Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating *
Cast: Jhey Castles, Jason Woods, Grace Van Dien, Elaine Partnow, Lane Townsend, Allison Adams, Kyle Wood, Robert Evans, Blaire Chandler, Chris Clanton, Chris Cleveland, Antonio Cullari, Alex Diehl, Bill Voorhees, Shaun Gerado, David Alan Graf, Alexandra Marian Hensley, Justin Hoffmeister, Ron Jantz, Nicola Lambo, Tinasha LaRaye, J Kristopher, Kenny Santiago Marrero, Tessa Mossey, Vladimir Noel, Robert Paterno, Alet Taylor, Ali Zahiri, Sandra J. Payne.
The sheer scope of a disaster movie is one that will arguably focus the audience’s mind towards the sense of the epic, humanity at its absolute best, and worst, captured on film with all the emotions showing and when the odds are stacked innumerably against survival. There can be found in any situation, but especially in one driven by the force of nature’s anger, such a multitude of stories that encapsulate such acts of heroism and distaste, and yet, for the only reason of having the special effects wow the crowd and causing the heart to beat a little faster, the budget becomes the star, and it shows when placed against an idea which struggles to even cause a blip on the cinematic cardio machine.
The big budget disaster film will always win out, in terms of feedback, in the attitude of the way it is perceived in the eyes of the audience, but that doesn’t mean that the independent or the low budget film shouldn’t have share some of the gravitas that its elder sibling enjoys; and yet it takes more than just an idea, a notion of celluloid glory, to bring a film, any film, to the point where the drama is passable, where the script flexes more than just a little finger of annoyance, and where the audience is actually rooting for any survivor to root for.
San Andreas Quake, released in 2015, suffers from such troubling dynamic, and it isn’t helped by being pitted against the scope of formidable effects being placed at the door of the Dwayne Johnson treatment in San Andreas being released in the same year. In cinematic terms it is like being offered the chance to sit through the more technically accurate Deep Impact, but which held few thrills and even less personality, or the glitz and glamour, and the far superior budget that came riding over the hill as if personally endorsed by every action hero to have ever saved the day, in Armageddon. There is no right or wrong in the search for the truth in film, but it does help if you have a plot that gives you a reason to believe in what you are watching.
A film that seems to follow every rule of cliche, no matter how noble its intentions, will unfortunately struggle to convince an audience that they have found a production that will peak their interest, that will make them feel fulfilled. An empty calorie will do nothing for the body’s growth, but it can make you feel bloated and understandably unsatisfied.
With little to appreciate, San Andreas Quake is a film that leaves the audience limp, dejected and at times wondering what they could do if they were given a budget in which to capture the moment of disaster. Uninspiring and cold, the cracks in the film appearing more dangerous than the earthquake it is portraying.
Ian D. Hall