It goes without saying that the title alone is a bit of a giveaway as to why this features on the list: the build up to 2012 - the date at which the Mayans were thought to have predicted the end of the world (although this was an incredibly simplistic reading of a complicated prediction) - created a perfect storm of paranoia and outlandish conspiracy theories for Hollywood to cash in on. Given that Roland Emmerich - adept purveyor of disaster porn - helmed 2012. it's not surprising that the end result was little more than excuse for effects-heavy shots of cities being destroyed while characters run around like headless chicken trying to figure out what to do. Emmerich isn't a director who likes to tread new ground, and each of his films can be seen as a variation on a very limited theme. Like movies about Y2K that capitalized on millenial fears, 2012 is very much rooted in a particular time and a place, while the effects themselves have already begun to look dated when compared to films made more recently - just check out the trailer for the upcoming San Andreas and you'll see how far we've already come in the last 3 years.
