(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

San Andreas may have some decent action, and some good acting, but the cliches for this disaster movie really affected this movie big time.

Rating: 3 Stars

The good old disaster movie. They been making them for a long time now. When I talk about disaster movies, I’m talking about natural disaster, not Godzilla or aliens, or anything like that. I barely remember this old movie called Earthquake (and the ride in Universal Studios) and how crazy that movie was. From what I researched, that movie actually made people really paranoid, and thinking that it could actually happen to them. Since I can remember, I’ve haven’t really seen anything as good as Earthquake. Director Roland Emmerich has made some decent movies involving destruction, especially with some national landmarks. However, there has been some horrific ones that the action was not enough, like Twister and 2012. I mean, you can only do so much with disaster movies, but they can only do so much storywise that they hope the action will make it decent. However, it really doesn’t fool me. With San Andreas, I knew what I was getting into, but I hoped it can give me something different, it didn’t.

What I Like: I have to say the acting was pretty good. Dwayne, The Rock, Johnson, playing Chief Ray Gaines, was actually cool to watch. The Rock has improved his acting from movie to movie, but I really enjoyed seeing him acting with emotion, I saw that in the movie Snitch, and I saw it again in this movie. The angle about him not moving on from the death of his daughter. It sparked some good chemistry with Carla Gugino, playing Ray’s ex-wife, Emma. Those moments which lead to their separation, and pretty much rekindling it was actually decent to watch. Ray’s daughter, Blake Gaines, played by Alexandria Daddario, played the damsel with distress, but she held her own ground when it comes to surviving by the things she learned from her father who is a Fire Fighter Rescue Pilot. I also pretty much enjoyed seeing Paul Giamatti (and his creepy voice), playing Dr. Lawrence Hayes, a seismologist who pretty much patented a way to predict earthquakes, and knew about the big one in San Francisco. I really enjoyed his warning on TV, it was really spot on. The acting actually made this movie decent to watch.

The So So: The action was decent to ok. Director Brad Peyton really created some destruction in this movie with some famous California landmarks and the Hoover Dam crumpling down. I enjoyed some scenes like the tsunami scenes with The Rock driving a speedboat, and the rescue mission at the beginning of the movie. However, some other scenes you can tell it is CGI’d. It didn’t really give that realistic factor in their effects, which I find hard to do in Hollywood (I did see that their budget was only 100 million, so I give credit for the movie working with what they got).

What I Didn’t Like: The movie was a cliche galore. Where can I start? Pretty much the story of this movie was thin. A disaster happened, and now The Rock has to safe his family which brings them back together. That was story, and nothing else. Other cliches are having a scientist find out, and then disaster immediately happens (although I give them credit for not having the scientist warn people and they don’t listen cliche). The guy rescuing the damsel in distress and they fall for each other cliche. The jerk of the movie getting killed epically cliche, in Ioan Gruffudd, playing the millionaire jerk cliche (though people do cheer when the jerk dies). The kid is in trouble and the person has to save the kid which ends up killing them cliche (and that lead to a Legolas type of epic rocking skipping from The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies). Why are parents losing  their kids in the most extreme situations in movies, in real life I don’t think that happens that often. Lastly, the person that is important to the main character, almost dies, but is saved by the main character. I would’ve gave the movie more credit, if she died, that’s realism, however, that may be too real for some people. i knew she would survive, cuz there is no way The Rock is losing two daughters to drowning. It was inevitable. Cliches everywhere, and as you can see, I don’t like it. It makes the movie too predictable.

Overall, the movie is ok at best. The acting and action will keep you engaged, but other than that, it is a typical old disaster movie. Like I said about movies about artificial intelligence, the same goes with disaster movies, you can’t make these kind of movies unique in enough. Now these movies don’t make you think about the future, it is just entertainment for people. However, the San Andreas Fault is no joke in real life, and I hope people are prepared when disaster does strike!!!

Rating: 3 Stars

(Sidenote: Hot Tub Time Machine 2- The first movie was ok, and I didn’t know how it became that successful. Now they came with the sequel and destroyed this franchise to the ground. With the time machine, they go to the future to see who shot Lou Dorchen, played by Rob Corddry. The movie just wasn’t that funny, instead it was too crude and disgusting. Although maybe their on to something about the future where people are more lazy and stupid. (Maybe a better warning than what San Andreas tried to warn about.) However, this movie was just too lame for my liking, but at least it wasn’t annoying as Hot Pursuit. (Still love you Sofia Vergara.)
Rating: 2 Stars)