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Fighting for supremacy between a catastrophic earthquake in the state of California and a former wrestling star turned into an action movie hero, Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock (he’s not credit for being called that, but I guess it fits here) is a pretty ridiculous premise. Who’s your money on? I’m going to guess for movie purpose, it’s the latter. Since that is settled, I guess I can spoil the illusionism created by San Andreas by letting you know that it is predictable to the core.
If not extraordinary, it sure is remarkable that the movie works, defying odds not many action movies defy. The set-pieces, which are intended to create suspense, manage to do so unlike most of the action-casts I have witnessed, where the characters in top-billed cast are actually cared about. Brad Paeyton as a director, I’m not sure he knows but the glimpses of disasters are where he excels. From the effing of the Hoover Dam to the snapping of the Golden Gate Bridge, the scenes are metereoric. Whether it was the editing which to be fair was phenomenal or my own disbelief, the CGI caused scenes of destruction are among the best I’ve ever had the privelge of witnessing.
Disasters have always been entertaining spectacles in movies, so I do not mind them at all. Nor do I find it ironic that Hollywood is profiting off of what could possibly be a reality. The quote-unquote “data” that a seismologist played by Paul Giamatti could be sharing early in the film could very well be fact in the film. California is long overdue to break off and fall into the ocean after all. The story ray gains, Johnson’s highly skilled rescue helicopter pilot, saving his estranged wife and daughter from the earthquake inspired destruction is fascinating. Imagine “Earthquake” plus “Towering Inferno” plus “Die Hard” but easier to follow. Emma, Ray’s ex-wife, is with a new partner, extremely wealthy archeologist, who is taking his daughter, Blake, to San Francisco while Emma is now with Ray. Logical sense means at least one of these characters has to turn out to be greedy and sinister, which predictably enough… and to top it off, he has a really awful sister too.
Unlike disaster movies from older times, where a character’s hate-build up made for an entertaining finish, “San Andreas” isn’t bad enough to allow the viewers to voice any hisses. The movie is too action packed and too good for that. A lot more is required from a viewer too, including the ability to dodge buildings and falling choppers, mediating gigantic potholes in a used SUV, and improv sky diving when an airport runway is nowhere to be found. And much, much more.
In the meantime, her father’s daughter survivalist Blake, with two young British mates who look like they were plucked out of a discarded Richard Curtis script, cruises through the bay city which the earthquake has transformed into an amusing underground fun park. The scenic view is dotted with moving sidewalks, falling power lines, and flames shooting out of the ground, all struggling to evade their paths. All this set in motion even before the tsunamis arrive. How will Ray and Emma locate their girl, and will compiling their girl aid them in mending the catastrophe in their backstory which initially drove them apart? As stated before, there are really no surprises. But as bracing as deep sea diving Johnson’s performance is, it is solid within its extremely narrow parameters. And between the appealing attractiveness of grit, Gugino and Daddario are simply both. The outcome is a nearly quintessential ‘pop corn’ movie.
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