San Andreas (2015) Movie Review

San Andreas (2015)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Dwayne Johnson amd Carla Gugino in San Andreas (2015)

Disasternado

Raymond Gaines (Dwayne Johnson - Race to Witch Mountain) is a heroic helicopter rescue pilot who is not afraid to risk his own life to save the lives of those who are in danger and distress. But Raymond has his own problems as a family tragedy led to the end of his marriage to Emma (Carla Gugino - Faster), who has started dating the rich and successful Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd). But when an unprecedented mega earthquake hits California it is Raymond who will do what ever it takes to not only save Emma but also their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario - The Choice) who is in San Francisco and with the help of Ben Taylor (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) and his younger brother Ollie (Art Parkinson) are themselves trying to make it to safety.

"San Andreas" is a whisker away from being the "Sharknado" of disaster movies because at times it is that ridiculous. Here is a movie where are hero has to deal with earthquakes, Tsunami's, car jacking, almost driving in to the San Andreas Fault, flooding, towers falling down and things blowing up. "San Andreas" is simply gratuitous when it comes to the amount of disaster it manages to pack in to just under two hours, spectacular for doing so but borderline ridiculous as well. And somehow it manages to do this with being tongue in cheek yet without being full blown cheesy, with the actors knowing some of their lines are corny yet they deliver them in such away that everyone knows it is corny but without disrespecting it, if that makes sense.

Art Parkinson, Alexandra Daddario and Hugo Johnstone-Burt in San Andreas (2015)

But to be honest "San Andreas" can be summed up as a lot of stunning special effects, ridiculous rescues and Dwayne Johnson being a man mountain who can take anything you throw at him. Now in fairness there is also Carla Gugino whose comic timing when working with Dwayne Johnson is brilliant and their scenes together that have a tongue in cheek nature are some of the movie's most enjoyable. And then there is also Alexandra Daddario who has Blake delivers this mix of both Gugino and Johnson's characters so she is attractive yet heroic. And Daddario also delivers the tongue in cheek nature of her scenes such as one involving her running which if it wasn't so intentionally tongue in cheek you might call it sexist.

What this all boils down to is that "San Andreas" is certainly an entertaining movie and in fact has so much entertainment that you are likely to want to watch again to pick up on those things you missed the first time around. But for fans of disaster movies it is worth noting that this throws so much disaster at you that it is borderline ridiculous.


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