Question: If all this happens on the 21-12-2012 why do we not see one Christmas decoration throughout whole film?
Question: How did all the characters trapped in the compartments managed to be freed from the flood control barriers? The footage of that happening is never shown.
Question: At the end of the movie, it is stated that the Drakensberg mountain range in South Africa now has the highest altitude in the world, since the "entire plate of Africa has lifted". Isn't this highly unlikely, seeing as the Drakensberg is incredibly far away from any tectonic plate lines? Wouldn't it rather be Mount Kilimanjaro, which is not only already the highest point in Africa (the continental plate of which is implied to have been raised as a whole), but is also a volcano (thereby being more likely to be raised should there be lifting within the plate itself)? I am South African myself, and though I am incredibly proud of our mention, I wonder if it really is plausible.
Answer: It's really impossible to say, given all of the massive land shifting seen in the film. We see the entire coast of California fall into the ocean. It's reasonable (in the film) to assume some cataclysm struck Kilimanjaro to lower or destroy it, or that the continent has been tilted.
In the movie, it was implied that the continent of Africa as a whole remained unflooded. So it stands to reason that the millions of inhabitants of the various countries may have survived intact. And so, the animals and plant life as well. So the question of saving the human species may be mute in this scenario. It's ironic, since most of the scientific community believes that modern humans evolved there first anyway.
Question: I was just wondering if in America (or any other countries) the film is called 'twenty-twelve' or 'two thousand and twelve'? Here in England it's 'twenty twelve', it had never occurred to me it might be different elsewhere but in the commentary the director calls it 'two thousand and twelve'.
Answer: I live in America (Florida) and we said twenty-twelve. All the media I heard said twenty-twelve. There is actually some debate going on in America (or at least Florida) about whether or not we should say twenty-ten or two thousand ten.
Question: The ending seems to be shown as a happy one. They find land and head towards it. However, the earth was being cooked from the inside, so what happened? Did the earth just stop being destroyed?
Chosen answer: The intense solar activity ceased, thereby allowing the core temperature to return to normal and leave us with the new look continents.
Question: How did the Russian girl end up in the end, did she drown? And if so, why, if the compartments were sealed closed, how would water get into it and kill her, if it didn't kill the others on the other side of the compartment?
Chosen answer: The Russian girl drowned. The boarding gate was not closed properly as it was jammed, so water got in to some of the compartments and drowned the people in them.
How did the water pass through the first containment room into the second without drowning those in the first? Makes no sense.
Question: If the ark was loaded with one male and one female of the same species, wouldn't there be genetic defects in their young (several generations later, I mean) as siblings would mate and produce offspring with each other? This certainly occurs with humans, so is it the same with animals?
Answer: Yes the same holds true for animals as well (there was a PBS special years ago about an inbred lioness trying to fit in her pride). We only see one Ark being loaded but the other Arks may as well be loaded with animals to prevent genetic defects from happening.
Question: Hawaii (a chain of islands consisting entirely of volcanoes) and Yellowstone (biggest caldera on earth) both erupt, thus throwing phenomenal amounts of ash etc. into the atmosphere creating what used to be described as a 'nuclear winter' effect. Large areas of the Earth's crust subside and or tilt and flip over, and what is left is scoured by countless tsunamis spreading in all and every direction. So here is both my question and observation. How come 27 days later, when the ships opened their sides, there were virtually clear skies and what appeared to be quite balmly temperatures? Furthermore as the world wide fires and volcanic activity would have eaten a considerable amount of the oxygen and the monstrous tidal waves would have scoured the land and washed away the rainforests, what exactly was producing the oxygen in the 'fresh air' they were being encouraged to breathe?
Answer: Even with large amounts of ash, the sky wouldn't necessarily be very dark. In 1816, there were five large eruptions. It caused a severe temperature drop and people didn't know why. the sky was the same. Even large fires wouldn't necessarily burn off large enough amounts of oxygen to make the atmosphere not breathable. Besides, 80% of all oxygen producing plant life is oceanic.
Answer: 1 year and 27 days later, not 27 days later, at least, that's what I assumed when rewatching it.
Answer: I just rewatched the movie after 10 years. And I think the last part was a symbol. A symbol that it was Africa rising. Also, as far as what was producing the oxygen, scientists tell us the biggest chunk of oxygen comes from, guest what, the oceans. Algae. When waves tumble, they release trapped oxygen into the atmosphere.
Question: What did the car exploding towards the start of the movie mean?
Answer: Are you referring to the Director of the Louvre's car getting killed in the Paris tunnel? He was killed for knowing too much.
Answer: He was on his way to a press conference, probably to "blow the whistle" about the whole plan, and somebody silenced him.
Question: How many arcs were there in totality? Because I saw IV and III being noticed, but not the rest.
Answer: That question, it seems, cannot be answered 100%. For example, rather at the beginning of the movie, you can see the Chinese army blasting five huge caverns into the mountain that will become the port soon after. On the other hand, at the end of the movie, there appear to be an Ark 6 and 7, being reported to join with Ark 4.
Answer: At one point towards the end of the movie it is revealed that only 4 of the ships are operational by the time the apocalypse starts. When we get to the port, it's revealed that the ceiling collapsed on Ark 3 during the earthquakes. This leaves 4, 6 and 7.
Question: What would happen to the ark ships after they landed in Africa? Would they become like a type of shelter for the inhabitants or scrapmelt to build a new city?
Answer: Most likely they would, but seeing as the governments prepared for everything, they also would have loaded tons of wood, brick and steel to build new cities.
Question: As Jackson manages to get hold of the map that leads to the arks in China, he tells Gordon, his ex-wife and kids that they'll need a bigger plane. Why do they need a bigger plane? (01:05:00)
Answer: The small plane they were flying on would likely not have the range to get across the Pacific to Tibet, even assuming there were still intact islands where it was possible to refuel.
Chosen answer: Its a safety device so the ship doesn't put to sea and ends up flooding the ship. The passenger ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in the port of Zebrugge in 1987, precisely because the doors were not shut properly.
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