Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Paul Giamatti, Archie Panjabi, Kylie Minogue
Director: Brad Peyton
Genre: Drama, disaster
Duration: 114 minutes
Now showing at Century Cinemax, Acacia Mall Kisementi and Cinema Magic, Metroplex Mall Naalya
Another disaster movie is upon us. This time it is not the whole world getting destroyed but rather California. In San Andreas, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hits the city, leading to a disaster of tsunami proportions. Now, for anyone with their seismic knowledge at the finger tips, you know that on a scale of 1 to 10, the scale being the Richter, that is one mean earthquake –the kind that leads to total destruction.
If you don’t give a hoot about seismic movements and whatnot, don’t worry. The visual effects guys in San Andreas have got you covered. Every shot of the city crumbling is so magnificent that you may find yourself wondering why you’re marvelling at what is essentially a disaster. Forget those things of a building coming down. Here, the building and the ground below it crumbles, dams break, the sea bed rises… generally things get out of control in 3D. This is the most exciting part of the movie.
But just so you don’t think it’s a documentary on earth movement, there is a storyline albeit a familiar one. Ray (Johnson, Furious 7) is a rescue pilot with the fire department in LA who is in the air when the quake starts. He rescues his ex-wife Emma (Gugino, Journey 2) and later goes out to San Francisco, amidst the destruction to save their daughter, Blake (Daddario, Percy Jackson and the Titans). Oh did I mention that some scientist, Lawrence (Giamatti, Saving Mr Banks) had predicted the earthquake but no one listened to him? Now you get why I called it familiar. There have been too many disaster movies where someone predicts it will happen, everyone ignores him, it happens, then a hero goes on a lifesaving mission, usually geared toward a loved one. And that is where San Andreas’ weakness lies.
Besides the not-so-new plot, we have the kind of cast that will have people watch the movie not because of their good acting but because of who they are. They have just the right dose of charisma to get us watching.
