When San Andreas released back in 2015, I wasn’t terribly excited, the theatrical disaster genre in the midst of quasi-revitalization as advanced computer graphics pushed representations of catastrophic destruction way out reach for all things practical effects. Just about every major studio was playing in that sandbox, even with superheroes, and so, to see half of California shake, rattle, and roll into the sea wasn’t all that tempting. Still, it wasn’t nearly as devoid of impact as it might have been, movies like Roland Emmerich‘s 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow – not to mention Zach Snyder‘s ambitious Man of Steel – souring the palette of sorts. With San Andreas, Director Brad Peyton is able to give the movie some genuine heart here and there, despite a screenplay that clings to clichés as if the writers’ lives depended on it.
Re-reading my original review recently, I decided to give the movie a second shot, craving a little exuberant mayhem, and – I’ll admit it – some Dwayne Johnson, and I gotta say, while I’m sticking to my original thoughts on the first screening, I have to give props where prop are due and confess that this is a better movie than it really should be and while it refuses to stray even a moment off the beaten path, does what it intends with sensational enthusiasm, a hard-working cast, an effective score, solid direction, and terrific visuals. It’s a quality few hours of distraction, which is a rare thing these days.
If you haven’t seen the movie, it goes like this: A team of scientists, led by Dr. Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti), has developed technology that seems able to predict coming earthquakes. Putting it immediately to the test, they find a new fault line near the Hoover Dam, and sure enough, the dang thing goes and gets all faulty and such, wrecking the famed structure while flooding the valley, killing one of Hayes’ colleagues in the process. This is only the beginning though, as it’s learned that an entire chunk of land is about to pull up roots and head for new horizons, doing so by going straight up the San Andreas fault, potentially generating the largest earthquakes in recorded history. And then, as you can guess, it does just that. Like, how can I say? Biblically so. I think if Paul Thomas Anderson hadn’t done the frogs thing already, they’d be here.
Meanwhile, in the skies above, is helicopter rescue pilot Raymond Gaines (Johnson), who is now tasked with saving his family, that of his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino), who has recently taken up with a rich smarmy architect (Ioan Gruffudd), and Blake (Alexandra Daddario), Ray and Emma’s college-aged daughter. Having to navigate a deadly string of hurdles, Ray’s got more than just Mother Nature and falling building debris to fend off though, he’s got the demons of a troubled past to unburden and by golly, ain’t no crack in the Earth gonna stop The Rock from puttin’ things right. He’s about to knock that Richter Scale straight up to 11.
I want to start with Carla Gugino though, whom I praised in my first thoughts but bemoaned how she was limited to looking aghast and stuck with lame lines like “Oh my god” throughout. Seriously. OMG, she’s says it a lot. That’s still true, but I find myself appreciating her efforts more this time, as she’s actually quite convincing, even as she’s riding the rails. Let’s face it, it can’t be easy to have any memorable presence while standing next to the globular Johnson, one of the most explosively charismatic movie stars of all time, let alone a spectacle of exploding and collapsing cityscapes, yet there she goes, doing just that, knowing what she’s there for and delivering the emotional booms right on cue. She’s fun to watch.
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Likewise is Daddario, who feels a wee bit exploited by a few awkward shots yet finds broader appeal in her sort of sigh flipped script role of the girl-who-knows-boy-things, leading herself and two new friends out of the imploding city, if only to be pre-set up by the story so her father can rescue her. She’s a good actor and earns a few points for elevating the obvious to something more refined as she humanizes the efforts to stay alive. I really like a moment when she and a guy named Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt), whom she’s traveling with (and is the love interest), are stuck in a half-constructed building with doom in all corners steadily approaching, and he looks at her with stuck-in-his-throat genuine attraction, she looking back recognizing what is happening. It’s a small moment, yes, but Daddario does it just right, the movie taking a second to appreciate her efforts more than her beauty. It’s a good little scene.
Things still bother me though. Like, yeah, I still don’t like the architect, and of course, we’re not meant to, but this is a loosey-goosey wispy thread to the story that means nothing, does nothing, and adds nothing to a script that could have excised him entirely and no one would have noticed. Yes, I get that he’s supposed to prove himself shallow so there is a way for Emma to return to Ray, but um, hey, there’s that whole massive earthquake rescue-our-daughter thing happening. Shouldn’t that be enough? This character is a lame, empty and easy manipulation that only weakens the efforts of Ray and Emma’s already tragic backstory, forcing us to question why she’d be with him at all. It’s so cliché and transparent, it sort of, well, yes, I’ll just say it, makes me a little angry. And so you get a rant.
On the plus side, there is The Rock, who gives one of his most robust performances, even as he’s sort of become wedged in the conventions of it all as time passes. Here, he doesn’t fight anyone, save for a blink or you’ll miss it knock in the head to some idiot who rolls up on him with a pistol. He’s just flying, driving, boating, steering, staring, running, and yelling his way to his family, and you know, it works. I like most a moment where it all becomes silent (directly after he crashes his helicopter into a strip mall), and confesses something to Emma. It’s a strong bit of acting, given our hero, and I like how it’s directed and not just what Johnson does with it but what Gugino doesn’t. Watch it. Like it.
See, it’s little things like that in making San Andreas a movie filled with frustration because you can clearly see what this might have been given one more pass at the story and a director perhaps seeing the potential of the metaphors of a broken family versus a disintegrating city than splashing the screen with endless dramatic visuals of high-toll death and skyline obliteration. That leaves this a movie plenty entertaining for what it is, with high-caliber performances and emotional musical moments, drained of that thump in the heart you’re looking for because it backs off right when it should go straight for the jugular. Either way, it’s worth at least one pass, if only for Giamatti. Did I mention Giamatti?