SAN ANDREAS  2.5 *** ( 3.2***for a CGI disaster movie)       

      “San Andreas” has all you need for a disaster film: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson‘s arms/biceps, Alexandra Daddario‘s cleavage, and copious CGI.. Without a shark in sight, San Andreas banks on those  three elements. It meets with some success which is largely due to the massive CGI effects and somewhat to the charisma (and biceps) of the leading man, and lastly to the cleavage factor .

Seismologist Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) has created a computer model that can predict earthquakes; he fears that the San Andreas fault is about to be set off, and is instantly proven correct with the first major shock/earthquake in Nevada at the Hoover Dam. Then the quakes spread to Los Angeles where it will follow the San Andreas fault all the way to San Francisco.

Sure, this has spectacular CGI special effects, but a great disaster movie needs some credible people to make us care. San Andreas, with mass destruction  and millions who must be dying,  focuses on one family who, despite incredibly dire circumstances, seem to have no problem staying alive. That’s because  Johnson, a/k/a The Rock is as solid as one, playing an LAFD  Rescue Helicopter Pilot with talents Superman might envy. There’s nothing he can’t do, and along the way he rescues his ex-wife in a ridiculous sequence set on what remains of the rooftop of an L.A. skyscraper. . From there the  pairliterally take to land, air and sea  to rescue their  daughter  played by Alexandra Daddario who is stuck in San Francisco with a couple of too-good-to-be-true British blokes she has just met.  Every now and then Giamatti turns up with his dire warnings saying “there’s more to come” which was  a cue for me to look at my watch to figure out how much more in this nearly two-hour epic.

 People go to see this film are there to watch the  special effects used to recreate realistic disasters. "San Andreas" spared nothing in its span and scale of disaster. You may  have seen the Golden Gate Bridge destroyed in other films, but I bet you've never seen it destroyed this way before. Watching this in 3D  is worth the extra ticket price because it really brings you more into the midst of the massive earthquake and other features. And at IMAX  where I saw it in 3D,with its  super sound system, you can almost feel  the quakes, the explosions and even the motors of the cars, planes, copters and boats we see on screen. . It is breathtaking like a relentless roller- coaster ride.

There are problems with the movie with the main real fault  being not in the earthquake, but in the script which is in the 9.5 magnitude range.  BUT hey, it is what it is… a disaster movie. That was what was advertised and that’s what you get. …ongoing massive disaster and destruction….with that you don’t need a believable story.

Rated PG-13 for intense disaster action and mayhem throughout, and brief strong language |