I can probably count on one hand the number of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson movies I have seen in my lifetime. I've never seen past the first Fast and Furious film (although I understand that the latter few have been pretty decent) and the other movies he's made have never really grabbed me, but as I said above, this was an Unlimited Screening so I thought, why not.
If you've ever seen a disaster flick you'll know exactly what the formula is, and San Andreas certainly sticks to the character side of that very well. There's the hero (or in this case two main hero's), the dad, he's skilled in some way, in this instance a Fire Department helicopter pilot who rescues people on a regular basis. There's the woman he loves, typically they're not together anymore (due to a family tragedy that tore them apart), then there's the child, in need of rescuing (for the purpose of the plot) but actually doing pretty okay by themselves. You also have the villian or coward as it tends to be in disaster movies, he usually gets what's coming to him, and of course there is the science guy that no-one listened to when it could have made a difference. They're all here and they're just as you remembered them from all the other disaster films you've seen.
In this particular disaster film, the crux of the story revolves around the San Andreas Fault, the line that separates the tectonic plates of The Pacific and North America, where there genuinely is a lot of siesmic activity. The area is notorious for earthquakes and so the filmmakers have built their story on fact. At least in part.
The film opens with a bang, literally, when there is a rock slide (hur hur) that shows off the mad skillz of our hero, followed almost immediately by the San Andreas Fault 'going off' whilst our two science nerds, err I mean, Siesmic experts, are trying to pull a Helen Hunt (Twister reference for those of you who are under the age of 20) and develop an early warning system that will allow them to predict when and where an earthquake will strike, and more importantly what size it will be on the richter scale. In the midst of earthquakes left, right and centre, our hero's daughter happens to be in San Francisco with the coward of the piece who just happens to be her mom's boyfriend. Oh and about here is where Kylie shows up (yes, THAT Kylie) for about 5 minutes in a completely pointless cameo.
Lots of cheesy lines later...
"What are we gonna do?" - "We're going to get our daughter back!" *audience hurrah*
... lots of people are dead but The Rock somehow manages to come out of it unscathed. *audience hurrah*
My brother specifically told me I wasn't allowed to use the old critic adage of 'you can leave your brain at home' as (and I quote) "That's a sign of a lazy critic that can't admit they've enjoyed something". Well I am not at all ashamed to admit that I enjoyed San Andreas thoroughly. In fact I would go so far as to say it's the most fun I've had in the cinema in ages. You definitely don't have to concentrate on the plot as it's paper thin at best, it's just a roller coaster of action and it's so tense it'll have you gripping the edge of your seat so you don't fall off it. It's unapologetically cheesy though so get ready to groan through some of the lines, or do what I did and just laugh at them as they were definitely intended to be seen as cheesy.
So much fun, so much action, and even a little teeny bit of romance thrown in. There's also a really quite bad English accent (he's Australian but with a very posh English sounding name) and a fantastic shot of the daughter's amazing underwater floatation devices (she's over 18 so it's okay fellas - make sure you see it in 3D for the full eye popping effect). It's got everything. Go see it. Really. 9 out of 10 on the richter scale.
UK Release Date - 29th May 2015
Viewing Date - 26th May 2015
Cast Overview:
Dwayne Johnson ~ Ray Gaines
Carla Gugino ~ Emma Gaines
Alexandra Daddario ~ Blake Gaines
Paul Giamatti ~ Lawrence
Ioan Gruffudd ~ Daniel Riddick
Hugo Johnstone-Burt ~ Ben
Art Parkinson ~ Ollie
Kylie Minogue ~ Susan Riddick
Director ~ Brad Peyton
Writer(s) ~ Carlton Cuse (screenplay), Andre Fabrizio (Story) and Jeremy Passmore (Story)
Top drawer. Well done.
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