03 January 2011

The least plausible science fiction movie of all time

Nasa scientists have named John Cusack's blockbuster 2012 as the most "absurd" sci-fi film of all time.

Experts at America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and Science and Entertainment Exchange have put together a list of the least plausible science fiction movies ever made, and the big budget 2009 picture came top.

The film, which depicted Earth besieged by natural disasters, featured ahead of two more 'end-of-the-world' movies - 2003's The Core and 1998's Armageddon.

Donald Yeomans, head of Nasa's Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, says of 2012, "It's absurd. The film-makers took advantage of public worries about the so-called end of the world as apparently predicted by the Mayans of Central America, whose calendar ends on December 21, 2012.

"The agency is getting so many questions from people terrified that the world is going to end in 2012 that we have had to put up a special website to challenge the myths. We have never had to do this before."

Staff at the organisation also compiled a list of the top 10 most realistic sci-fi films, with 1997's Gattaca, starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman as space agency workers, winning the highest praise from the scientists. Nasa experts also named dinosaur movie Jurassic Park and Jodie Foster's Contact among the most realistic sci-fi films.

- Imdb.com, 3 January 2011

2 comments:

alphanumeric said...

Seriously? They're movies, not documentaries. I don't think the makers of 2012 intended for anyone to take it seriously, it's just a big dumb fun movie. And Contact is one of my top three but it's not the slightest bit realistic or plausible. Interesting.

Slightly Intrepid said...

Haha, well I get all my movie critiques from Dara O'Briain, who finished his recent stand-up act with a bit on 2012: 'Basically it's John Cusack running away from lava for two and a half hours':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jUP1k-PKh0