San Andreas

RATING: B-

Disaster films. Most people either enjoy them somewhat, or they really hate them. My enjoyment of them tends to be across the board. Some of them are better than others. One thing that a lot of disaster films lately have in common is their use of incredibly unrealistic scenarios. The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 come to mind in that regard. However, San Andreas is the closest one I've seen in a while to representing an actual possible real-life scenario. 

We have the San Andreas fault, which ends up shifting in the film as it often does throughout history. Only now it's shifting stronger than ever--an early earthquake in Los Angeles goes up to 9.1 on the scale. Now, the thing about that is, the San Andreas Fault actually is a threat to southern California. Would the real thing be a 9.1? Probably not. Hopefully not. But there is always the risk of that general area getting a rude awakening of some sort one of these days. 

As for the plot line besides the earthquake, we have a helicopter Air Rescue pilot named Dwayne Johnson--um, excuse me--Ray Gaines--who is divorced from his wife and is trying to keep in touch with his daughter Blake (wait a minute, is this Taken?). When the massive line of earthquakes hits Southern Cali, he goes into action to save his daughter and estranged wife. And that's pretty much it. 

San Andreas does have some pretty spectacular sequences in it. An early scene with an initial earthquake at the Hoover Dam causes some pretty amazing visuals. There's also a pretty stunning sequence inside of a building *during* the earthquake where Gaines' wife tries to stay alive--one of the more realistic disaster scenes I've seen in a while. 

Unfortunately, like some of its other counterparts, San Andreas does manage to succumb to the usual cartoonish antics near the end (i.e.: filmmakers forgetting how long it is humanly possible to breathe underwater), so it should consider itself lucky it has the visuals and special effects to prop itself up. 

Otherwise, there's not particularly much to the film. The script is mostly a bit of a joke, and so is much of the cast; but Dwayne Johnson manages to do quite well, giving one of the better performances of his career, delivering even the cheesy lines well, and showing some acting range during a bit of a "plot twist" of sorts. 

San Andreas is probably one of the better films of its genre, though to be fair, that's not saying much. These type of films really never bring out A-grade material, but hopefully you already knew that. If you go into the film knowing what to expect, you'll actually be fairly entertained (thanks to Dwayne Johnson and the special effects). You could certainly do a lot worse anyway.