SAN ANDREAS (2015) — Sleeper Awakened

3/10/2016 - San Andreas (2015) - 4-/10

Was it over-the-top, ridiculous, pantomime schlock? HELL YEAH! It certainly did not set out to be a "good movie", but as an unambiguous disaster porn thrill ride, it worked to a serviceable level.

It was dumb. The plot was dumb. The actions and physical occurrences were dumb. But it was not executed poorly; rarely was the CGI unsightly, the actors were competent & charismatic (in their own ways😉), and played driven and semi-reasonable characters. It didn't stray or try and do too much, trying to push itself towards the better with more melodrama/stakes or towards the poorer, with unnecessary spectacle or gratuitous "Faces of Death" fodder. It kept a steady rudder and steered itself towards palatable mediocrity.

It's bar of peak performance was low, and it just barely missed it. This is a "drink to the lunacy" action pageant, with pretty people doing barely believable things. But you will probably enjoy it, which keeps it from the dark depths of a 2 or 3. Below average? Certainly. Enough of a good time? "The Rock says 'Know your role, shut your mouth, and enjoy his estranged husband/father helicopter pilot save his gorgeous family and the day in earthquake-land extravaganza'!"