'San Andreas' - Movie Review

The Rock and falling architecture that's good enough excuse to waste some time at the movies, but ultimately that's what 'San Andreas' is, a waste of time, and a tiresome one at that

'San Andreas'
U/A; Action/Drama
Director: Brad Peyton
Cast: Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Paul Giamatti, Archie Panjabi, Carla Gugino
Rating: 

Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Carla Gugino in 'San Andreas'. Pic/IANS

How many times have we seen 'the disaster movie'? A hundred? Probably a thousand times. And yet, Hollywood keeps regurgitating the same thing over and over again, at least once every year. Of course they do that because most of these movies are, for some reason incredibly profitable. Because people, for some reason, want to see buildings crumbling.

The latest to join the pantheon of disaster porn is 'San Andreas', starring The Rock. Everything about this movie is the same as what we've seen in earlier disaster movies except for one thing. This is a tiresome movie, and excruciatingly long slog to sit through. You feel physically exhausted after watching this movie and you look as destroyed as most of the buildings featured in it.

This time around, the film tries to be more 'realistic', by basing the disaster on a real life earthquake. Naturally, it's more marketing than it is real. This time too, there is a family drama unfolding beneath the disaster wrecking havoc in the city. The Rock is the doting father who must zip and zoom around town in various vehicles to rescue various people, and also fear for the lives of his daughter and ex wife. Much like the recent Transformers movie the father daughter equation is reduced to a lot of screams of 'daaaaad' while the old man constantly leaps towards rescuing the little girl. In 3D it's shrill and painful at the very least, and Alexandra Daddario's stunning looks do not assuage the viewer's pain.

The 'family stuff' is just an excuse to drive the plot of the movie, which is more or less a tech demo. Once the earthquake happens, all hell breaks loose, buildings crumble to the ground, flyovers smash to smithereens, cars are smashed around, and so on and so forth. If you're just looking for numerous scenes of things falling apart this is the movie for you, and to be fair the visual effects are quite impressive. There's detailing in each grain of flailing debris, and some of the action set pieces are quite stunning. There's a gigantic Tsunami like wave as well, that packs enough tension to keep your popcorn intake flowing. Really, with The Rock and falling architecture that's good enough excuse to waste some time at the movies, but ultimately that's what the movie is, a waste of time, and a tiresome one at that.

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