Ray Gaines (Dwayne Johnson) is a helicopter pilot for the Search and Rescue Unit of the Los Angeles Fire Department. We see him at the height of his profession as he heroically rescues a young woman from her crashed vehicle precariously dangling on a cliff side.
Meanwhile, a geophysics professor Lawrence (Paul Giamatti) at Cal Tech has developed a theory of predicting earthquakes through an analysis of tremor precursors. His calculations show a probable earthquake of major intensity is about to take place along the treacherous San Andreas fault. His predictions are largely ignored.
The quake hits Los Angeles first. Without explanation, Ray abandons his primary responsibilities and uses the city’s helicopter for a personal quest to find his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario). As the city tumbles, he miraculously locates his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino) who tells him Blake is in San Francisco. Ray turns the copter north only to crash land upon engine failure. He steals a truck which he trades for a light aircraft. Ray and Emma fly to San Francisco, leave the plane via parachute as buildings crash into the bay.
While the plot follows the usual disaster-thriller formula, there are many serious faults. The probability of finding a single person in cities of millions is a stretch of the imagination. There are no variations in the building collapsing-people panicking scenes thereby losing impact. It is not until the tsunami hits San Francisco that tensions peak and the movie becomes exciting. Acting is atrocious and one dimensional. Only Johnson deserves his Equity card. Lack of fire as a major threat is unexplainable.
Although movie lovers deserve a good summertime action-thriller film, “San Andreas” is not the one. It gets a D grade as barely passable. The movie is on the screen at The Old Mill Theater in The Villages.
Villager Jack Petro reviews movies for Villages-News.com