I finally got round to watching Roland Emerich's disaster fest last night on BluRay. Firstly, it looked stunning. Secondly it's a ridiculous romp.
It kind of reminded me of a game where all the investment has been on the looks and not the gameplay. So although at times your jaw drops, you're equally left eyes wide at a crazy escape from LA that looks about as likely as Messi not scoring for Barca.
Once the lead group of characters escape from a growing crack in the ground for the ninth time you start to wonder if they have some divine hand guiding them to safety. There's also a theme of sacrifice running throughout that sadly gets lost at the end largely so John Cusack can deliver the films best line right at the death. I guess that's a spoiler... Sorry.
The premise is simple enough. The suns had a storm... a sun storm... and it's heating up the Earth's core causing the crust to move freely. This causes earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions all over the planet which does lead to some suitably stunning effects. I particularly enjoyed Yellowstone erupting. I like a good eruption me.
There's a group of scientists trying to figure out what's happening. A bit of conspiracy stuff, a dysfunctional family trying to escape the chaos in various air planes and the Governments of the world trying to save the elite and rich in giant ships. It all starts to get a bit preposterous pretty quickly although Cusack is, as ever, a joy.
So to sum up. Destruction has never looked so pretty but if you want substance this ain't for you.
The killer line?
'I was in the gift shop.'
★ ★
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