Movie Review: San Andreas (2015)

The movie stars Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Ioan Gruffudd and Paul Giamatti.

I ended up getting this movie through Netflix because my wife wanted to see it but, partly because of a busy schedule and partly because I had some doubts about the film, we had it for several weeks before we finally sat down to watch it a couple days ago. After seeing this movie, I have to admit I am impressed and would describe it as one of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's best films.

The thing I found I liked most about this movie was the way it managed to keep a fairly steady pace. A lot of films in this genre have a surprisingly limited amount of action in them. This movie, however, was one I would describe as having almost non-stop action. There were a couple well-timed pauses to introduce characters or explain a backstory. But, those were kept to a pleasant minimum and, because of that, there were times when my wife and I were trying to find a second to catch our breath (especially when they were trying to escape an earthquake-caused tsunami).

Another thing I liked about this movie was the way it focused on two parents working to save their daughter. As a parent myself, it was actually surprisingly easy to relate to Raymond (Johnson) and Emma (Gugino) as they put aside their marital problems and worked together (though Raymond did most of the work) to find their missing daughter (Daddario). I didn't even mind the fact their relationship status took a couple predictable turns.

The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was Ioan Gruffudd's character, Daniel. I like Gruffudd (his television series "Forever," was cancelled way too soon) and thought his talents were somewhat wasted on a cliche, one-dimensional rich guy who only thought of himself. I would have liked to see his character at least attempt to be a hero, especially since he was supposed to be Raymond's rival. The movie made Emma choosing between the two way too easy.

This is an entertaining movie with some fantastic special effects, great action sequences and solid characters. I would recommend taking the time to watch this movie if you haven't seen it yet.

My Grade: A