Three years from now, untold disaster will strike.
No, its not the London Olympics.
The intention is to create the disaster movie to end all disaster movies.
To paraphraseSpinal Tap, this really is amps-up-to-eleven filmmaking.
Someones going to have to get pretty inventive to top the sheer volume of carnage on display here.
Harrelson, in particular, is a real scene-stealer, going through his wide-eyed manic routine with relish.
Step forward Danny Glover, with Thandie Newton as his daughter.
After running through the initial set-up, the film really kicks on about 20 minutes in.
As far as pure spectacle goes, it doesnt get any better than this.
However, Emmerich fails to ever match the pure kinetic adrenaline rush of these twin sequences again.
Still, it is a one hell of a trick.
On one hand, its a master class of Hollywood scriptwriting, on the other, total hokum.
But then anyone going to a Roland Emmerich movie expecting to seeCitizen Kanereally does need their head examined anyway.
What they do deliver, though, is first class escapism and pure event cinema par excellence.
For a film so hotwired for the summer blockbuster season to be released in November is an oddity.
I have to admit, I feared the worst.
Maybe the release was delayed because some of the shots were not ready?
Rating:
4 out of 5
