What’s it about?
The ‘big one’ – the overdue earthquake that has threatened California for over 100 years – finally hits. Cue special effects. And The Rock.

What did we think?
I grew up on disaster movies (Towering Inferno is seared into my brain) so have a special place in my heart for them. So I enjoy Hollywood revisiting them every few years despite the fact that most of them are quite poor. But there’s still something ‘fun’ about watching mayhem and carnage on the big screen and for special effects San Andreas is incredible despite the fact you’ve seen most of the best ones in the trailer. The rippling of the earth is almost worth the price of the ticket alone although how they spend so much on FX and still have have one of the worst photoshopped family pictures is beyond me. Plotwise it’s incredibly predictable and the fact a decorated war hero stole a government helicopter to save two family members over the thousands of people he is paid to save is completely overlooked. The science is woeful (don’t start me on the tsunami) and the aftermath is heavily sanitised. I still enjoyed it as a mindless popcorn movie but my wait for a new smart disaster flick continues.