San Andreas is a disaster film directed by Brad Peyton. The plot follows a helicopter rescue pilot (Dwyane Johnson), as he must race to save his family from the fallout of a major earthquake.
I missed this in the cinema, and it has been on my watchlist for a long time. Generally, I am disappointed and frankly bored by disaster films, they are always the same thing repeated, but I had heard good things about this one so I decided to finally watch it, and though I would struggle to call it a good film it is far more entertaining than a lot of other genre fare.
I mean lets face it you aren’t watching this for the plot, yes I see you there. You are watching it for the spectacle and for the soothing effect of having your mind numbed for about 2 hours, as people manage to stay perfectly made up whilst dodging falling bits of buildings. The plot is an afterthought.
The narrative was nothing new at all, you and I have both seen this exact same plot play out time and time again over the years. I do genuinely believe the watchability of this film comes down to one simple factor, Dwayne Johnson’s insane levels of charm and charisma. If any other actor was in the lead role then it would not even be worth watching it would be boring, but the Rock manages to keep you engaged throughout; he is the perfect action star.
Overall, watch this if you have anything better to do or don’t want to be challenged in anyway and just want to watch the Rock smash things, (though if you want that watch Rampage instead it is a better film).
Pros.
The spectacle
The Rocks immense charm
Cons.
It is dumb
It is cliched
The ending is deeply unbelievable
2/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 