Who doesn't like the Rock? Or Dwayne Johnson? Or whoever he's calling himself these day? 'Murica loves the Rock! Everyone. So let's get this out of the way up front. He appears to be a very nice man under all that beefcake, but he's not much of an actor. A disaster flick like "San Andreas" is tailored around his meager skills as a thespian. This worked for Arnold, Van Damme, et al. We don't care much about character development as long as things blow up, fall down, or are threats from outer space. Dwayne makes all the right faces here, but the paper- thin plot doesn't do much to help him on the road to an Oscar.
1974 gave the world "Earthquake" in Sensurround. Lots of booming bass to shake your brain into a coma and the eternal cheese of Charlton Heston. "San Andreas" has neither the gimmick or Heston, just a lot of expensive CGI that looks like 99% of the other effects-laden flicks out there. This is why such films were invented in the first place. We want to see a whole lot of gnarly destruction and maybe a few famous faces getting killed in gnarly ways for the price of a ticket. The only really famous face here is Kylie Minogue, who gets flattened after maybe two minutes on screen. Everyone else in this B-flick is unknown, so we can't care about them because the screenplay won't allow it.
Five characters escape death over and over here, but you won't really care. The ridiculous factor ratchets way up on the WTF scale as the Rock and his estranged wife go after their daughter in the midst of the destruction of Southern California. Evidently, the Rock can commandeer and pilot anything with a motor. The credibility factor in both circumstance and luck presented to the viewer is pretty much a take-it-or-turn-it-off scenario. NO ONE could survive major quakes, a helicopter and plane crash, a tidal wave, and falling skyscrapers so often. Still, the Rock manages to do so while attempting acting and saving his daughter after she drowned by looking upset and giving unconvincing CPR.
Still, you watch. Your curiosity has been piqued. You still have popcorn. You wonder where all the other people affected by the earthquake have gone. You groan as the American flag unfurls behind the Rock as he intones "Now, we rebuild". This is a four star time- waster, but I'll give it six because, well, the Rock. Mindless and forgotten almost immediately once seen.
1974 gave the world "Earthquake" in Sensurround. Lots of booming bass to shake your brain into a coma and the eternal cheese of Charlton Heston. "San Andreas" has neither the gimmick or Heston, just a lot of expensive CGI that looks like 99% of the other effects-laden flicks out there. This is why such films were invented in the first place. We want to see a whole lot of gnarly destruction and maybe a few famous faces getting killed in gnarly ways for the price of a ticket. The only really famous face here is Kylie Minogue, who gets flattened after maybe two minutes on screen. Everyone else in this B-flick is unknown, so we can't care about them because the screenplay won't allow it.
Five characters escape death over and over here, but you won't really care. The ridiculous factor ratchets way up on the WTF scale as the Rock and his estranged wife go after their daughter in the midst of the destruction of Southern California. Evidently, the Rock can commandeer and pilot anything with a motor. The credibility factor in both circumstance and luck presented to the viewer is pretty much a take-it-or-turn-it-off scenario. NO ONE could survive major quakes, a helicopter and plane crash, a tidal wave, and falling skyscrapers so often. Still, the Rock manages to do so while attempting acting and saving his daughter after she drowned by looking upset and giving unconvincing CPR.
Still, you watch. Your curiosity has been piqued. You still have popcorn. You wonder where all the other people affected by the earthquake have gone. You groan as the American flag unfurls behind the Rock as he intones "Now, we rebuild". This is a four star time- waster, but I'll give it six because, well, the Rock. Mindless and forgotten almost immediately once seen.