Not being a guy who is really into the disaster film genre anymore (I turned off movies like The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 before I was even a third of the way in), I was more than tentative to give San Andreas a chance. It’s a genre that once held great interest to me in my younger days. I enjoyed movies like Independence Day, Deep Impact, Cloverfield while absolutely loving Titanic (my favorite movie of 1997), The Impossible (my favorite movie of 1992), World War Z (my second favorite movie of 2013), I Am Legend (my second favorite movie of 2007), War of the Worlds, The Perfect Storm and, shamefully, Armageddon. But for every success like Deep Impact or Poseidon, there seem to be films like Twister or The Core that set the disaster genre back. So, honestly, when I see a preview for a new disaster movie, my first instinct is to believe that it will be absolutely terrible. If it’s got somewhat of a science-fiction element (like World War Z) or if it is based on a true story (The Impossible) AND it does well with the critics, it gets more of a benefit of the doubt. If it has neither of those things, it most likely will not. I thought of the latter when I saw the first series of trailers for director Brad Peyton (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) San Andreas.
While San Andreas falls into many pitfalls as other disaster movies, it does so less frequently than some movies that don’t work. Yes, Dwayne Johnson (The Rundown, Gridiron Gang) plays more of a herculean type figure than he did when he played Hercules back in 2014. It helps that he is a Los Angeles Fire Department rescue helicopter pilot by day, so when he’s crash landing helicopters and parachuting from single-engine airplanes, it is slightly more believable than when. Bruce Willis and his oil digging team of misfits have NASA launch them into space to destroy an asteroid after a simple 19 days of training. I think 40-year-old Bryan Buser would view Armaggedon differently than 22-year-old Bryan Buser.
Giamatti plays Dr. Lawrence Hayes, a CalTech professor with expertise in seismology. He is giving a lecture on the most devastating earthquake in history on the same day that a colleague interrupts him. After some research, Dr. Hayes warns the United States there is great potential for an earthquake along the San Andreas fault line that could register on the Richter Scale as a 9.5 or higher and that you’ll be able to feel it on the east coast. How ironic that within hours of reporting this information that this massive earthquake does occur.
Johnson plays Ray, divorced husband to Emma (Carla Gugino – Watchmen, The Lookout) and father of college-aged daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario – Hall Pass, Baywatch). After an accident in which their other daughter died, Ray has been unable to cope and has driven away Emma while devoting his life to save others. While her relationship with Ray is still a strong one (because of Blake), Emma has moved on. She has recently gotten engaged to Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd – Horrible Bosses, King Arthur), a developer of buildings who is designing the tallest building in all of San Francisco. Of course, the movie will revolve around the earthquake (the visuals are pretty cool…not Mad Max: Fury Road cool, but still compelling enough and one of the movie’s highlights on its own), but it needs a story. The story is that Blake and Daniel are at Daniel’s company’s building in San Francisco when the first earthquake happens. Ray and Emma are in Los Angeles, unable to help. Ray has already lost one daughter and isn’t ready to use a second, so he makes it his mission to get to San Francisco and rescue Blake from the city’s current highest point.
Along for the ride are Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt – Goddess) and his younger brother Ollie. Ben, who is similar in age to Blake, has an interview with Daniel’s company, and the upper elementary school-aged Ollie is hanging out in the waiting area because no one can watch him. From there, mayhem ensues, and we’ve got the duo teaming up with Blake trying to survive in the city until Ray and Emma can save them. Simple enough plot? It isn’t any more complicated than that. And for that, I loved it. It was just an entertaining film that, yes, at times, was over the top. But it was fun and engaged me in ways that 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow didn’t.
The acting isn’t great, but it appears better than it might have been because of the script. There are a few cheesy one-liners, like “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten you to second base.” However, there weren’t many. The cinematography was excellent. There were a few noticeable green screenshots, but otherwise, the visuals were great. The sound mixing and sound editing were superb. Mad Max: Fury Road was not great, but no movie could compare to that in this category this year.
Overall, this was one of the better disaster movies in recent years. Not being based on a true story like The Impossible or Titanic (though the Jake/Rose story was fictional) helped. While many of us agree that there will eventually be a major earthquake in California, we hope it will not be this grave and will not happen anytime soon. San Andreas is a great popcorn flick. You can sit back and rest your feet while also resting your mind. This movie doesn’t require you to think at all, and sometimes that’s all you need. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film.
Plot 7.5/10
Character Development 7/10
Character Chemistry 7.5/10
Acting 7.5/10
Screenplay 7.5/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 9/10
Hook and Reel 9.5/10
Universal Relevance 8/10 (a 9.6 earthquake seems a little extreme…I certainly hope I am correct on this)
80.5%
Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie
- 2012
- The Day After Tomorrow
- Twister
- The Poseidon Adventure
- Deep Impact