7 / 10
Official trailer
San Andreas is a Dwayne Johnson disaster movie. That sentence describes most of what it is. Brad Peyton directed it. Johnson plays Ray Gaines, a Los Angeles Fire Department rescue pilot whose helicopter and skill set turn out to be exactly what’s needed when a magnitude nine earthquake destroys California. Carla Gugino plays his estranged wife. Alexandra Daddario plays his daughter, who’s in San Francisco when the quake hits. Paul Giamatti plays the seismologist who explains everything. Ioan Gruffudd plays the rich boyfriend who won’t survive the third act.
The plot is a string of escalating set pieces. The Hoover Dam fails. Los Angeles falls down. The Golden Gate Bridge takes a wave from a tsunami. Ray Gaines pilots, drives, swims, parachutes, and personally rescues every member of his family one at a time. The film isn’t interested in anything else. It doesn’t need to be. It knows what it is.
I had a great time with this, and I don’t feel the least bit guilty about it. Johnson is exactly the man I want flying a helicopter through the end of California, and the film never pretends to be smarter than it is. It gets a 7 from me as pure, well-made fun, and what keeps it from climbing higher is a family drama that exists mainly to give him somebody to rescue.
The Action
The set pieces are technically excellent. The CGI is well rendered and the destruction has weight, with buildings collapsing in sequences long enough for you to take in the scale. The helicopter runs, the parachute drop into AT&T Park and the third-act tsunami are staged with enough geographic clarity that you always know where Ray is, where his daughter is and how far apart they are. That parachute drop is my favorite thing in the movie, and it’s pure, gleeful nonsense.
The scientific commentary by Paul Giamatti’s character provides the disaster movie equivalent of a play-by-play announcer. He explains what’s about to happen. The film then shows it happening. The structure is satisfying in the way a video game tutorial is satisfying. Giamatti is a treat. He delivers pure exposition with the gravity of a man announcing the end of the world, and I’d have happily watched more of him.
For Writers
A disaster film needs a character whose job it’s to explain. Paul Giamatti’s seismologist is a structural device. He delivers the information the audience needs. Disaster films that try to fold the exposition into the protagonist’s dialogue often produce stilted scenes. San Andreas accepts the role of the explainer as a job and gives it to a competent actor who treats it with suitable gravity.
The lesson is that some structural roles are best filled by characters who exist primarily to serve them, as long as the actor playing them knows what the job is.
The Family
Ray and Emma are divorcing. Their other daughter died in a previous incident. They haven’t spoken much in months. The earthquake reunites them, both literally and emotionally. The family drama is functional but never strong. That’s fine because the family drama isn’t why you’re watching.
The film is reasonably honest about this. The first ten minutes establish that Ray is a competent professional with personal regrets. The script doesn’t pretend he’s going to become a different person by the end. He just has to save his family. He saves them. He looks at his ex-wife. They get back together. The end. The dead daughter loses me a little. It’s a heavy thing to drop into a movie this light, and I don’t think the script knows what to do with that grief beyond giving Ray something to regret.
For Writers
A simple character arc in a high-concept story is often the right call. San Andreas doesn’t give Ray Gaines complex emotional development. It gives him a clear obstacle and a clear goal. The arc is functional, not interesting, and the film doesn’t pretend otherwise. The lesson is that ambition in the wrong dimension can sink a story. If your concept is the appeal, don’t weigh it down with character work that doesn’t serve the concept. Get out of the way of the spectacle.
The Daughter Plot
Alexandra Daddario plays Blake, who’s trapped in San Francisco during the quake.
She picks up two English brothers (Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson) and the three of them traverse the destroyed city looking for a way out and a way to contact her father. The subplot is the best-written part of the film. The trio have a small-scale survival story that works on its own terms.
The little brother, played by Art Parkinson, is a joy, and he gets the best emotional beats in the film. I wanted more of this trio and less of Ray piloting vehicles, and I think the film would’ve been better for the trade.
For Writers
A subplot can be the best thing in a story even if the main plot is the marketed concept. San Andreas markets Dwayne Johnson rescuing his family. The actual best material is three young people walking through a destroyed San Francisco trying to survive. The lesson is to follow your story’s natural energy. If your subplot is working better than your main plot, that’s information. Either commit to the subplot or strengthen the main plot until they balance.
Craft Note
Brad Peyton directed. Carlton Cuse wrote the screenplay. Dwayne Johnson as Ray Gaines. Carla Gugino as Emma. Alexandra Daddario as Blake. Paul Giamatti as Lawrence. Ioan Gruffudd as Daniel. Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson as the English brothers. Approximately one hundred and ten million dollar budget. Four hundred and seventy-four million worldwide gross. Released May 2015. Warner Bros.
Is San Andreas worth watching?
7/10. San Andreas sets out to destroy California while Dwayne Johnson flies a helicopter, and it does the job with real skill.
I’m giving it a 7 because the spectacle is first-rate and Daddario’s survival run with the two brothers is better than it needs to be. The science is garbage and the family drama is thin, and I didn’t care about either while the Golden Gate Bridge was taking a tsunami. Watch it for what it is.
