Disaster films: San Andreas

Dear Bookworms,
I recently watched the movie San Andreas with my family, and I found it to be a wonderful movie. It exceeded my expectations and inspired me to write, so I thought I'd write a review of it. (Yes, something other than muses and zombies!)

Plot (pacing): 
The pacing of the film felt very natural. The set up didn't take too long but emphasized the importance of the earthquakes, giving meaning to some of the concepts that would be introduced further on in the plot. The middle built up towards the finale of the 2nd act, (using the 3 act format) and the ending was not only well played out and one of the tensest moments in the series, but it threw a surprise in that I didn't see coming,  and definitely appreciated, and it reminded me that the finale doesn't have to be the biggest event, just the most personal.

Characters: 
I won't go into much detail in this, but through most of the film my mom was commenting: "That's what you should look for in a guy!" I think they balanced the heroism of the men with the intelligence of the women, and gave each a chance to save the other. I found that none of the main characters were 'just plot devices' and each of the characters had a unique role to play. Unlike most disaster films where the children just give the main characters something to fight for and the audience a sense of danger, the kid in this film actually had a very important role in the survival of the main characters.

Disaster Scenes: 
The main reason that anyone watches a disaster film: the scenes. This film had incredible jaw-dropping cinematography, and while it was noticeable that a few scenes were CGI, the disaster scenes were usually visually realistic. It wasn't just earthquakes, there were...well, I don't want to spoil anything, but it showed some epic shots with a great deal of variety in the destruction.

Accuracy: 
There are two sides to this one. On the side of science I've heard that this film had some scientific inaccuracies. I'd have to agree. Here's the thing: writing isn't about accuracy. Writing is about telling your story, and entertaining the audience. If they wanted accuracy they could go watch the History Channel. Though I'm honestly not sure if that would be any better. :) (I've seen some good stuff on the History Channel, but also some REALLY bad stuff.)
On the flip side, their portrayal of human reactions to traumatic situations seemed to be rather accurate. (I cannot fully say, this is just based off of what I've heard.) The way they showed blunt force trauma and how humans respond to stressful situations seemed to be more accurate than most films I've seen. So, spot on.

Story Telling Elements: 
Finally, the different elements in this movie were fantastic. They had tension, of course. What disaster film would be complete without it? They also had romance, but it was in its place. The romance was secondary to family. The main romantic interest was more focused on saving his younger brother than on saving the girl. That didn't mean he didn't care, of course he did. But his first priority was his brother. As it should well have been. Finally, it included a lot of something that several disaster films don't have: humor. I understand, if life as we know it is coming to an end, there's not a lot of chances for snarky one liners. But then a movie becomes bogged down and the audience loses interest in the story, and also looses sight of how terrible these events are. By adding in some more light-hearted moments, the narrators were able to pull the contrast on the darker moments and show them for what they were without being graphic. Excellent story telling.

Honestly, I don't know why this movie was as poorly rated as it was. Sure, there's some brief swearing. If I was in that situation, I'd be swearing too. Probably a lot more than they did, and they kept within a PG-13 rating. Anyway. Any other movies you want me to comment on? Anything you want me to write about? Please let me know!
Scribe ergo quae vidiste vivere!