San Andreas

San Andreas

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Paul Giamatti

Directed by Brad Peyton

Synopsis:
Ray Gaines (Dwayne Johnson) is a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter-rescue pilot, and is going through a divorce with his wife Emma (Carla Gugino), and prepares to take his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) to college.  Life isn't ideal, but not necessarily bad. 

Meanwhile, Caltech seismologist Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) discovers that he can predict earthquakes, and knows that an earthquake beyond comprehension is about to occur in the Los Angeles/San Francisco area, which could possibly shift the San Andreas fault and cause unprecedented devastation.

Of course, he's right, and the earthquake hits.  Ray manages to rescue Emma from the rooftop of a crumbling building, and they fly to San Francisco to rescue Blake, but as the earthquakes continue, she finds herself in deeper peril and faces the possibility that she might not be rescued in time.

Review:
Somewhere, Roland Emmerich is cursing the day he didn't think of this film.  Best known for his disaster porn films such as "2012" and "The Day After Tomorrow," he surprisingly didn't think about a disaster film centering on the San Andreas fault.  Instead, it's Brad Peyton (best known for "Journey to the Center of the Earth 2" and "Cats & Dogs 2"...so...not really best known for anything) who titillates the audiences' senses in epic fashion as buildings go boom, oceans rise and catastrophic deaths occur.

At the heart of the film is the dysfunctional family that is the Gaines, who went through a traumatic event in their past and now finds themselves extremely fractured - yet surprisingly cordial.  Ray and Emma get along beautifully, even though she's now with the traditional jerk new boyfriend, Ray is still supportive.  Blake is just a ray of sunshine, the perfect daughter, who loves her dad and mom and even accepts the new jerk boyfriend.  They're all rainbows and sunshine, and even during a cataclysmic event they can't be shaken.  Nothing brings a family together like the end of the world.

So now the casting.  While they cast four very strong leads, it's the family that's somewhat strange:

+ =?

Exactly, doesn't make a lot of sense.  Although Daddario's eyes are mesmerizing.

Back to the "story."  Funny how in most of these disaster films, they focus on the most resilient families ever.  When it all hits the fan, they know every shortcut, every secret, and every place to go in order to be as safe as possible.  They know to contact one another to use a rotary phone.  They know how to fly helicopters, navigate boats and escape crumbling buildings with ease.  I guess if it was a regular family, the movie would be ten minutes long as they'd all die quickly, so I guess I can forgive them focusing on the super family.  It still however takes away some of the belief, not that this kind of event is even believable in the first place.

Then I remember: I don't go to these type of films to see brilliant acting, plausible casting or believable situations, I go to see mass destruction!  To that end, I was not disappointed.  There was a lot of destructing to be had, and it filled my heart with giddy feelings and excitement, as a movie like this should.

So, it achieved it's goal.

Summary:

"San Andreas" is the perfect disaster porn film, filled with massive effects and surprisingly decent acting for a film of this type.

My Rating: A-