2012

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.

Roland Emmerich's apocalypse spectacle split critics almost cleanly down the middle: those who accepted it as pure destruction-derby entertainment found it a gleefully outsized thrill ride, while detractors argued the effects-driven excess wore out its welcome long before the two-and-a-half-hour runtime ended. Nearly everyone agreed the script was the weak point — the argument was whether that even mattered.