‘San Andreas’: An Englishman In San Diego’s Spoiler-Free Review

SAN ANDREAS (2015)

“In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his estranged daughter…”

In this spoiler-free review, Tripwire Magazine‘s Joel Meadows gives a quick overview of what you can expect if you decide to check out what The Rock is cookin’ this weekend.

(reprinted from Tripwire: 28/05/2015)

With a Spring that’s already seen a second Avengers film and a fourth Mad Max, Warner Bros. seem a little foolhardy to release this old-school actioner into the market. The plot, such as it is, is simple: the dreaded fault of the film’s name, San Andreas, finally gives California and parts of Nevada the series of huge earthquakes that have been long overdue.

Cue mass carnage and destruction in San Francisco and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson running around – or in this case flying around, as he’s part of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s helicopter crew– rescuing people including his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino) and hot daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario).

Even though San Andreas feels like a very old-fashioned film, harkening back to the disaster movies of the sixties, seventies and eighties like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and so you have two hours of genuinely enjoyable Hollywood fluff with some very impressive effects indeed. Johnson can’t help but be likeable, Paul Giamatti (Man On The Moon) and Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) provide able cast support and Peyton with the aid of thousands of FX people manages to move things along at a decent clip.

If you’re in the mood to see a film that, for once, warrants catching it on 3D, you could do far worse than check out San Andreas.