TwitReview – Dwayne Johnson stars in San Andreas – don’t throw a rock at The Rock! Intense sequences, lots of action, amazing effects! Oh, a damn good movie too!! Grade 4 out of 5.

Brad Peyton’s San Andreas has The Rock playing Ray, a California Fire & Rescue helicopter pilot who’s job is to fly into danger and rescue people that no one else can get to. We are first introduced to Ray and his team Joby (Colton Haynes), Marcus (Todd Williams), and Harrison (Matt Gerald) when they are being filmed for a local news story on their way to rescue a girl who’s car has been pushed off a cliff and is stuck between a ravine. They team work to get the girl out of the car second before it slips down the ravine and crashes.

What worked: 

• Ray is a father that wants to be there for his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) who is living with her mother, his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino). Years ago he was not able to save their younger daughter who died during a rafting trip so he is very protective of Blake. He is also still cordial with his estranged wife and is always there for her. Ray is the first person Emma calls when she is caught up in the earthquake that hits Los Angeles.
• This is an exciting and edge of your seat natural disaster movie. When the quakes would happen and the destruction would take place, you felt the pressure of what the people were feeling. The action taking place as people were falling out of buildings while building were exploding and crumbling was intense. There is a wild sequence where Emma is in a roof-top restaurant with Kylie Minogue’s Susan (the sister to the guy that Emma is now dating) that starts to shake and quake due to an earthquake taking place. Susan runs from the destruction and falls out of the building where the emergency stairwell used to be. Emma is making her way to the roof where Ray is coming to rescue her.
• Paul Giamatti has to be one of the best C-list actors out there. He’s not a leading man but he can play nerdy scientists all day. His character Lawrence, is a Professor at Cal Tech and it is his team that figure out that the San Andreas fault line is shifting and causing 9.6 quakes from LA to San Francisco. After the death of his friend and co-worker (Will Yun Lee) at the Hoover Dam due to an earthquake they were tracking, Lawrence sits with a local report to telling her that the quakes will be getting faster and harder causing more damage. His advise, get out of California as soon as possible.
• The Rock is bad-ass. On his own as his team is off helping others in the area, Ray flys in to rescue Emma while buildings are collapsing around them. Later they have to get to San Francisco to rescue Blake as she was up there with Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd), the man that Emma was dating and is now trapped with the city falling around her. They travel by helicopter, truck, plane, and boat to get to Blake. During the way, Ray never flinches as he faces collapsing buildings and tsunamis that try to take him out.
• Emma’s story in San Francisco shows that she is a tough woman. After being trapped in an underground garage in the back of a car that belongs to Daniel, she is rescued by Ben (Hugo Johnston-Burt) and his brother Ollie (Art Parkinson) are are in the US for vacation and a job interview for Ben. Daniel runs from the confusion and shock that he is in and leaves Emma. She with Ben and Ollie’s help set out to get to Ray and Emma.

I found no faults with San Andreas. Nothing at all. In fact I found that there was more reality to the escape sequences more-so then what we saw on 2012 (I’m looking at you John Cusack and the limo outracing the destruction sequence). When Ray and Emma finally locate Blake with Ben and Ollie, the do or die attitude can be felt through the whole theater.

Final thoughts:

Prepare to sit through a two hour non-stop action packed natural disaster movie. San Andreas makes The Day After Tomorrow look cold and 2012 shake in it’s boots. This is a great movie to see in 3D too! You won’t be disappointed. Rate PG-13