San Andreas
Dir: Brad Peyton
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Paul
Giamatti, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Art Parkinson, Ioan Gruffudd, Archie Panjabi,
and Will Yun Lee
114 Minutes
Rated PG-13
I remember in grade school when my science teacher
talked about how a big enough earthquake would eventually drop California into
the Pacific Ocean. Call in the summer blockbuster movie makers to make this story a realization through the extravagance of special effects. We’ve seen New York flood and freeze over
in “The Day After Tomorrow”, we’ve seen a dormant volcano spew lava over the
streets of Los Angeles in “Volcano”, we’ve even already seen an earthquake
destroy most of Los Angeles in 1974’s “Earthquake”, it was only a matter of
time before the natural disaster would return to the big screen. This time the
film adds exceptional special effects to make the collapsing Golden Gate Bridge
and crumbing Los Angeles skyline feel as realistic as possible. For those that
have seen the movie trailer, you know what you are getting into and why you are
going. It’s not for science factual filmmaking or in depth narrative
structure. It’s for the rumbling and
tumbling visual stimulation of the disaster film; everything else is merely
an afterthought.
Ray (Dwayne Johnson) is a rescue helicopter pilot in
California. Fresh off a rescue that saved the life of a young woman, Ray is
eager to help his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) move back to college. Unfortunately
an earthquake forces Ray back to work and sends Blake to San Francisco with her
mother’s (Carla Gugino) new boyfriend (Ioan Gruffudd). A seismologist (Paul
Giamatti) at CalTech discovers that a program he has been researching can
predict earthquakes, however not before one destroys the Hoover Dam. Los
Angeles is the next target, but it’s an appetizer for the main course of San
Francisco. This leads Ray and his wife to venture across California to save their
daughter.
“San Andreas” is directed by Brad Peyton, who last helmed
“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”, and stars the frequently reliable Dwayne
“The Rock” Johnson. Johnson has a screen presence reminiscent of the
larger-than-life action stars of the 80’s and a sense of humor, humility, and
hubris that brands his characters; this quality has saved many of his films. However,
in a film stuffed with this much visual flair as “San Andreas”, Johnson is surrendered
to playing the heroic role from the back seat, yelling cautionary warnings and
motivational one-liners amidst falling debris and shaking camera work. Though
he is given the opportunity to rip the door off an SUV in one early scene.
While the script offers a few moments for the characters to grow,
a glossed over storyline about a broken family dealing with the loss of their
daughter offers a small glimmer of character development, most of the
performances are reactionary or physical. These narrative moments are simply
bridges to connect the demonstrations of destruction. While the film attempts
to establish some sort of relationship between the viewer and characters, one
that makes the viewer care about the spotlighted people in danger, the short
interactions don’t allow proper time to establish a connection when all around
them are millions of people perishing.
“San Andreas” is a spectacle
of visual indulgence, an overload of devastation that lessens the impact and
interest of the scenes. It’s a film that doesn’t waste time with an
overwhelming plot, there is barely one here, or characters that do more than
direct the film from one bang and boom scene to another. Instead “San Andreas”
is comfortable with the simplistic quality associated with disaster film
entertainment, which it achieves quite well, but unfortunately this alone is not enough.
Monte’s Rating
2.50 out of 5.00
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