Earth Fury
Film: San Andreas
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Carla
Gugino, Paul Giamatti
Directed by: Brad Peyton
Duration: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: * * *
Every other year, there is always one big 'disaster' movie
that comes from Hollywood, where mother nature unleashes it fury. Audiences love such films, there is something
about witnessing large scale devastation on the big screen and it doesn’t take
much processing power of the mind either.
San Andreas is the latest in that list.
Directed by Brad Peyton, the film relies heavily on special
effects where the buildings and skyscrapers of San Francisco and Los Angeles go
down like a pack of cards is mighty impressive, but as far as the story goes,
this draws a naught and ticks every possible box.
Dwayne Johnson, plays Ray, a rescue helicopter pilot. The
film opens with a bang, he rescues a girl who car is precariously hanging on a
cliff. In 'disaster' movies, the hero’s personal life is always in shambles, in
this case he is going through a reluctant divorce with Emma (Carla Gugino) who
has just moved in with her boyfriend who is a high flying architect. Rays
daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario of True Detective and Percy Jackson fame,
who will be 30 but looks 18) is supposed to spend the weekend with him when the
earthquake strikes. First, a dam breaks open, starting the many catastrophes that
follow.
First his wife and then his daughter are caught in the
middle of it all giving him an excellent opportunity to rekindle his
relationship with his wife and prove that he is a true family man by rescuing
his daughter. That doesn’t say a lot
about him as a professional though because he is busy saving his family. Blake
meanwhile finds a good guy for company when the devastation happens. If a
family is getting together, even mother nature makes way for them, at least
that seems to be the message, given the way they survive and meet each other.
The trump card are the special effects, which are used
liberally, in fact if one were to nitpick, it is used too liberally – so while
you are impressed while watching it, there is not particular image that stays
in your head after the film -too many buildings and bridges get knocked down.
There is the odd scene where there is a nice touch, for
example, people looting supermarkets and malls in the wake of tragedy.
Paul Giamatti plays a scientist who is working on prediction
of earthquakes and like most characters he has played, he does this one too
with style. Dwayne Johnson has a limited range of expressions but he always
uses them well and there is always something very sincere about his acting that
makes him likable.
On the whole, San Andreas proves that it is indeed a marvel
as to what they can do with computers these days.
Published in The Navhind Times Goa on 31st May 2015
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