Review of San Andreas (2015) by Omar K — 30 Nov 2015

Plate boundaries are marvellous yet scary things that constantly move beneath us without us knowing, and if they want to be heard and felt, a handful of lives are taken away depending on the magnitude of the quake. The land shakes, cracks open and breaks and we become helpless ants running for our lives against our own home. These plate boundaries are above everything in terms of power and destruction, but perhaps the most famous of these boundaries is the San Andreas Fault, and this is for only two reasons: 1) It is located within California, encompassing populated cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, and 2) it hasnâ??t ruptured in over 300 years meaning a greater fissure is potentially on its way. The 2015 film San Andreas is not named after the famous GTA game or the town, or even the lake, it is the fault, and once you get that you will know epic disaster is on its way. Not to mention the fact that the destruction will happen on American soil, in one of the top American cities, so even though this film is a minor fracture compared to letâ??s say 2012â??s global annihilation, the filmmakers will find a way to make this event almost doomsday-like in appeal.

Revolving around Los Angeles recue pilot Chief Raymond Gaines and his recently divorced wife Emma and daughter Blake, San Andreas finds these characters stuck within the mayhem that hits California. As Caltech seismologist Dr. Lawrence Hayes discovers how to predict earthquakes before they happen at the Hoover Dam, an unknown fault erupts triggering the first earthquake, which collapses the dam. As Hayes discovers the San Andreas Fault is beginning to shift, earthquakes surpassing 9 on the Richter scale start tearing apart cities along the fault. With Emma in trouble, Ray must first save her using his piloting and rescuing skills, then travel to San Francisco to save their daughter from the pending record-breaking earthquakes that Hayes bluntly describes as: â??The Earth will literally crack and you will feel it on the East Coast.â??

With the career change from wrestling to acting, Dwayne Johnson has skyrocketed in terms of popularity. But, San Andreas requires dramatic acting in at least five scenes, and Johnson takes his time to get accustomed to something he has never done before. During the moments of familial hardship, Johnsonâ??s character Raymond Gaines struggles to look at all flustered emotionally, especially in the moments with his wife, but a guy the size of The Rock is unlikely to get all teary-eyed. Johnson redeems himself in the heart-breaking final scene where his love for his daughter and past traumas is palpable. Carla Gugino stars as Emma Gaines, Rayâ??s ex-wife. Gugino provides some true acting chops to the proceedings as her kick-ass motherly persona suits her characterâ??s lifestyle. Alexandra Daddario is their daughter, Blake, the tenaciously blue-eyed teenager. Daddario appears to struggle during the intense acting moments, but her likeable attitude of staying strong and getting to the grips with things herself is what we like. Ioan Gruffudd is the temporary boyfriend of Emma, whose cowardly ways are enough to want his death to be gory. His character was there to provide Johnson with a reputation of a doting dad and the one who should be with Emma, so he kind of is in the way! Kylie Minogue believe it or not makes an appearance as Gruffuddâ??s sister and it truly is peculiar how she actually matters. Seismologist Paul Giamattiâ??s Dr. Lawrence Hayes is at the scientific end of things constantly updating us with what seems to be quake after quake, but if it wasnâ??t for his downright concern and fear of the upcoming disaster, we would have found it hard to even care for anything.

Special effects within San Andreas are what weâ??ve come to expect from disaster blockbusters, so I canâ??t say the visuals blew me away, they just simply did their job. From an epic tsunami that crests and reveals a cargo ship that destroys the Golden Gate Bridge, to the capitulation of the Hoover Dam, and the endless crumbling of buildings, San Andreas isnâ??t short on catastrophes. After a while though it turns into earthquake after earthquake, and it gets tiresome, and you hope it will stop not for the characters sake but for your ears, as the haunting sounds turn into exasperating rambles. When an earthquake breaks the 9.5 magnitude record set by Chile on the Richter scale, it is a special moment of realisation but for us simply renders itself as another quake in a long list of trembles. By allowing Johnson the title of helicopter-rescue pilot, San Andreas gave itself the lease to utilise the most bonkers of spaces and a wide array of vehicles to good use. We get to see the destruction from a helicopter, a plane, a car and even a speedboat, so it isnâ??t short on different ways of facing the disaster. San Andreas remains a visual spectacle concentrated in one place, therefore not only do we get to see a city crumble repeatedly, the characters arenâ??t spread out all over the world so there is a sense of intimacy to the spectacle.

San Andreasâ?? narrative is a bit of both worlds as it is predictable yet intimate. The familial relationships direct the course of the story and the emotion. The father-daughter relationship seems fake at first, but once we understand the backdrop of Johnsonâ??s other daughter perishing in a kayaking accident, it all makes sense. It doesnâ??t mean the relationships are depicted the way in which they should be, it simply emphasises these current relationships as the way they are because of the tragic past. As for Blake, who would of predicted her alone in San Francisco getting saved by the young man she met moments earlier, and ending up romantically stumbling together? Yeah, everyone! San Andreas is highly predictable in its character development, but there is a sense of meaning to these relationships that canâ??t be mocked as predictable; these relationships are what keep San Andreas respectable because they feel real and modest, that amidst all the action, there is clear headway of how these characters recover. But, considering the story is of a massive destruction event, there is a shortage of other characters that can expand the story, provide a different perspective or deliver us entertainment and perish in unfathomable ways. The simplicity of the relationships and the shortage of characters means that there is much more time to be spent on the protagonists, allowing us to envelope ourselves in their problems rather than dividing our time. That being said, although their problems are interesting enough to keep San Andreas from disintegrating like one its buildings, the film should undoubtedly be doing more with what it has on offer.

There are glimpses of what happens when the world comes to shit. From stealing, looting, violence and murder rather than natural death, it is clear that during times like these, it is all about the survival instincts of every man for himself. Survival is a worldwide instinct that we can all relate to, but people from California will watch this film with emotion and an attachment to the story and the city that the rest of us cannot. Despite being a destructive event that could affect the globe, we canâ??t attach ourselves to the story because we donâ??t care enough for the city or know enough about it to care. As for the ending, the characters stare at the sunset over the horizon of destruction, and Emma asks â??What do we do now?â?? and Ray embracing her says â??We rebuildâ?? â?? These words feel so devoid of warmth and excitement that San Andreas becomes with these few lines another film in the long line of predictable blockbusters to grace our cinema.

The Verdict:

San Andreas is a spectacle of annihilation, but one cannot help but notice that the story and the characters just arenâ??t enough to mirror the scale of devastation.

â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â?? 4/10.