Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/528348
JUNE 17-23, 2015 UCW 19 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM I know why I enjoy epic disaster movies like San Andreas (114 minutes). First, I want to feel smart when I recognize all the disaster myths promoted in films. Second, I want to laugh at overly dramatic death scenes. Third, I get to roll my eyes at the depiction of the disaster researchers. I worked as a research assistant /teaching assistant for someone who specialized in disasters, and let me tell you — he was less a world-saving Paul Giametti type and more a sexist, arrogant, exploitative donkey (among other less kind comparisons I could make). The film starts us off right with a Public Service Announcement against the dangers of distracted driving. An overprivileged, golden-haired, California girl is driving a curvy mountain road while reaching for things in her backseat, drinking a latte, playing the guitar, smoking a cigarette, texting and putting on make-up. It is possible she had three arms, five hands and an extra pair of eyes somewhere. When her car veered off the road into a canyon, flipping over and over, I expected the next scene to highlight her broken nose and bleeding face as she fell to her death into a chasm created by a shift- ing fault line. Instead, her salon-perfect hair barely mussed, a single diamond-like tear dripped down her still flawlessly made up features as she bravely texted her friends to turn her social media sites into online shrines. Then, Ray Gaines (Dwayne Johnson) helicopters in with the Los Angeles Fire Department rescue squad. He finds out her accident was caused by texting, and seriously considers leaving her to die. Banter ensues, followed by specialized lingo and lots of male camaraderie. Naturally, our heroes save the day and blonde car accident victim lives to text and drive another day. The opening sequences lead to establishing dialogue regarding more main cast members. Ray is in the middle of a divorce, and his soon-to-be ex-wife Emma (Carla Gugino) has sent him divorce papers just in time for Ray to open them while on the phone with their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario). Meanwhile, Caltech disaster researcher Lawrence Hayes (Giametti) has spent years developing a sophis- ticated algorithm to detect earthquakes, which he finally perfects five minutes before a massive quake strikes California. The Hoover Dam is shattered by the earth-moving action, killing a metric ton of people in the process. Most of the rest of the film involves loot- ing, rescuing people from falling buildings, avoiding tsunamis and nonchalantly ambling out of the totally destroyed areas. As the film nears its grand finale, Emma is hanging out with a few English boys, stealing first aid kits from fire engines within full view of the police, and wander- ing through the richest area of town without getting shot as a looter. Overall, this is a fine example of a disaster film, emi- nently satisfying for fans of the genre. Those looking for something more than a summer popcorn movie should keep looking, but all things considered, you could do worse. Now showing at Patriot 14 + IMAX. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Frequently Hilarious San Andreas (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS