Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, New Line Cinema,
Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Colton Haynes, Art Parkinson, Archie Panjabi, Ioan Gruffudd, Will Yun Lee, Kylie Minogue, Paul Giamatti
Ray (Dwayne Johnson) is a Rescue Chopper pilot, who risks his life to save people who need saving. But he needs to save himself. He has a soon to be ex-wife, Emma (Carla Gugino) and a daughter headed for college, Blake (Alexandra Daddario). The couple had another daughter who died which is what is causing the divide in the family. Meanwhile a CalTech Seismologist, Lawrence (Paul Giamatti) thinks he’s on to a system to predict earthquakes, when a massive earthquake hits along the San Andreas fault, causing major damage from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and everywhere in-between. Blake is in San Francisco, trapped somewhere, and Ray is flying the chopper across the state trying to reach her to save his remaining daughter.
This is a huge, blockbuster disaster film, and epic CGI filled roller-coaster ride of an adventure. It’s very reminiscent of the original Earthquake movie from the original 1974 Earthquake, Charleton Heston film, in “Sensurround” movie. I can still feel the cinder block in the old cineplex rumbling while waiting in a long, long line for that one. This film is certainly bigger and with more fantastic special effects than the old one, but it’s maybe not as impressive. Still, it’s a very well done movie and will certainly rock the box office. But it’s not absolutely perfect. It has a couple different romance stories in it, and lots of great explosions and destruction, and I guess there’s some suspense, but honestly, all the 2015 computer generated effects kind of make me jaded. We’ve seen everything, so it’s not very meaningful anymore. One of my favorite rants is the loss of wonder once the computers took over and allowed anything to be possible. But you have to use the technology to complete, so that’s why I’m giving this one a 4.5. The Rock is The Rock, and you get what he gives you. He’s not an overwhelmingly amazing actor, but he does well enough. Carla Gugino is pretty good, as usual, but even she goes over the top once in a while. I wasn’t really familiar with Alexandra Daddario, but she was really good as the daughter Blake. I didn’t recognize her, but I don’t think I can forget those blue eyes. I wonder if they used CGI on the close-ups. Stunning eyes! All in all, you gotta watch this movie as it’s too big a film to miss, and I have to recommend it. Whether you want to pay for the 3-D big screen experience, or wait for it on DVD or streaming doesn’t matter. Just make sure you get to see it. The summer is starting out pretty big this year, so I think I’ll be spending a lot of days in the theater this summer!
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Author: EdG
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