It’s rare for me to be dazzled by the CGI in movies these days but San Andreas is full of moments so over-the-top, it was difficult not to admire the amount of intricate details present in each one.
You have to hand it to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He’s extremely charismatic, not a bad actor, and possesses a disarming smile. And no matter what implausible action movie he appears in, I have a hard time finding fault with him.
San Andreas, yet another of Mr. Johnson’s hard-to-believe but easy-to-swallow movies, takes a completely real situation and makes it unreal. While the possibility of a giant earthquake (or a series of them) shaking California until buildings topple like dominoes exists, less likely are all of the near-misses and narrow escapes that happen to the characters in this movie. I’m also fairly certain that San Andreas doesn’t accurately portray the real science of geological catastrophes.
Ray Gaines (Johnson,) a helicopter pilot for the Los Angeles Fire Department, has recently separated from his wife, Emma (Carla Gugino.) Their daughter, Blake (Alexandra Daddario) is balancing her time between Ray and Emma’s new beau, Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd.) When a large earthquake hits Nevada, Ray is called to respond and misses an opportunity to see Blake before she goes to college. Daniel offers to take Blake to San Francisco to get to know her better.
That Nevada earthquake foreshadows a series of quakes that hit Los Angeles and then San Francisco. When the tremors begin, Emma and Blake immediately (but separately) call Ray for help. So, Ray does what every good firefighter would do. He abandons his mission in Nevada and takes a helicopter to save his wife and daughter.
The human drama exists merely to put the characters in danger and show off truly impressive computer-generated damage. And, honestly, the effects are the real star of San Andreas. Buildings sway, bridges collapse, and cruise ships are tossed about like toys. It’s rare for me to be dazzled by the CGI in movies these days but San Andreas is full of moments so over-the-top, it was difficult not to admire the amount of intricate details present in each one.
And, yet, not once was I really concerned about the lives of anyone who received top billing. Although the script calls for someone to confront death every five minutes or so, there’s no suspense. No actual surprises. Nothing approaching actual danger. If this were reality, all of them would have died in the first 30 minutes. Or at least most of them. But this is a popcorn disaster movie, not an exercise in displaying human mortality. Plenty of other people die but not on-screen.
As mindless action movies go, San Andreas is not bad. It’s only really redeemable qualities are a likable cast and a ton of great special effects. It’s completely predictable in every way. And, sometimes, on a cold winter night, that’s all you want from a movie.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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