8 Hollywood Blockbusters That Are Guilty Of BS Science

4. Earth-Quakes That Conveniently Dodge Main Roads - 2012

The first entry on our list of lazily executed Roland Emmerich films is 2012. Released, somewhat unsuitably in 2009, the film was designed to cash in on rumours that the world would end in 2012 because... something about Mayan calendars? Emmerich is the 'master' of disaster films (he's certainly the most successful) and this is certainly his most ambitious title to date, mostly thanks to the idea that it could all happen because science and global warming or something. But Wait... Emmerich doesn't let a little thing like scientific or even historical fact get in his way. In the opening sequence of the film, an apparently Mayan calendar, central to the plot is shown swinging into place, indicating the end of the world as we know it. Actually the calendar depicted is Aztec - a pretty big flaw for a film based on Mayan predictions. But that's just idiocy, not science. Equally as bad is the massive action sequence when John Cusack navigates his family through the collapsing streets of LA using nothing but a limo and conveniently placed aeroplane. Here a gigantic earthquake is occurring which ultimately results in the total destruction of a major city as it sinks into the ocean. However, as pretty much everyone knows, fissures in the Earth have little to no respect for tarmac. It's interesting then that all of LA is swallowed up by the Earth except for the sections of road where the lead protagonist is driving. This might seem like nit-picking but there really are moments when the film would have you believe the laws of seismology were suspended specifically for John Cusack.