Review of San Andreas (2015) by Thequietgamer — 05 Nov 2015

There are a few moments of pretty glorious destruction here. Unfortunately everything else in the movie is just boring and completely predictable. "San Andreas" borrows stale tropes from other disaster movies and mixes in bland characters played by usually talented actors who just aren't trying here.

The family drama that is supposed to make us care about and root for these characters falls flat on it's face. We've seen this stuff before and know exactly how it's going to play out. Maybe it would be a little bit better if these characters didn't suck. They aren't fleshed out at all and they are given some cheesy lines. You can tell the actors know the material they have been given is generic and subpar, because they put forth no effort at all. It makes things harder to watch.

The movie's big moments of destruction can be quite grand and exciting. Some moments of shoddy CGI and special effects are noticeable, but sometimes the shear scope of the chaos onscreen is enough to make us overlook it. It's just a shame there isn't more of it. It takes a little bit for the destruction to start taking place, but once it does it really delivers and doesn't let up for a bit. Unfortunately once it does let up it never really gets that energy again. We are left following the plot which dips into moments of all too familiar melodrama with characters we just don't care about. The film really only has two moments of truly exciting set pieces and the rest just drags on.

It's meant to be an exciting, mayhem filled popcorn flick, but it doesn't deliver enough mayhem. When the city starts to crumble we are treated to exciting spectacle that really is a blast to watch. It's a shame the rest of the film that follows isn't nearly as good. Everything is boring from that point on and makes this a movie not worth recommending. You've seen this disaster movie before, and it was more exciting then. Maybe not as pretty, but certainly more fun.

I give "San Andreas" a 5.5/10.