The 3D film depicts the largest magnitude earthquake in recorded history.
A seismic swarm along a previously undetected fault near Nevada’s Hoover Dam crosses the border to trigger California’s notorious San Andreas Fault, which erupts in a massive jolt that rocks Los Angeles to its core.
But it doesn’t stop there. The shockwave travels up the fault line, setting off a ripple effect of chaos and destruction all the way to San Francisco.
A disaster-thriller shot on broad canvas which depicts a catastrophic quake, in the deepest instincts such an unpredictable and uncontrollable force of nature provokes: our need to reach out to others and to confirm what’s most important to us.
After the infamous San Andreas Fault gives, triggering a magnitude 9-plus earthquake in California, a search and rescue helicopter pilot Ray (Dwayne Johnson) and his estranged wife (Carla Gugino) make their way together from Los Angeles to San Francisco to save their only daughter.
But their treacherous journey north is only the beginning. And when they think the worst may be over…it’s just getting started.
San Andreas is stretched to those levels of applying creative license to a real-world threat, the story’s far-reaching scenarios aim for a heightened sense of action and drama.
It does have its dramatic moments when Ray, an LAFD Search and Rescue helicopter pilot rescues his wife Emma, in a breathtaking helicopter rescue as the gutsy and determined woman scales the wreckage of an imploding downtown high-rise. Together, they then set out to find their daughter, Blake, in the aftermath of a second quake in San Francisco, some 400 miles away.
As they race north, their 19-year-old daughter Blake, is set adrift when her soon-to-be stepfather Daniel abandons her in such a testing moment in her life. Blake now must rely on her own instincts and resourcefulness to survive and cut a path toward safety, joined by a young man she’s just met, Ben, played by Hugo Johnstone-Burt.
Audiences will find themselves in the path of an avalanche of debris, in a car hanging precariously from a cliff-side, underwater, and on the crumbling rim of Hoover Dam.
Its production note mentions that the film has 1300 visual effects shots as roads buckle, bridges snap, fires erupt across multiple cityscapes and buildings fall, smashing into other buildings on their way down like goliath dominoes.
And then, just when it’s time to catch your breath, a 15-story tsunami – a virtual wall of water – comes crashing into San Francisco.
San Andreas was shot on location in The Gold Coast and Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The action thriller reunites Dwayne Johnson with director Brad Peyton and producer Beau Flynn, following their collaboration on the global hit “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.” The film also stars Carla Gugino (“Night at the Museum,” TV’s “Entourage”) as his wife who has sent the divorce notice.
When an earthquake hits there’s no warning. Shifting tectonic plates can trigger aftershocks and even additional quakes and you just try to get through it, minute by minute, and this is exactly what makes ‘San Andreas’ such a heart-pounding experience. It keeps coming at you.
Like its cousin Bollywood’s films, San Andreas is a fusion of wide-scale calamity and intensely personal connections. This is what dilutes the seriousness of the film.
Though unrealistic, Ray’s instinct is put to the ultimate test, where people everywhere can relate to family, and how far we’re willing to go to protect the people we care about. This is what the Chief of LA Fire Department shouldn’t be thinking about, instead he should have gone all out to rescue of hundreds of the residents of California.
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Cast:
Dwayne Johnson as Chief Raymond “Ray” Gaines
Carla Gugino as Emma Gaines
Alexandra Daddario as Ray’s daughter, Blake Gaines
Hugo Johnstone-Burt as Ben Taylor
Art Parkinson as Ollie Taylor
Ioan Gruffudd as Daniel Riddick
Archie Panjabi as Serena Johnson
Paul Giamatti as Dr. Lawrence Hayes
Will Yun Lee as Dr. Kim Park
Alec Utgoff as Alexi
Matt Gerald as Harrison
Morgan Griffin as Natalie
Credits:
Produced by Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia, Tripp Vinson
Production Companies – New Line Cinema, Flynn Picture Company, Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment
Directed by Brad Peyton
Screenplay by Carlton Cuse
Story by Andre Fabrizio, Jeremy Passmore
Music by Andrew Lockington
Cinematography by Steve Yedlin
Edited by Bob Ducsay
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
San Andreas – Movie Review
