via www.imdb.com
Went to see 2012 in the movies this weekend, and wowie kazowie what a ride that was! I'm not saying it was a good film. But the total experience was like something out of - well -the movies, I guess.
We made the decision to go to the movies at all ten minutes before the movie was set to begin - which pans out nicely since it's a ten minute walk to the cinema and we only had to make one stop on the way that was just a few minutes out of the way, so no problem there. Meaning we were at the cinema only five minutes after official starting time which everyone knows is plenty of time to not only buy tickets and snacks but also make a short stop in the ladies' room, find your seats and catch the last few trailers. Except of course 70% of the 12-15-year-olds in Oslo apparently had about the same idea as us. As we all know, groups of teenagers never buy their tickets together even if they are seated together, seing as no one thirteenyearold will be able to afford to pay for more than the one ticket. I totally respect that. I was the same. My zen-like ability to maintain peace of mind under the most stressful of circumstances enabled me to stand in the line for the full ten minutes it took to buy the tickets while my better half stepped out of the queue and made an effort to stand still, think of something else and not kill anybody. And lo and behold, we actually made it into the screening room just in time to find another couple seated in our seats (no such thing as free seating in Norwegian movie theatres) watching the opening credits. The mistake (theirs, not mine of course) was quickly resolved -securing me the pleasure of being seated next to a teenaged girl who inexplicably wept loudly for about half an hour of the two and a half we were there - and we didn't actually miss anything.
The film itself was grandiose, that is not to say particularly good, but spectacular nonetheless and the reception of it was like nothing I have ever experienced. Every time someone did something heroic in the movie (which was very often) or something funny for that matter, someone in the middle of the audience of 750 people started clapping, and it caught on. Soon I found myself cheering for every little feeble effort at saving humanity myself. I got the impression that half the audience was seeing the movie for the second or third time, judging by the cult-like enthusiasm. As it had only been released in Norway for one day, that is probably not right though.
At the end of the movie, when the end credits started, what sounded like someone grown-up compared to the rest of the audience loudly exclaimed that "what we all need to take from this is that the only one who can save us in such a situation is Jesus. Jesus is alive!" which only made the whole thing even more... SPECIAL, is the word I'm looking for. What an outing!
