San Andreas: Movie Review
These epic disaster movies are never meant to be anything more than mindless entertainment. Much like “2012”, “The Day After Tomorrow”, and “Volcano” the latest addition “San Andreas” is dumb as dirt. This could very well be one of the stupidest films I have seen so far this year. Directed by Brad Peyton (“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”), severely lacks originality. We have seen cities get demolished and it just doesn’t have the impact it once did. After the excessive destruction in “2012”, it’s hard to be impressed by these type of films. Although to its credit, “San Andreas” is a much more tightly edited film and doesn’t run on as long as the former.
Dwayne Johnson is front and center as first-response rescue leader, Ray. The guy is great at his job, as the film’s opening chopper rescue sequence shows us. His personal life, doesn’t fare as well. Ray’s wife Emma (Carla Gugino) has filed for divorce and has shacked up with her boyfriend Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd). One of his daughter’s died in a boating accident years earlier and he was unable to save her. His remaining child, Blake (Alexandra Daddario) is now heading off to college. Not that any of these things are all that important in a film about a massive natural disaster.
The first quake strikes in Nevada at the Damn, where Professor Lawrence (Paul Giamatti) is on location testing out a theory that he can predict earthquakes. He also happens to lose his colleague in the devastation. The second quake hits Los Angeles while Emma is attending a lunch at the top of one of the high-rises. Thankfully Ray is already in the air and knows exactly where she is so he can rescue her.
At the same time, San Francisco is struck and that is where Blake is. She gets trapped in the garage and Daniel just decides to be a coward and leave her there to die. Lucky for Blake, a nice young English boy, named Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) and his little brother Ollie (Art Parkinson) come to her rescue.
The rest of “San Andreas” is just one earthquake after another and we get endless scenes of buildings falling, laced with a nice little tsunami, which leads to one of the film’s most idiotic moments. Despite the many flaws throughout this two hour display of devastation-porn, I can’t honestly say I ever found myself bored. You can thank the cast for that. Dwayne Johnson just has a great presence in action films, and even though Giamatti isn’t doing much more than explaining to everyone what is actually happening, at least he is entertaining while doing it. As for Daddario, she is absolutely beautiful, but she proves that she is much more than a pretty face.
If you like disaster movies, “San Andreas” simply gives you more of the same and doesn’t even attempt to deviate from the formula. Chances are you will probably enjoy yourself while watching it. If you are someone who need a little thing called “logic” than this one is definitely not for you.
By: Marc Ferman