CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Film Review: ‘San Andreas’ Loads Its Story with Too Many Faults
CHICAGO – The best way, perhaps the only way, to enjoy the disaster movie “San Andreas” is to check your brain at the door, or better yet leave it at home for safekeeping. Bringing new meaning to the term mindless entertainment, “San Andreas” dares its audience to turn off their minds, and enjoy the ride.
Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a helicopter pilot and military vet conducting search and rescues in Los Angeles. He’s also a soon to be divorced dad suffering with a sense of loss over a deceased daughter he couldn’t save. Meanwhile, estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino) has moved in with an insanely rich new boyfriend Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd), just as their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) is heading off to school. And just as his world seems to be crumbling around him, cue the earthquake that sends the world (at least L.A. and San Francisco) crumbling around him.
The story, such as it is, follows The Rock as he sacrifices everything to save first his estranged wife in L.A., and then his daughter in San Francisco. The Rock is a credible and a likable hero, although if you stop to think for one second, his actions are completely and totally selfish. He takes his search and rescue helicopter – which should be sorely needed – and essentially pulls it out of duty for his personal ends, as he recklessly rescues his wife, and then goes to San Francisco for his daughter. He commandeers almost as many forms of transportation as John Candy and Steve Martin in “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” – using a chopper, a truck, a plane, skydiving and eventually a speed boat to make the trip to the city by the bay. Along the way these people pass scene after scene of devastation and human suffering while only occasionally stopping to offer assistance.
Dwayne Johnson in ‘San Andreas’
Photo credit: Warner Bros.