San Andreas – Movie Review

San Andreas – PG-13
Release Date: Fri 29 May 2015

Dwayne Johnson plays Ray, a rescue helicopter pilot with the Los Angeles Fire Department. He has just found out that his wife Emma (Carla Gugino) wants to make their separation official with a divorce. She’ll be moving herself and their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) in with her new boyfriend, Riddick (Ioan Gruffud). Meanwhile a pair of scientists (Paul Giamatti and Will Yun Lee) set out to prove a new theory that they can predict earthquakes.

When the earthquakes come, they represent a cataclysmic, record-breaking shift in the San Andreas Fault. California and Nevada are affected with the Hoover Dam, Los Angeles and San Francisco directly in harm’s way. Can Ray save his family from the destruction?

San Andreas brings back the disaster movie prevalent 10-20 years ago, complete with the tropes of a family in crisis before the destruction begins and makes them realize that they do care about one another. The special effects are on par with modern blockbusters, which is to say they’re just good enough for audiences right now. There’s nothing groundbreaking (no pun intended), no sequence that sticks out as particularly clever or interesting. We’ve seen San Francisco destroyed on film countless times.

The performances are very good and I did enjoy the main characters, particularly Dwayne Johnson as the father and Alexandra Daddario as the daughter. The movie’s biggest problem is it’s lack of tension. We know pretty much immediately who will survive and who will not, so there’s little in the way of stakes. We’re more invested in the family drama which is slightly more interesting.

While I can’t recommend San Andreas at full price, it’s a fun enough movie for disaster fans or those that enjoy Dwayne Johnson. Otherwise I’d say wait to rent it or VOD it for cheap.

Cal and I saw it in the theater and had a discussion in the car: