 Any film about a disaster has its hero, and “San Andreas” gives us Ray (Dwayne Johnson), a Los Angeles Fire Department search and rescue helicopter* pilot. Ray’s estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino) sends him divorce* papers and announces she’s moving into her rich boyfriend Daniel’s (Ioan Gruffudd) home, along with their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario). Ray’s plans for spending a final weekend with Blake before she begins university in the San Francisco area are dashed* when a big earthquake hits Nevada and his team is ready to respond — while Daniel offers to fly Blake up north on his private jet. The LAFD doesn’t know, however, that the Nevada quake is part of a series of earthquakes headed toward Los Angeles, as predicted by Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti), a professor at CalTech. Before Hayes can get word out to the public, however, the first big one hits downtown where Emma is lunching in a highrise restaurant as the building begins falling apart around her. Already airborne and flying alone, Ray picks her up from the roof in his chopper* and they fly off to get back their daughter. Blake has already reached San Francisco when another quake hits and she finds herself trapped in an underground garage. After managing to reach Ray by cellphone with her location, she’s saved by handsome engineer Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) and his younger brother Ollie (Art Parkinson). The three quickly run into the slightly safer streets of San Francisco and start developing a plan to meet Ray and Emma. The trip north gives Ray and Emma a chance to sort out their failing marriage as they make a beeline for their daughter. So if “San Andreas” finally becomes one of those feel-good disaster movies, it probably just reflects* our hopes for maintaining* order in the inevitable* chaos* of a terrible quake. (SD-Agencies) |