02 September, 2015

San Andreas review

Genre: Action, Adventure, Disaster.
Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Art Parkinson, Ioan Grufford, Paul Giamatti, Archie Panjabi.
Year Of Release: 2015
Certificate: 12A (UK) PG13 (US)
Runtime: 114 Minutes
Director: Brad Peyton
Synopsis: "In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey with his ex-wife across the state in order to rescue his daughter." IMDB










It feels like wherever you turn today in the movie world The Rock is showing his face, which is not a bad thing he is a very enjoyable actor I find. I have been enjoying his work since I first seen him in "The Mummy Returns" when I was 11/12 already loving him from his time in WWF.

Disaster films usually tend to all follow the same tropes, San Andreas is no different in that aspect they follow the tropes, "damsel" in distress, children in danger, over the top destruction and comedic retorts in deathly situations. Even though it buys into all the usual tropes, it doesn't take away from the film, director Brad Peyton chose to focus on characters as well as the destruction, without trying to make the film something it isn't. It stays very true to its destructive route which is the real reason we all watch these type of films and it does not disappoint in nearly destroying the entire San Francisco Bay Area.
Some of the visuals really are beautifully destructive!
The films relies a LOT of CGI as you would expect, for the most part there is a some beautiful visuals, I found some of the effects to by abysmal like something you would expect if watching a film from 2/3 decades ago. Plus the use of poor green screens is eminent in many scenes, they stand out in their awfulness in scenes in which Johnson and Gugino's characters are sailing through the city. There are some incredible visuals though, none that I will be specific about as to not ruin them for viewers who are yet to see them.

The ensemble cast of Johnson, Gugino, Daddario, Guffard and Giamatti amongst others were a nice combination, let's be honest though it's an action film getting "The Rock" to star in it is like avoiding Christopher Mintz-Plasse like the plague, it just makes sense! The entire of the cast were great in their roles, my only complaints come from getting people to put on accents that they just don't sound right at all Guffard has a wonderful accent his attempt at American was poor, the same I found with Parkinson and Johnstone-Burt, what is the point in getting an Irish kid and an Aussie to play accents not natural to them. It is something that I have always been annoyed by, especially when the accents break constantly throughout film. My other "complaint" isn't really a complaint, it is the fact that whenever I see Giamatti I think he suits NO role yet still delivers with every role, my brain just doesn't understand it! ha. All that being said, I will watch ANYTHING that has Daddario in, not only is she a brilliantly talented and incredibly beautiful, I may actually be in love! I'll have to stop here on Miss Daddario before this turns into a love letter aimed at her.
Those eyes!!!
The film was very well paced, it doesn't get itself caught up in trying to tell us the story of the world while this is all going on it. It is straight to the point of being a sect of America, plus the action really gets under way within the first twenty minutes when the Hoover Dam comes crashing down. From then on the film has a nice pace and focus on both characters and the real reason we're all watching to see stuff crumble!

Overall, the film was a thoroughly enjoyable popcorn flick, the film is stunning to look at for the most part and the characters are enjoyable in their own way. However the story is very predictable as you would expect from many films within this genre, but that doesn't make the film any less enjoyable let's be honest is it really possible to not enjoy The Rock being The Rock? He's a total bad ass in pretty much everything he does, this is no exception. While the film will not be out winning awards, it will give you a solid two hours (nearly) of enjoyment without really having to concentrate on the story. This is my first ever .5 rating, it wasn't a 6 but it wasn't a 7, but I don't really know why the film just wasn't either so I had to switch up ratings a little.
6.5/10

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