While plans for a sequel continue to languish in development hell, San Andreas Get a glowing retrospective review from the VFX artists at Corridor Crew. The 2015 movie starred Dwayne Johnson as LAFD rescue helicopter pilot Ray Gaines and follows him as he races to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco to save his daughter after a massive earthquake on the titular fault line causes devastating destruction all along the California coast. Also starring Carla Gugino and Alexandra Daddario, San Andreas It saw mixed reviews from critics, but was a box office success, grossing over $474 million against its $110 million production budget.
Just over nine years after the first movie hit theaters, San Andreas became the subject of focus in the latest episode of Corridor crews “VFX Artists React” series. The group opens by initially remarking how “Hilarious“The beginning of the movie’s tsunami sequence is as various boats race through the San Francisco Bay to ride the wave before it crashes. Jordan Allen, in particular, remarks that the sequence is “Enter Fast and the Furious Territory” with the somewhat ludicrous nature of the fight, even while remarking how “nice“The simulated wakes are like the boats racing up the wave.
The episode segment then transitions to show their reaction to the part of the scene in which the Golden Gate Bridge is destroyed by the tsunami wave, with various cars and people being swept away and the bridge and its suspension cables warping under the pressure of the water . Allen fondly expressed that his “Eyes eat well“With how detailed the effects are, while Sam Gorski notes that the scene is “Now in the CGI hall of fame” And Wren Weichman praises Scanline VFX as “The lords of water” simulation. While generally positive in their reviews, Weichman does point out one overall issue with the film’s tsunami scene. Check out what Weichman and the group said in the quote and video below:
There is an element of this movie that is unrealistic, surprise, surprise. The idea of ​​the movie, San Andreas, is that it’s the San Andreas fault line kind of north through California here, and it’s the big one. A 9.5 magnitude earthquake, or whatever the freaking numbers are. It would not create such a tsunami at all. So, somebody simulated a tsunami hitting San Francisco, and theoretically, the highest tsunami you can possibly get in San Francisco is, like, 16 feet. Nothing about the tsunami in the movie is realistic, but the effects are great.
What Corridor Crew’s analysis says about San Andreas
The movie has the right mix of implausibility and realism
The San Andreas Tsunami scene isn’t the only disaster genre that Corridor Crew analyzed in the video above, also taking a look at Deep impacts and The day after tomorrows. However, although their opinion is consistently positive in all three, even despite the decades that have passed since the release of the last two, Their analysis of the Rock’s movie actually falls in line with how critics felt about the 2015 title. The movie currently has a 49% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with audiences not proving much more positive with a 52% rating.
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The majority of San Andreas‘ Criticisms have been directed at the implausibility of the film’s depiction of the devastation caused by the titular fault line, with such scientific organizations as the American Geosciences Institute specifically criticizing the film for “Perpetuate[ing] Geological absurdities“. Beyond the awkward nature of the disaster and sequences like a boat racing straight up a tsunami wave, The movie’s script was also criticized for its underwhelming characters and dialogue. That said, even amid the general mockery, San Andreas is generally acknowledged for being an entertaining popcorn blockbuster, with critics’ sentiments about the film’s CGI on par with Corridor Crew.
Disaster movies don’t need accuracy to be entertaining
San Andreas Certainly not the only disaster movie that critics and scientific experts have praised for its portrayal of natural disasters. Michael Bay Armageddon Neil deGrasse Tyson was infamously regarded as the film that broke the most laws of physics per minute, until surpassed by Roland Emmerich Moonfall. Emmerich’s previous disaster movies are often called into question for their science, even if some appreciation is shown for The day after tomorrows attempts to raise awareness of climate change.
But while accuracy can be appreciated in certain genres, San Andreas is a key example of how implausible storytelling can be, allowing the film as a whole to prove entertaining. As a fan of the disaster genre, I really appreciated how visceral the 2015 movie was, as well as its mostly successful mix of tongue-in-cheek set pieces with truly horrifying action. While San Andreas 2 Could never happen and builds on the entertaining formula of the first, analysis by teams like Corridor Crew shows just how effective the movie remains nearly a decade later.
Source: Corridor crew