“San Andreas” is one of those movies in which hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people die suddenly and horrifically, but you’re still supposed to leave the theater whistling a happy tune because the hero saves his immediate family of two.
I understand the logic. Within every great tragedy, stories of individual triumph can be found. But I felt bad for the people who were washed off the Golden Gate Bridge as a tsunami rolled through San Francisco Bay.
You’re probably thinking I’m going to trash “San Andreas,” but I’m not. I like the movie. It’s fun in a “shut your brain off and start shoving popcorn into your mouth” kind of way. It offers nothing you haven’t seen before, but your taste buds aren’t going to care about the lack of originality as you coat them with butter-flavored oil.
Your eyes and ears won’t mind, either, as “San Andreas” is technically impressive. An earthquake reduces Hoover Dam to rubble in a spectacular early sequence, and then tremors and aftershocks level Los Angeles and San Francisco as the big one finally hits the west coast. Buildings crumble, huge waves carry giant freighters down Main Street, and shock waves make vast stretches of land roll and crack with convincing fidelity. With the exception of a few iffy bits of computer animation, everything looks and sounds great.
Doing his best to not only survive the devastation but also find and rescue his daughter and soon-to-be ex-wife is Chief Ray Gaines, a helicopter rescue pilot with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Played by Dwayne Johnson (who’s wisely excised “The Rock” from his name), he looks like the kind of man you’d want to be on the way to save you as you’re standing on the roof of a collapsing high rise.
The story in “San Andreas” has received a fair amount of critical drubbing, most of which has been unfair. I think the filmmakers did a good job of balancing the spectacle with the character-specific moments. The dialogue might not win any awards on Oscar night, but I doubt many people would be capable of Shakespeare discourse as the world disintegrates around them. Plus, the story has a simple, coherent logic. The events that take place make sense within the world the people who made the movie created. Finally, I wanted the main characters to live. The litmus test for whether or not the writing for a disaster epic is successful is whether or not viewers care about the people the movie follows, and while watching “San Andreas,” I found myself pulling for the Gaineses.
I also enjoyed the acting. Johnson does his thing (being big, smiling every chance he gets, and grimacing at off-camera danger) as well as he ever has, and I really dug actor Paul Giamatti’s character, a scientist who’s developed a technology that can predict earthquakes. Giamatti is clearly above this kind of film, but he gives his performance everything he has – even in the moments when he’s reduced to spouting one-liners like “Everyone,” which he says when his colleagues ask him who they should warn about the upcoming quakes.
As with any big budget action pic, “San Andreas” induces a few groans along the way. Why would people stand next to a glass high-rise after an earthquake has leveled most of a major metropolis? And who in their right mind would gawk at a collapsing roof while a rescue helicopter hovers just a few feet away? The filmmakers also gave in to the temptation to yank a false tear out of the audience by suggesting there was no hope of rescue for a major character, even though that was not the case. Emotional manipulation like that hurts the integrity of a film and insults viewers, who know better.
Those issues aside, “San Andreas” is brainless fun that should leave you whistling a happy tune.
Three stars out of four. Rated PG-13 for intense disaster action and mayhem, and brief strong language.
David Laprad is the assistant editor of the Hamilton County Herald and an award-winning columnist and photographer. He believes Dwayne Johnson contractually requires the filmmakers with whom he works to show him smiling at least three times per film. He loves to show off those pearly whites! Contact David at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.
‘San Andreas’
shaky but fun
“S
an Andreas” is one of those movies in which hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people die suddenly and horrifically, but you’re still supposed to leave the theater whistling a happy tune because the hero saves his immediate family of two.
I understand the logic. Within every great tragedy, stories of individual triumph can be found. But I felt bad for the people who were washed off the Golden Gate Bridge as a tsunami rolled through San Francisco Bay.
You’re probably thinking I’m going to trash “San Andreas,” but I’m not. I like the movie. It’s fun in a “shut your brain off and start shoving popcorn into your mouth” kind of way. It offers nothing you haven’t seen before, but your taste buds aren’t going to care about the lack of originality as you coat them with butter-flavored oil.
Your eyes and ears won’t mind, either, as “San Andreas” is technically impressive. An earthquake reduces Hoover Dam to rubble in a spectacular early sequence, and then tremors and aftershocks level Los Angeles and San Francisco as the big one finally hits the west coast. Buildings crumble, huge waves carry giant freighters down Main Street, and shock waves make vast stretches of land roll and crack with convincing fidelity. With the exception of a few iffy bits of computer animation, everything looks and sounds great.
Doing his best to not only survive the devastation but also find and rescue his daughter and soon-to-be ex-wife is Chief Ray Gaines, a helicopter rescue pilot with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Played by Dwayne Johnson (who’s wisely excised “The Rock” from his name), he looks like the kind of man you’d want to be on the way to save you as you’re standing on the roof of a collapsing high rise.
The story in “San Andreas” has received a fair amount of critical drubbing, most of which has been unfair. I think the filmmakers did a good job of balancing the spectacle with the character-specific moments. The dialogue might not win any awards on Oscar night, but I doubt many people would be capable of Shakespeare discourse as the world disintegrates around them. Plus, the story has a simple, coherent logic. The events that take place make sense within the world the people who made the movie created. Finally, I wanted the main characters to live. The litmus test for whether or not the writing for a disaster epic is successful is whether or not viewers care about the people the movie follows, and while watching “San Andreas,” I found myself pulling for the Gaineses.
I also enjoyed the acting. Johnson does his thing (being big, smiling every chance he gets, and grimacing at off-camera danger) as well as he ever has, and I really dug actor Paul Giamatti’s character, a scientist who’s developed a technology that can predict earthquakes. Giamatti is clearly above this kind of film, but he gives his performance everything he has – even in the moments when he’s reduced to spouting one-liners like “Everyone,” which he says when his colleagues ask him who they should warn about the upcoming quakes.
As with any big budget action pic, “San Andreas” induces a few groans along the way. Why would people stand next to a glass high-rise after an earthquake has leveled most of a major metropolis? And who in their right mind would gawk at a collapsing roof while a rescue helicopter hovers just a few feet away? The filmmakers also gave in to the temptation to yank a false tear out of the audience by suggesting there was no hope of rescue for a major character, even though that was not the case. Emotional manipulation like that hurts the integrity of a film and insults viewers, who know better.
Those issues aside, “San Andreas” is brainless fun that should leave you whistling a happy tune.
Three stars out of four. Rated PG-13 for intense disaster action and mayhem, and brief strong language.
David Laprad is the assistant editor of the Hamilton County Herald and an award-winning columnist and photographer. He believes Dwayne Johnson contractually requires the filmmakers with whom he works to show him smiling at least three times per film. He loves to show off those pearly whites! Contact David at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.