Roland Emmerich has made a career out of creative destruction. The writer/director's hits Independence Day and The Day after Tomorrow feature humanity being destroyed by aliens and a climate change-induced ice age, respectively. He's firmly in his comfort zone for 2012, but this time it's solar flares that are to blame, as the planet gets microwaved. Cue some expensive, dramatic and genuinely awesome CGI as Yellowstone goes supervolcano, entire cities are destroyed and giant tsunamis romp across the globe. John Cusack stars as the failed author who is told the truth about the end of the world by Woody Harrelson's conspiracy theory nut, and attempts to save his kids and ex-wife (Amanda Peet). Chiwetel Ejiofor is a government scientist who knows what's happening, and also knows that the President (Danny Glover) has decided to keep the information from the masses. The script is nonsensical and while the actors do their best they are, inevitably, dwarfed by the breathtaking visual effects. Emmerich has outdone himself this time; this is a film that makes Independence Day look modest.

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.