Review of San Andreas (2015) by Pguims — 03 Jun 2015

Like most recent disaster movies, San Andreas is loud. It’s wildly noisy and action sequences just run one after another, leaving us catching our breaths. Who can breathe when tragedies seem non-stop? Though it becomes overkill and indulgent, the movie is undeniably exciting, bracing and intense. Broken roads and bridge (oh Golden Gate!), collapsing skyscrapers and structures (oh Hoover Dam!), mile-high waves, ship crashing into buildings and almost all elements of an exhilarating disaster film are present in San Andreas. Combined with realistic and awe-inspiring CGI effects, the movie is visually amusing.

However, San Andreas just banks on being entertaining. It has no solid plot and character development. As much as the film lightly rests on scientific truth, its plot is too shallow and dense. There are moments where innocent people get swept in the catastrophe. They should have been touching but they are not because it feels that the movie has no sense of human loss, of death and of its misery.

Sadly, the actors are not helpful as well. Johnson’s popping muscles, Gugino’s elegant grace and Daddario’s pretty face are attractive on scream but their performance falls short of being appealing. They don’t strike any chemistry and they simply look like a bunch of Hollywood stars running on rubbles or practicing impromptu stunts. Even in serious scenes when the audience should have shed a tear or two for them, they won’t because those moments are far from being moving but too close to being cheesy.

San Andreas is a good movie to watch while gulping a bottle of beer or munching some potato chips or popcorn. It only explores the emotion of being thrilled and high. But if you are up to something profound or even close to heart-wrenching or mind-boggling, better take your beer or chips and find something else.