San Andreas (2015) Directed by Brad Peyton. Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino and Alexandra Daddario. IMDB says: “In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his daughter.”
Review by Special Guest Dave
San Andreas begins with a stereotypical teen driver ignoring all common sense and despite multiple distractions (including using a cell phone), she deftly navigates the twisty mountainous road until a small landslide sends her tumbling down a roadside cliff. Battered and trapped in her vehicle, she precariously dangles on the edge. Cue LAFD pilot Ray (Johnson) and team pulling off an in the knick of time chopper rescue! The tense sequence delivers the only 3D worthy shot of the entire film, capturing a great birds eye view through the canyon rocks.
After a hard days work of being awesome, Ray heads home to drive his daughter Blake (Daddario) to San Francisco for her freshman year. It’s revealed that Ray and Blake’s mother Emma (Gugino) are separated and that she has a new rich boyfriend, Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd). As soon as it’s time for dad and daughter to enjoy the twilight of her childhood an earthquake strikes, demolishing the Hoover Dam! Blake is instead chauffeured to San Fran by Mr. Riddick while Ray goes to support the disaster area. As the quakes continue along the entire fault, Blake teams up with brothers Ben and Ollie (Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson) to survive until the cavalry arrives.
San Andreas is an above average disaster movie with good visuals and huge draw from a quality cast. San Andreas only really suffers from an inconsistent wobble between corny lines/funny one-liners to forced sentimentality that miserably fails to elicit real emotion from the audience. Kudos to Johnson, Daddario, Parkinson and in particular Paul Giamatti for doing quite well despite the below average writing.
On a surprising note, San Andreas proved to be a step forward for the role of normal women in action and disaster movies. With the exception of expertly trained characters (i.e. any character recently played by Gina Carano, Scarlett Johansson or Zoe Saldana) women in the action genre have been by and large relegated to the role of spectator or damsel. This is not the case for San Andreas. Alexandra Daddario and Carla Gugino are both capable and willing to not only ensure their own safety but also others; each adding real value and becoming true assets to the survival story.
San Andreas is definitely worth a watch. If you’re headed to theater and you’ve already seen Mad Max: Fury Road, San Andreas isn’t a bad pick. I’d recommend against 3D as it often blurs the vast swaths of destruction and is rarely utilized effectively.
FTS SCORE: 61%
San Andreas opens in theaters nationwide May 29, 2015.