In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his daughter.
Director: Brad Peyton
Writers: Carlton Cuse (screenplay), Andre Fabrizio (story), 1 more credit »
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario | See full cast and crew »
Storyline
In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his daughter.
San Andreas User Reviews
A Fantastic Disaster Film
When San Andreas was first announced I was super excited for the film. First and foremost about the disaster element of the film. I love the disaster sub-genre of films. Adding Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the lead only put icing on the cake. San Andreas turns out to be one exciting thrill ride from start to finish. It is not perfect in areas of acting and story, but the film is overall very fun to watch. The following is my review of San Andreas.
San Andreas was written by Carlton Cuse, Andre Fabrizio, and Jeremy Passmore. Cuse is more well known having worked on hit TV shows such as Lost and more recently Bates Motel. Fabrizio and Passmore worked on smaller projects together such as a film called Special, and a low budget action film starring Bruce Willis called The Prince. The story area is one area of the film that lacks, but disaster films like this aren't known for great overall stories. Even my favorite disaster films of the 70s were written loosely. The film follows Ray(The Rock) as he tries to save his family during this mega Earthquake. Frankly, that sums up the entire plot of the film. Nothing else to really tell. The film really delivers on special effects and overall amazing CG. That will be talked about more in the next paragraph. Even with a loose story, the characters connect well, even if they aren't that well developed overall. Cuse, Fabrizio, and Passmore write a story that moves things along, and frankly the story outside of being thin is not bad, and doesn't drag on.
The film was directed by Brad Peyton. Peyton directed another film with The Rock as the star called Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. The film is wonderfully shot, and for a thinner budget of about 100 million dollars, the CG is mostly enjoyable. Here and there it clearly looks absurd, but for the most part it was not noticeable. The action is the front and center piece of the film. With mega Earthquakes hitting California, the action picks up right out of the gate, not even 20 minutes into the film. Little buildup before that, and I'm glad they took that approach. Generally disaster movies that are made these days, which are rare, can cost 200 million or so to film. For them to make a film on a budget of 100 million dollars to look like this is impressive. Still has flaws in the CG, but overall this aspect was impressive. The acting department is lead by The Rock(Dwayne Johnson) and also stars Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, and Ioan Gruffudd and Paul Giamatti in smaller roles. The actors overall are great. The Rock has never really delivered an amazing performance, but he has always leads an action film well. That is the case once again. Adding Cugino and Giamatti just helps out the overall acting aspect of the film. Peyton directs a fun filled action disaster film that most should enjoy.
The film was composed by Andrew Lockington. Lockington is known for scoring the Journey to the Center of the Earth films(The Rock stars in the second film), and also Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. The score for a disaster film is key, and in my opinion Lockington hit the ball out of the park. With many action scenes in the film it calls for a deeper score, but also low key material in more dramatic scenes. He adapts well over the course of the film, and his score adds amazing depth to this great film. Big thumbs up for the score of this film.
In closing, San Andreas is just one heck of a fun disaster movie. With the sub-genre basically dead recently, it was great seeing such an enjoyable film like this on the big screen again. I'm hoping it saves the sub-genre overall, but even if it doesn't, this is a film to fall back on. There is still hatred for disaster movies like this from some movie goers, but if you are a fan of those older disaster films, you should find some enjoyment out of this film. I would highly recommend that everyone see this in theaters.
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