San Andreas - Research Paper Example

San Andreas When a beautiful woman, a mother of a teenage daughter, leaves her handsome and extremely brave husband working as a firefighter to live with some cunning and extremely wealthy city architect it is no wonder that skyscrapers start falling and the earth literally cracks down. That is how ancient Greeks would probably perceive the movie “San Andreas” because they believed in Gods and their ultimate revenge for human mistakes. The slogan of the movie is more than eloquent: “Who you will be with when everything falls apart” and it makes viewers believe that this is more than just a family drama and more than just a disaster film. Being a disaster film “Sa Andreas” seems to be based on a drama of a good quality. Unfortunately, the plot cannot impress viewers with its originality but this fact must be attributed to the genre of disaster film in general. “San Andreas” does what a good movie of this kind must do: impress viewers, evoke fear and loath, bring in life apocalyptic sensations and images. Despite such seemingly unpleasant characteristics disaster movies remain really popular especially among Americans. It is because disaster films prove to be very successful in box office, and “San Andreas” is not an exception. It depicts a nuclear family on the edge of divorce being caught in the area struck by a series of natural catastrophes. It turns out that in extreme situation it is possible to rely only on the closest and the most precious people because only they can sacrifice their lives to save you. Using this old and always working concept-reconciliation after a number of life-threatening ordeals- the director of the film, Brad Peyton, manages to create his incredibly realistic disaster movie destroying the whole East Coast like a house of cards. He involves Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddarion, and even Kylie Minogue into this drama to make the film even more impressive. It is possible to argue that for those who love disaster films this movie will be a perfect example of one. ‘San Andres” meets perfectly all basic criteria of a decent disaster movie and even brings some innovations. Apart from more than realistic depiction of catastrophe simulated with the help of special techniques of high quality “San Andreas” hits the audience deep and touching drama. I would say that the accent of the film is even shifted from the fear evoked by disaster to the reconsidering of the most important issues in life. The director reminds us that most people are able understand the most simple and the most valuable things only when they face death. The characters of the movie are put on the edge of the abyss to demonstrate how fragile and small they are before the force of nature and the universe itself, and in only such condition human nature is shown, while realism of the scenery of American East coast only adds to the sense of the catastrophe. The movie “San Andreas” is created according to all rules and conventions of the genre. First disaster movie “Airport” had huge success and laid the basis of genre criteria for all the other movies created further. Basically disaster has to be the main plot device around which all the events are built. Metaphorically speaking, disaster embodies some giant, uncontrollable event that is bigger than a small and fragile human being. This opposition is central to every disaster try to destroy the Earth. In “Airport” it is snow storm and suicidal bomber all at once, it is giant wave in “In the Poseidon Adventure” and in “Titanic” it is an iceberg that turned out to be more serious in comparison with a huge human invention-a liner(Keane 65). Second criterion which characterizes most disaster films is stereotypical depiction of relationship and heroes. As the plot of a disaster movie is usually very intense and saturated with events there is no space for development and depiction of complicated characters so directors must create more or less flat personalities so that viewers can associate themselves with them. Such clichés and simplified characters speed up the narration because the main accent is made on the disaster itself. In “Die Hard” the principal hero rescues the world but his primary goal is his wife; in “Armageddon” the principal hero saves the planet from the meteorite and his love to his daughter serves him as a primary motivation. We see that heroic actions of those who play leading roles in disaster movies are underpinned by their possibility to sacrifice oneself for their close people. There is no need to explain why some people perform some risky and dangerous actions as long as family connections are involved. It is simple and familiar to everyone. The use of special effect is compulsory for any disaster film because it will be impossible to create atmosphere of fear and hysteria in viewers. Special effects add to realism of the movie and create the atmosphere of real threat and they have become an essential part of every disaster movie. Some movies use NASA-like special effects imitating the view of a comet or a meteorite such as in “Deep Impact”. “The Day After Tomorrow” uses special effects to intensify viewers` emotions and make them as realistic as possible. Seeing as New York is freezing is creepy for any American and directors know this and use this fear of something that can happen in your native town or country smartly (Grant 167). “San Andreas” meets all these three criteria of a disaster film of a high quality. The plot is based on serious natural disaster which hits America unexpectedly. East Coast, the land of dreams and opportunities, is destructed in several hours. Pieces of glass and metal start falling from the sky like the drops of rain. This force is unstoppable, uncontrollable and impossible to avoid. It is larger than life itself and it can smash a human being in seconds. In its face each yesterday problem seems irrelevant. Recent disaster movies concentrate on natural disasters more than on human made to show that human activity on the planet can lead to negative consequences (San Andreas Review). The director employs impressive special effects to create the feeling of presence for every spectator. Seeing San Francisco falling apart and Golden Gates bridge getting ruined is painful and fearful for every American. It seems that the foundation of the whole nation is ruined and can never be restored. The view of the bridge under tsunami is excessively realistic and watching it makes one feel so small and so unprotected (San Andreas Review) Simple marriage conflict which is familiar to every married couple with grown-up children is in the center of the movie. When spouses have nothing else to cling on and the thrill is gone there is only one way-to find another partner. Every viewer who has a family knows the essence of this conflict so there is no need in developing this plot line extensively. But family ties can never be broken and families which were once created in mutual love have always a chance to reconcile. Most opponents of the film claim that “San Andreas” is really artificial and full of clichés. Though it is foolish to blame a disaster film for poorly developed characters as it is impossible to create realistic and sophisticated characters in limited time. Nevertheless, it is impossible to deny that actors of “San Andreas” handle their roles very well and in the end of the story a viewer really sympathizes them. Family drama which is in the center is very realistic itself: there are no redundant dialogues and break ups full of tears. People on the screen act in the way they would act in real life. Another negative trait of the film noticed by critics is plot itself. However for those who claim that natural disasters of such size are uncommon to the States it is necessary to remind the real case of San Andreas- the transform fault that makes the boundary between two tectonic plates. So the events demonstrated in the film are more than real and watching California destroyed is a rather probable scenario. They say that the best way to cope with fear is to face this fear in small doses. Probably “San Andreas” serves a bitter pill for American nation that is afraid of two things most of all: breaking up of a good family and destruction of the East Coast. By showing people how to deal with these things on the screen Peyton educates the nation in some way creating a really good film in his genre. Works Cited Grant, K. “Film Genre Reader IV”, Austin: University of Texas, 2003. Keane, S. “Disaster Movies: The Cinema of Catastrophe”, New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. “Sun Andreas”Review on Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved from: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/san_andreas/ Read More