Verdict: ★ ★ ★ 1/2

When you go to a Rock movie, it’s pretty much assured you’re going to see the same stern eyed, tough talking, bleached toothed, wildebeest-girthed badass you see in every other Rock movie who does impossible feats of absolute craziness in every bulldozing, car jumping, people screaming, concrete smashing action scene.

Well… this is not that kind of Rock movie.

San Andreas surprised me with how different it is from the trailers that sold it. It’s a very well toned, nicely balanced instructional earthquake video that starts off with an oddly “out of place” 7+ richtor scale earthquake in Nevada which Cal Tech seismologists led by Dr. Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) test a theory of magnetic prediction against. Apparently a few hours before an earthquake happens, the earth lets out a high magnetic field or something scientific like that. Omg! That’s awesome! Earthquake predictions! Wait. Um. Dr Hayes? The magnetic field is off the charts… OMG! Get out of there!

>Fa FOOM!!<

A quake that tears apart Hoover Dam like it was wet Kleenex erupts and according to what their laptops are telling them, it’s a precursor to the San Andreas faultline letting off some steam… or magnetic force… or something. All this is explained to us as our Cal Tech geeks run from crumbling concrete and jump over suddenly opening fissures.

That’s cool by me. Action while learning science rocks! Speaking of rock, LAFD heli-rescue pilot Chief Ray Gains (Dwayne Johnson) in about to sign divorce papers that his wife Emma (Carla Gugino) sent him in an oddly reminiscent Twister plot device when suddenly they’re brought back together after he rescues her from the top of that building we all see in the trailer. Almost immediately they get a call from their only daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) who is in San Francisco which is just where the San Andreas faultline crawls out of the Pacific. And, just like her mom and dad, she thinks fast on her feet in tight situations.

Thankfully, the almost bland flavor of family drama that threatens to derail the entire movie doesn’t, and we’re catapulted into the action of earthquakes rocking the west coast. The two female leads (Gugino & Daddario) as well as the two male leads (Johnson & Giamatti) all bring their A-game and offer strong, confident acting. Left behind are the weak damsels in distress and stepping forward are the ladies taking charge and saving lives. And the men are appropriately badass while maintaining the emotional pull necessary to be real human beings and not just plastic action heroes. Unfortunately you don’t see that in the trailer, which kind of pissed me off.

Screenwriter Carlton Cuse said it best when he said, “Part of the construct was making sure that each character had a mission and something that they were trying to accomplish. Alexandra’s character wasn’t just waiting around to be rescued. Carla wasn’t just a passive participant in Dwayne’s journey. I was trying to find those ways in which each character can express their heroism as an essential concept.”
Source: http://collider.com/san-andreas-movie-18-things-to-know-about-dwayne-johnson-disaster-movie/ (spoilers in article)

However, what the trailers (probably put together by studio execs) show and what the movie actually is, are completely opposite. Mr. Cuse’s thoughts about what he was trying to do with the female characters in the movie are completely opposite of what everyone saw in the trailers: Blake was waiting around to be rescued and Emma was just a passive participant in Dwayne’s journey.

What the artists who have actually applied the paint to the canvas are showing us, is different than what the suits making the deal are selling it as and that infuriates me. Because 1) most people aren’t going to see the movie based on what the artists wanted us to see. If they see it at all, they’re going to see it because of what the execs thought we would want to see. And 2) it just shows yet again that studio execs have no possible clue what people actually enjoy in art. Heroism is one thing, but strong female leads are awesome and we are woefully lacking of those in Hollywood. This movie is refreshingly bursting with strong female characters who aren’t waiting around for men to save them, like the trailers unfortunately portray.

In conclusion, San Andreas isn’t the movie you saw in the trailer. It’s a smart, easily flowing disaster movie with a strong cast who know how to make the audience feel safe and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, all while allowing the tenderness of being human shine brightly.