San Andreas (12A.)
Directed by Brad Peyton.
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Ioan Gruffud, Archie Punjabi and Paul Giamatti. 114 mins
Prospective viewers are going to view San Andreas with some caution. Levelling most of California in a wave of earthquakes would seem to be a project requiring a ton of a money: the kind of money not usually spent on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson movies. The poster doesn't breed confidence; the majority of it is taken up with Johnson's face with the apocalyptic destruction relegated to the backdrop.
Well, for a movie that hovers below the real heavy hitter blockbuster ranks, the effects are pretty impressive. Not top draw, but definitely some of the best available from the next one down. And never mind the quality, feel the quantity: the film keeps up a steady flow of crashes, smashes and last ditch rescues, some quite impressively handled by first timer Peyton, and doesn't dawdle, getting it all done in less than two hours. It's a traditional, sentimental, unoriginal disaster movie, and on those terms, great fun. It's much better than 2012 for example.
Johnson plays a fearless helicopter rescue who the moment disaster strikes flies off in his government helicopter to rescue members of his family who are phaffing around at the top of tall buildings or in underground car parks in LA and Frisco. Along the way he saves some other lives but largely in consultancy capacity, shouting at the huddled masses and telling them where to hide. Primarily though he only really cares about his blood relatives. It is a inherent facet of disaster movies that they ignore the truly terrifying aspects of natural catstrophes – the hideous randomness of it. Instead, we emotionally invest in the survival of a tiny group, to make the wiping out of swathes of the dispensible bearable. At the end (spoiler) the stars and stripes is unfurled and it all seems somehow to have been worthwhile.
San Andreas (12A.)
Directed by Brad Peyton.
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Ioan Gruffud, Archie Punjabi and Paul Giamatti. 114 mins
Prospective viewers are going to view San Andreas with some caution. Levelling most of California in a wave of earthquakes would seem to be a project requiring a ton of a money: the kind of money not usually spent on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson movies. The poster doesn't breed confidence; the majority of it is taken up with Johnson's face with the apocalyptic destruction relegated to the backdrop.
Well, for a movie that hovers below the real heavy hitter blockbuster ranks, the effects are pretty impressive. Not top draw, but definitely some of the best available from the next one down. And never mind the quality, feel the quantity: the film keeps up a steady flow of crashes, smashes and last ditch rescues, some quite impressively handled by first timer Peyton, and doesn't dawdle, getting it all done in less than two hours. It's a traditional, sentimental, unoriginal disaster movie, and on those terms, great fun. It's much better than 2012 for example.
Johnson plays a fearless helicopter rescue who the moment disaster strikes flies off in his government helicopter to rescue members of his family who are phaffing around at the top of tall buildings or in underground car parks in LA and Frisco. Along the way he saves some other lives but largely in consultancy capacity, shouting at the huddled masses and telling them where to hide. Primarily though he only really cares about his blood relatives. It is a inherent facet of disaster movies that they ignore the truly terrifying aspects of natural catstrophes – the hideous randomness of it. Instead, we emotionally invest in the survival of a tiny group, to make the wiping out of swathes of the dispensible bearable. At the end (spoiler) the stars and stripes is unfurled and it all seems somehow to have been worthwhile.
