San Andreas – Movie Review by Fran Winston

Directed by: Brad Peyton

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Ioan Gruffudd, Paul Giamatti, Kylie Minogue

In cinemas May 28th

It wouldn’t be summer blockbuster season without an epic disaster movie and it has finally arrived in the form of this 3D extravaganza. Dwayne Johnson continues to morph into a modern day Sylvester Stallone as he takes on the role of Ray Gaines, a rescue pilot with the Los Angeles Fire Department. On the brink of divorce from his wife (Gugino) and with his daughter Blake (Daddario) just about to start college he is reassessing his life when a devastating earthquake strikes across the San Andreas fall. With his daughter trapped in an underground car park in San Francisco having been abandoned by her mother’s new boyfriend Daniel (Gruffudd) he and his estranged wife race against time to get across the state to rescue her. However cities are literally collapsing around them and with everyone trying to flee the affected areas, no communication and an imminent Tsunami even Ray’s training may not be enough to save them.

There is a formula to disaster movies and this definitely doesn’t break the mould. From 70s examples such as The Tower to more recent offerings such as Daylight there is always a rugged hero going through personal emotional turmoil and Johnson doesn’t try and evolve this character. With his pearly white smile and cheesy soundbites (i.e. “Just doin’ my job m’am”) he is the epitome of the action hero. Despite this even he is overshadowed by the phenomenal special effects. There isn’t a huge amount of time wasted on the build up and we are thrust right into the disaster zone pretty quickly. No expense has been spared no the effects and they really are breathtaking. The visuals are always the real stars of these kind of films and they are definitely the focal point here.

As you would expect the script is cliché driven – it’s a prerequisite of the disaster movie – but the cast mostly have great acting credentials and all play it completely straight. Kylie Minogue has a big Hollywood moment – literally a moment. Blink and you will miss her, while Ioan Gruffadd is somewhat wasted as he spends most of the movie just running to get away from the disaster. On the whole though everyone does a decent job.

This is a thrilling roller coaster ride of a movie. Although you can often see things coming they are executed so well that you will still gasp when they happen. It doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. It ticks all the boxes you would want a disaster movie to and it runs at a breakneck speed right to the finish.

A pure popcorn movie that will thrill and entertain this will surely cement Johnson’s status as this generations go to action man.