SAN ANDREAS
***
Director: Brad Peyton
Screenwriter: Carlton Cruse adapted from a story by Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore
Principal cast:
Dwayne Johnson
Carla Gugino
Alexandra Daddario
Ioan Gruffudd
Kylie Minogue
Hugo Johnstone-Burt
Art Parkinson
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 114 mins.
Australian release date: 28 May 2015
From its bone-shaking opening all the way to the end credits, Brad Peyton’s, San Andreas, is an unrelenting SFX extravaganza. There’s no time wasted as he takes his audience on a ride into the abyss, in this case, a giant rift that opens up right along the length of the San Andreas fault, which sits slap bang in the middle of California. The film opens with a hair-raising ride in the hills as we swerve around bends with a twenty-something at the wheel, who reaches for her water bottle and checks her text messages while driving, as you do. Then disaster strikes as the earth moves and sends the car over a precipice. At this point one could sense a suppressed, albeit ironic, cheer from the audience as Ray (Dwayne Johnson) comes flying along in his LAFD Search & Rescue helicopter to save the day. But this minor tremor is just the start of things to come.
Ray has recently been served with divorce papers by his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino) and is about to drive from LA to San Francisco with their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) as she prepares to begin college life. Ray’s plans go belly-up, however, and he is called back on duty after a massive earthquake in the San Fernando Valley, so Blake ends up accompanying her soon to be step-dad, Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd) to ‘Frisco in his private jet. Once there they get caught up in more quakes, as indeed does Emma back in Los Angeles, who is lunching in a rooftop restaurant with Daniel’s disapproving sister, Beth (Kylie Minogue). It seems that the fault line has LA at one end and San Fran at the other, and all the indications are that SF ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!
Ray and Emma, momentarily reunited by adversity, set off to find their daughter, stealing cars, planes and boats along the way as they desperately search for Blake. She, meanwhile, has teamed up with Ben (Aussie actor Hugo Johnstone-Burt) a Brit who was about to have a job interview until one of the quakes changed his plans. Ben is accompanied by his younger brother, Ollie (Art Parkinson), who is on holiday from the UK and looking forward to exploring Frisco. The trio spends the rest of the film desperately trying to reach higher ground, so Ray can find them. Are you starting to see a trend here? That in the face of disaster the most important thing is family and protecting the ones you love?
Shot at Queensland’s Gold Coast studios in magnificent 3D, San Andreas is a lot of fun. The performances are convincing enough, even The Rock’s as he beams confidence through his perfect white teeth. It’s probably not his fault that some of the lines he has to deliver are so cheesy (I’m looking at you, scriptwriter Carlton Cuse). Don’t forget to check your disbelief at the door though as, technically, a massive tsunami can’t actually swamp the Bay area because the tectonic plates it sits on move laterally and therefore don’t displace water. Do your own research on that one!
However, the action makes for some pretty terrifying visuals and has you ducking for cover on occasion as projectiles fly off buildings and skyscrapers start to topple. In the light of the long overdue ‘big one’ predicted for California, it might be best to treat this as a cautionary tale and, if you live in the region, do as the band Tool’s track Aenima suggests on this very subject - “learn to swim.”
Screenwriter: Carlton Cruse adapted from a story by Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore
Principal cast:
Dwayne Johnson
Carla Gugino
Alexandra Daddario
Ioan Gruffudd
Kylie Minogue
Hugo Johnstone-Burt
Art Parkinson
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 114 mins.
Australian release date: 28 May 2015
From its bone-shaking opening all the way to the end credits, Brad Peyton’s, San Andreas, is an unrelenting SFX extravaganza. There’s no time wasted as he takes his audience on a ride into the abyss, in this case, a giant rift that opens up right along the length of the San Andreas fault, which sits slap bang in the middle of California. The film opens with a hair-raising ride in the hills as we swerve around bends with a twenty-something at the wheel, who reaches for her water bottle and checks her text messages while driving, as you do. Then disaster strikes as the earth moves and sends the car over a precipice. At this point one could sense a suppressed, albeit ironic, cheer from the audience as Ray (Dwayne Johnson) comes flying along in his LAFD Search & Rescue helicopter to save the day. But this minor tremor is just the start of things to come.
Ray has recently been served with divorce papers by his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino) and is about to drive from LA to San Francisco with their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) as she prepares to begin college life. Ray’s plans go belly-up, however, and he is called back on duty after a massive earthquake in the San Fernando Valley, so Blake ends up accompanying her soon to be step-dad, Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd) to ‘Frisco in his private jet. Once there they get caught up in more quakes, as indeed does Emma back in Los Angeles, who is lunching in a rooftop restaurant with Daniel’s disapproving sister, Beth (Kylie Minogue). It seems that the fault line has LA at one end and San Fran at the other, and all the indications are that SF ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!
Ray and Emma, momentarily reunited by adversity, set off to find their daughter, stealing cars, planes and boats along the way as they desperately search for Blake. She, meanwhile, has teamed up with Ben (Aussie actor Hugo Johnstone-Burt) a Brit who was about to have a job interview until one of the quakes changed his plans. Ben is accompanied by his younger brother, Ollie (Art Parkinson), who is on holiday from the UK and looking forward to exploring Frisco. The trio spends the rest of the film desperately trying to reach higher ground, so Ray can find them. Are you starting to see a trend here? That in the face of disaster the most important thing is family and protecting the ones you love?
Shot at Queensland’s Gold Coast studios in magnificent 3D, San Andreas is a lot of fun. The performances are convincing enough, even The Rock’s as he beams confidence through his perfect white teeth. It’s probably not his fault that some of the lines he has to deliver are so cheesy (I’m looking at you, scriptwriter Carlton Cuse). Don’t forget to check your disbelief at the door though as, technically, a massive tsunami can’t actually swamp the Bay area because the tectonic plates it sits on move laterally and therefore don’t displace water. Do your own research on that one!
However, the action makes for some pretty terrifying visuals and has you ducking for cover on occasion as projectiles fly off buildings and skyscrapers start to topple. In the light of the long overdue ‘big one’ predicted for California, it might be best to treat this as a cautionary tale and, if you live in the region, do as the band Tool’s track Aenima suggests on this very subject - “learn to swim.”
