Movie Breakdown: San Andreas

People are doing traditional-style reviews all over the web, so we decided to try something different.  In each “breakdown” we’ll take a look at what a film’s marketing led us to believe, how the movie actually played, and then what we learned from it all.  Read on!

The Impression:

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson saves people from an earthquake.

The Reality:

I’m fairly certain that San Andreas is the beginning of the end for me in regards to disaster movies.  The film is as big, loud and dumb as I expected it would be, but story-wise it’s very run of the mill.  There’s a broken family, the father of said busted family is an expert in some conveniently relevant field, a cataclysmic event happens, the torn family survives and then becomes one again.  The end.  That’s San Andreas.  And pretty much every other disaster movie ever.  Oh how tiresome that’s become.  This issue is also not helped by the fact that it takes a lot these days for CG-heavy movies to truly impress, and the action in San Andreas mostly just consists of buildings crumbling and the ground shaking.  I honestly can’t recall a single breath-taking shot, and that’s just a shame considering it’s the kind of movie that is supposed to dazzle visually.

So, I know it somewhat sounds like it, but I didn’t hate San Andreas.  For a disaster flick, it’s alright.  It just doesn’t bother trying to do anything new, and I think that’s reason enough to not make an effort to see it until it’s on the small screen in the comfort of your own home.

The Lesson:

The disaster movie formula needs a refresher.