San Andreas is a action-adventure disaster film directed by Brad Peyton and stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Paul Giamatti and Ioan Gruffudd.
San Andreas follows an Los Angeles Fire Department rescue-helicopter pilot, Ray (Johnson) and his ex wife, Emma (Gugino) as they search for their daughter after a devastating earthquake hits.
This type of film really isn't for me, disaster films are my least favourite genre, i just get bored from all the CGI destruction everywhere, my brain just turns off and my eyes glaze over, but i didn't mind San Andreas, i enjoyed it actually!
The film focuses on several different characters through the film, mostly focusing on Ray (Johnson) and his relationship with his ex-wife Emma while they are travelling to save their daughter Blake (Daddario). The Rock oozes charisma in every film he is in and he doesn't stop here, he is just as good, and his chemistry with Carla Gugino was great, the history between the two characters is very clear just through a few lines of dialogue.
Blake's story has her with her mum's new boyfriend Daniel (Gruffudd), travelling to college for the new semester but because of the earthquakes gets split up with Daniel and finds some new friends to help survive with, Blake's scenes in the film are good for the most part, she is a very strong female character who is not a damsel in distress at all, she is leading the pack, knowing survival skills she is helping the people she is with survive which i thought was a nice change. Daddario is excellent in the film and is one of my favourite young actresses today, i was worried that she was going to get the Maggie Grace kind of characterization from Taken, and make a 20 year old act like a 12 year old but luckily someone had sense in this film and didn't age her down too much. What drags done her character's part though is the love interest angle they had to force in, it isn't too bad but the dialogue between the two is cringe worthy and there isn't any chemistry between the two characters at all.
Like in all disaster films you need a scientist explaining the science in the film, saying all the exposition, this job goes to Lawrence (Giamatti) who is a scientist that researches shifts in tectonic plates and earthquakes. Giamatti's scenes were the least interesting because they had to do the heavy lifting, telling the audience everything that is happening in the film, but Giamatti is superb as always and adds somethings to his scenes that other actors couldn't of.
The CGI in the film is amazing and looks so realistic that you get nervous watching all of this destruction on the screen, there are tons of set pieces in the film, and the action stays fresh throughout, they use several different types of natural disasters to keep it fresh and they do a surprisingly good job at it compared to other disaster films.
This film is the perfect for turning your brain off and stuffing popcorn in your mouth but it isn't much more, it isn't the disaster movie to change all disaster movies. I haven't included a lot of negatives in this review because its a fine film, its just that disaster films really aren't for me. San Andreas is a good time at the cinema but if you miss it you shouldn't feel too bad.
3/5
What did you think of the film?
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