Earthquakes, volcanos, floods and even asteroids. Each one has been the focal point or even the villain, if you will of many successful disaster movies. Dante's Peak, Volcano, The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon and Deep Impact each had been a spectacle bigger than the next.

The only way to top the kind of destruction seen in those movies would be the end of the world itself. Something explored almost gleefully in the movie 2012.

The movie is not just about a bunch of people on a quest to save themselves from a disaster of epic proportions, it is also about the value of relationships and a reminder that despite all our technological advances, we are merely human beings at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Written by Roland Emmerich the director behind other blockbuster hits like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and The Patriot and Harald Kloser, the film is based on the legacy the ancient Mayans left us, a calender which is set to reach the end of its 13th cycle on Dec 21, 2012 and nothing follows that date.

That begs the question if the calendar does not continue, what happens next? Do we all die and go into a big black hole?

"The more I talked to Harald about the story, the more I realised this is really something people today can relate to. There are a lot of philosophical and political angles, which I think add to the disaster element,"
said Emmerich.

It was the scope and variety of these end-of-the-world theories that provided much of the inspiration needed for Emmerich and Kloser as they wrote their screenplay.

"Every civilisation on Earth has a 'flood myth'. Things are going wrong, society isn’t working anymore, and the planet starts over. Some people get a second chance to start a new culture, a new society, a new civilisation," Koser said.

In Judeo-Christian beliefs, there is the story of Noah and his Ark. In Hindu traditions, there is the story of Manu.

Chinese folklore gives us Nu Wa a Goddess charged with repairing the sky after a water god broke one of the pillars. With the Mayans, they do have a flood myth, except it is set in the too-near future of 2012.

"You will find millions of people, from all walks of life, who believe that in 2012 there will be some kind of shift in society, or a shift in spirit," added writer-producer-composer Kloser.

Central to the philosophy are the characters that would experience the spiritual and political upheavels.
Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a writer whose devotion to his failed-but-interesting novel broke up his marriage and left his family in disarray.

However, he remains a loyal dad and when trouble starts, he will go to any lengths to save his family. His ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) remains friends with Jackson but has stopped competing with his work for attention and finds comfort in the arms of a new beau.

As the Earth's plates begin to shift, Jackson and his family embark on a journey by land to survive the natural calamity.

Meanwhile, a plan is brewing between the heads of the world's governments. Although they will not be able to save the entire human race, a select few will be saved, and the lucky ones will have the chance to start a new society President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) is very quick to understand the crisis the world 2012is about to face and equally quick to prevent mass hysteria by keeping the information secret.

His daughter Laura (Thandie Newton) is shocked to find out what her father’s government has hidden from the world. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) becomes the US president's chief science adviser after he manages to decode Earth’s messages.

He is determined to do his best to help as many people as possible. His counterpart, Carl Anheuser, the president’s chief of staff (Oliver Platt) seems pompous and quick-tempered, but he is equally determined to see society at least, those in society who can afford it survive.

In fact, it seems that the only man outside the government with any clue about the impending catastrophe is the radio host (and possible prophet) Charlie Frost (played brilliantly by Woody Harrelson), who broadcasts his predictions to anyone who will listen.

The screenplay is in many ways the largest scale Emmerich has attempted to direct. He combines special and visual effects seamlessly, making it rather impossible to know what was actually built and what is just a visual effect created, allowing the two elements to come together and bring the scenes to life.

"He took an entire city street, with palm trees, concrete, facades of houses, and he put them all on these giant gimbals these huge movers and said, 'You’re supposed to run across it and get into a car and drive off," said Cusack.

"I was in water, fire, earth, ash clouds, earthquakes, pretty much everything you can think of. I drove every vehicle you can think of away from every disaster you can think of. It was a little hectic," he admitted.

The latest offering by Emmerich is all set to test the boundaries of the imagination, in an action-packed plot starting from the word 'go'. The stellar cast and amazing scenery enriches the experience of surviving an extraordinary adventure, one that is hopefully far, far away in the future. How long is it before 2012?

Will our world end in 2012?

We are currently living near the end of the Mayan calendar. The ancient Mayans created a calendar which only goes up to Dec 21, 2012. They are known to have an accurate understanding of our solar system's cycles and believed that these cycles coincided with our own spiritual and collective consciousness.

The Mayans' prophecy denotes that from 1999, humankind have 13 years to realise changes in our conscious attitude, going from the path of self-destruction and instead moving into a path that integrates us with all that exists.

They also believe the Sun receives a 'spark' of light which causes it to shine more intensely, producing what scientists call 'solar flares' and changes in its magnetic field.

They believe this happens every 5,125 years and that with the displacement in the Earth's rotation, huge catastrophes would be produced.

According to their observations, the Mayans predicted that from the initial date of the start of their civilisation or 3,113 BC, the cycle will be completed 5,125 years in the future or Dec 21, 2012.

The Sun, having received a powerful ray of light from the centre of the galaxy, would change its polarity and produce a cosmic event that would drive humankind to be ready to cross into a new era The Golden Age.

It is only from our individual efforts will we be able to avoid the path to great cataclysm that our planet will suffer to start a new era, the sixth cycle of the Sun.

The Mayan civilisation was in the fifth cycle of the Sun, and the four other great civilisations before them were destroyed by great natural disasters.

It is interesting to note that they believed, after knowing about the end of their cycle, mankind would prepare for what is to come in the future and subsequently would be able to preserve the human race.

The coming changes will allow us to make a quantum leap forward in the evolution of consciousness to create a civilisation that would manifest great harmony and compassion to fellow humans.

In our modern times, astrologists have discovered clues to it, numerologists have found patterns predicting it and geologists say the Earth is overdue for it.

Even scientists cannot deny the avalanche of epic proportions that awaits the earth in 2012. A prophecy that began with the Mayans is now on the brink of either being fact or fiction. We shall find out, by 2012.