Hoo boy, Nanook! I just watched the epic apocalyptic thriller, 2012. No, not that schlocky, big-budget, Hollywood nonsense with John Cusack in it. Hell, no! I’m talking about 2012 Ice Age baby! I even jacked up the a.c. in my house to heighten the frigid experience. Give me a second to thaw out my frozen tootsies and I’ll tell you all about it.
I’m not sure what it is that’s so gosh darn appealing about disaster movies. Clearly, they saw their heyday in the 1970’s with movies such as Earthquake and The Towering Inferno, but as we near that tell-tale disastrous date predicted on the Mayan calendar we’ve been seeing a real resurgence in the genre. In 2012 Ice Age, a volcanic eruption in Iceland sends a glacier hurtling across North America. What sets this movie apart from the rest of the pack is it’s remarkably likeable cast and the fact that it never slows down to veer into that maudlin, melodramatic schmaltz that tends to ruin these flicks for me. It’s pure frosty action from the get go.
It was nice to see Patrick Labyorteaux–who you may know from JAG but I couldn’t stop thinking of him as that dude from Summer School with Mark Harmon…or better yet, as that dude from Ski School. Nonetheless, he’s a very charismatic and likeable lead. He drags his family by car, van, plane…you name it, to get to his daughter in New York. Julie McCullough (Mike Seever’s girlfriend from Growing Pains) is his equally strong wife and really does a nice job in this glacial, wintry epic.
The special effects are shiveringly well done and there’s even some nice laughs thrown in here and there. A disaster movie that’s well-paced and reaches a tense, over-the-top climax at the Statue of Liberty; 2012 Ice Age is a thriller that delivers and, better yet, shows the world what we Minnesotans have known all our lives…driving on ice during a blizzard can be a real bitch. Uff-dah, ya you betcha. Pick it up from The Asylum on June 28th.
I hope you were paid lots to write this. It was god awful
Left by joe on July 6th, 2011