SAN ANDREAS (PG-13)
Released by Warner Brothers
Reviewed by Adam Mast
Who better to take on the biggest earthquake of all time than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson?! That’s what happens in SAN ANDREAS, a massive, loud, and often silly epic with shades of DEEP IMPACT, TWISTER, THE PERFECT STORM, CLIFFHANGER, THE ABYSS, and, of course, nearly every disaster movie you can shake a stick at. Having said that, I preferred SAN ANDREAS to the likes of Roland Emmerich’s 2012 and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW mostly because of the performances. What issues this movie does have are by no means the “fault” of an appealing cast.
In SAN ANDREAS, Johnson plays Ray, a chopper rescue pilot who must adjust to the news that his ex-wife Emma (Carla Gugino) and daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) are about to start a new life with reputable building architect Daniel Riddick (Ion Gruffudd).
Meanwhile, seismologist Lawrence (Paul Giamatti) becomes increasingly irritated that his warnings of a pending massive quake appear to be falling on deaf ears…Until an earthquake strikes at the heart of the San Andreas Fault. The massive quake rattles from L.A. to San Francisco, causing massive damage to both cities and all the small towns in between.
In an effort to save his family, Ray immediately springs into action. After the ridiculously heroic high-rise saving of his ex-wife, Ray and Emma quickly make their way from L.A. to San Francisco in a desperate search for Blake who, as it turns out, has teamed with a British architect and his precocious little brother in a bid for survival.
What follows is a series of epic aftershocks, building collapses, and tsunamis. And at the center of it all is Ray, a pilot who will do anything to keep his family safe. He even manages to save the lives of a few bystanders along the way. In short, SAN ANDREAS is pretty much everything you’d expect from a gigantic, Hollywood-produced disaster movie.
SAN ANDREAS was directed by Brad Peyton (“Journey 2: Mysterious Island”) with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but the movie is fittingly huge and well-paced. And, as expected, the special effects are plentiful. SAN ANDREAS was written by LOST co-writer Carlton Cuse, and when buildings aren’t tumbling over, characters engage in less-than-philosophical discussions of loss, grief, and guilt. Still, there is a much-welcome sense of bombast and heroism in this picture, and I’ll take the schmaltzy, cheesy, overly melodramatic heart-tugging of SAN ANDREAS over the void that is the majority of Michael Bay’s obnoxious work any day of the week.
As I mentioned at the top of the review, the cast plays a big part in this film being as tolerable as it is. Johnson is a charismatic force to be reckoned with. He still doesn’t look entirely comfortable when he is required to stand still and emote, but he’s getting there. At any rate, he’s not standing still most of the time, anyway. Most of the time, he’s dodging falling buildings with his copter, pulling folks to safety, and outrunning tsunamis with his boat.
Gugino is warm and affectionate as Emma. Not to be outdone, she performs one of the film’s more outlandish maneuvers. She’s also responsible for a most strategically placed F-bomb.
In terms of performance, though, SAN ANDREAS really belongs to the beautiful Daddario. After seeing her sultry, fiercely sexual work on TRUE DETECTIVE, I wasn’t sure what to expect from her here, but as it turns out, she has the “it” factor in spades. She’s sweet and likable, but she also takes charge in this picture. She has a terrific screen presence, and I can’t wait to see her in the upcoming BURYING THE EX.
Rounding out the cast are charming turns by Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson as Blake’s new found British friends as well as a sensitive Giamatti who brings real humanity to the rather thankless role of Lawrence.
Gruffudd doesn’t fare as well as the weasely Daniel Riddick, but, in his defense, his is perhaps the most poorly written role in the picture.
SAN ANDREAS is derivative of better movies, there’s no doubt about that. But what it does, it does well. If this film would have dropped the self serious act and simply embraced its own ridiculousness to a larger degree, like the FAST AND THE FURIOUS movies, I might have liked it even more. As it stands, though, as far as disaster movies go, this one is pretty entertaining. And if you do decide to see it, I recommend you check it out on Imax.
