wow it felt like every other scene in this movie. i'll give it a score of 1 because the special effects were pretty cool. the writing and acting were terrible though. why is there always some snotty kid who calls his father by his real name? that right there, is the question.

Alan G gave it a10:
C'mon people! The average is 5.7?! Anyone who gave it below a 7 is an idiot! This movie was the bomb! One of my favorite movies of '09!!

Mr L gave it a0:
Oh my god so horrible boring, action with this horrible patriotic we will save everyone feeling, sorry but fire loud and boomboom with expensive special effects is not exiting in this setting. today not acceptable anymore.

Jack S. gave it a4:
I give this movie a 4. Why because it focuses way to much on the special effects and way to little on the story and character. You barely get to any characters. The only character they really tell you about is Jackson Curtis. Other characters like Charlie and the U.S President made the movie exciting, but the others just made it crappy. Don't go and see this movie. It would be a waste of you time.

schwein h gave it a5:
Totally ridiculous, constantly 1 second ahead of utter disaster time after time, but the special effects are remarkable, and it kept me amused. Worth a watch. Once.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: US Open | PGA Championship | iPad | Video Game Reviews | Cell Phones

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use (UPDATED)