Roland Emmerich's next, 2012, gets a trailer...

If you were thrilled by Independence Day... if you were terrified by The Day After Tomorrow... then you will be scared shitless by... 2012!

Did Roland just take out the White House again? I'm pretty sure the USS John F. Kennedy takes out the Oval Office in the closing moments of this apparent feature-film adaptation of "That's Armageddon!". This is a rare trailer that is almost completely composed of 'money shots'. From the narrative, I'm willing to guess that most of the worldwide carnage takes place in the first half, with the bulk of the second half comprised of whatever airplane John Cusack and his family find themselves in and/or the would-be survivors trying not to drown after said airplane crashes into the sea.

Amanda Peet appears along for the ride, and it's nice to see a Martian Child reunion with her, Cusack, and favored character actor Oliver Platt. Heck, Mr. Cusack apparently again plays a science-fiction novelist in this one too. Also onboard are Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, George Segal, and another beloved character actor, the unpronounceable Chiwetel Ejiofor (he apparently plays the 'empathetic minority in middle management'). Last but not least, we have Danny Glover as The President. Between The Fifth Element, Deep Impact, and now this, must the president be black every time the world is about to end? On a related note, is it too much to ask to hope that Mr. Glover delivers his grim speeches and platitudes with the same ill-fitting dentures that he apparently used in Shooter?

I will admit that the onscreen destruction on display is quite impressive, so I suppose this is worth seeing once on a big screen (if Sony has a brain, they would have already secured at least a limited IMAX release for this). Despite that, I'm not particularly thrilled to see this sure-to-be epically stupid Irwin Allen throwback (I love Independence Day, but I've been burned by Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and the unwatchable 10,000 BC). But, if you've read my blog or know me well enough by now, you know darn well that I'll be there opening night regardless. Because, of course, this is the movie that my wife most wants to see this fall. Sigh... I'm sure 'it'll be great!'

Scott Mendelson