“ This is not a normal day!” When comes to being in a disaster movie, there is no such thing as a normal day. Disaster movies have been around for as long as movies have been, it seems people enjoy seeing mass destruction and peril on the big screen. In the Seventies Irwin Allen made a living off of unleashing movies that put people in danger and killing every big star he could squeeze in the film. Twenty years later these film became so popular that every time that one was released they had to make two of them. When once they destroyed models of our favorite cities, they can now up the level of havoc with a push of the button. No longer do they fill the movies with big stars, instead they rely on one guy whom is the hero that we are all holding out for ‘til the end of the night, and you know he is going to be strong.
If I had to choose that hero, for me there is only one choice, and that would be The Rock, or maybe John Cusack and his trusty limo. Since he in not available this time around, I will go with The Rock. Ray (Dwayne Johnson) is a pilot of a halo rescue team, and is pretty damn good. The guy never panics, or even sweats thanks to the tours he served in the military. We get to see those skills early as Ray rescues a girl whose car was hanging off a cliff. Ray is not the hero to everyone in his life, as his wife Emma (Carla Gugino ) has left Ray for another guy and has left their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) to hold out hope that they will get back together. While those family problems might seem important, they take a back seat when a major earthquake hits California, and everyone must choose what is important in their life. For Ray that is easy, as the only thing important is to save his family, no matter what else is happening around him.
I am not going to lie, I am one of those people who kind of has a thing for movies like these, and as technology has happened, I look forward to the chaos that these filmmaker can unleash. Now while watching things blow up can be fun, what draws me to these movies is the human spirit, and how everyone comes together for the survival of humanity. Well in “San Andreas” there is a lot of ruin, but the coming together part is lacking, because it seems the only people that matter is Ray’s family. Even as buildings are crashing around him, and people are clearly dying, the only person Ray wants to rescue you the wife who wants to divorce him, and then his daughter. Once he does save his wife, the movie becomes the definition of “Murphy’s Law” , but you have The Rock, so even though every thing does go wrong, they always find a way to overcome. Everyone in Ray’s family is also extremely calm, so much so that even after Emma almost died from a building falling on her, she is good enough to leave a threatening message for her current boyfriend, for leaving her daughter during the quake. This film has massive casualties, or at least you assume, but “San Andreas” focuses on being a selfish disaster movie. A great man once said “ The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few”, well in this film the few spit on the many, as one family’s safety is all that matters. The film really isn’t that bad, I mean you have things blowing up and you have The Rock, but what the film is in a way is funny, funny for the course it takes. There is a whole lot worse then you can do then “San Andreas”, but if you enjoy destruction and mayhem and love The Rock, then this is one disaster you will survive.
Brian Taylor
