OSCARS 2026: The Smashing Machine (2025)

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson's journey from popular pro-wrestler to the biggest movie star in the world didn't happen based on the size of his biceps or how many reps he could do. Johnson has a megawatt smile, an irrepressible charm, an ability to command the screen, to make himself the center of attention no matter what is going on around him. For a brief period, all of that was enough to carry him from one blockbuster hit to another. However, sometime around 2018 or so, the shine started to come off that diamond. Maybe it was overexposure. Johnson was a key part of massive worldwide franchises like “Fast & Furious” and Disney. He had a successful TV show and multiple brand spokesman gigs. Maybe it was just because the movies weren't there. Films like “Skyscraper,” “Central Intelligence,” and “Jungle Cruise” started to feel more generic, more forgettable. Some would suggest that ego – including a supposed contractual clause that he never loses a fight on-screen – plays a role. Either way, by the time Johnson was attempting to brute-force “Black Adam” into a world-wide popular character, there was a stink of desperation about his career. Suddenly, Dwayne's desire to make audiences love him went from likable to off-putting. 

Since he could no longer be counted on to make a movie a hit with his charm alone, it was time to pursue another avenue: To prove he was a real actor, a true thespian. Yes, it was time for the Oscar bid. An inspiring true story still within Johnson's wheelhouse was found: The documentary “The Smashing Machine,” about the career of embattled Mixed Martial Arts star Mark Kerr. That movie was directed by John Hyams, a maker of reliably intense B-movies that hasn't broken through into the mainstream much. Hyams doesn't have awards season shine though. Benny Safdie, freed from his partnership with his brother and presumably eager to prove his solo talent, was an established critical darling. A24, the hippest of hip distributors and production companies, then came on-board the film. As the tone of the trailers made increasingly clear, Safdie's "The Smashing Machine" represented Johnson trying to manifest himself an Oscar the same way he tried to manifest a superhero franchise with “Black Adam.” Once again, it did not work. Despite aggressive campaigning, it received one nomination, in the decidedly less prestigious category of Best Hair and Make-Up. What of the film itself?

Mark Kerr would begin his athletic career as an amateur wrestler. (Actual wrestling, not the "sports entertainment" kind.) After beating more famous people like Randy Couture and Kurt Angle, Kerr would move into mixed martial arts. During the nineties, Kerr would become a repeated champion in the world of a sport that was slowly catching on all over the world. Kerr would soon begin an undefeated streak for Pride Fighting Championship. This is when “The Smashing Machine” comes in. Developing an addiction to painkillers, his relationship with girlfriend Dawn becomes more tense. After losing a Pride fight for the first time, Kerr's self esteem spirals. After having a heart attack, he endeavors to get clean and compete in the 2000 Pride Grand Prix. At the same time, his close friend and sparring partner Mark Coleman also seems to have a clear shot at the championship, leading to the inevitable conclusion that the two buddies might have to fight each.

“The Smashing Machine” is clearly an attempt by Johnson to shed his movie star persona and become absorbed in a performance. He adapts Kerr's particular speech pattern, a result of missing several teeth from fights. He refers to his “tummy” multiple times. He bleeds, gets stitches, shoots up drugs, screams, gasps for breath, and sweats. I think a third of “The Smashing Machine's” budget must have been spent on fake sweat. Though his pectorals are as impressive and arms as vein-y as ever, Johnson carries himself throughout “The Smashing Machine” as a man barely holding it together. He is always stiff, shoulders back, arms to his side. Whenever chatting with his manly friends or the press, he adopts a friendly bro-like persona that reads as blatantly performative. This is a guy desperate not to look like a failure. Naturally, when he does lose a fight, he spirals into drug addiction and messy arguments with Dawn. The arc of “The Smashing Machine” is of a man afraid of being perceived as a loser learning that it's okay to fail, to be vulnerable.  

That is a compelling character arc. It is also a good subversion of Johnson's tough guy image, deliberately showing that there is a sad, struggling human being behind all that rippling sinew. However, something feels off. The Oscar clip moment occurs when Kerr is in the hospital, recovering from that heart attack. Coleman tries to talk with him, Kerr assuming his usual laid-back demeanor... Before he suddenly drops it, bursting into tears. It feels as calculated as the expertly timed cocked eyebrows or elbow drops he did in the ring. There's the foundation of a good performance here. Johnson has the skills to make Kerr's feelings genuine, to make his pain and triumph palatable. Despite looking like the Rock, he makes Kerr seem like a regular guy a few times. 

Throughout the film, however, I repeatedly found myself wondering something: Why is Mark like this? What happened in his life to make him so guarded about his feelings? Why does he feel an intense drive to succeed all the time, taking a single loss as a devastating blow that he nearly dies over? The script does not specify. The film also does not go into details about Mark's painkiller addiction, only hinting at the ever-present pain he must feel from countless blows to the head and body that pushes him to shoot up. We see very little of Mark struggling with drug addiction after his promise to get clean. The film does not explore his childhood, his backstory, or any of the psychological impulse that make him act this way. There's a scene, where Mark stands outside a carnival ride while Dawn is inside. He stares to the side, the camera focusing on his face and physical demeanor as he waits. Instead of me feeling a sense of his detachment from Dawn or being left out of his own life, I simply found myself with no idea what this guy was thinking at all.

Part of this is because of the decisions Safdie, cinematographer Maceo Bishop, and composer Nata Sinephro make. “The Smashing Machine” seeks to replicate the documentary-like visuals from its source film. There's a sheen of unpolished grit to the images, looser camera movements. This also means pulling back from the characters. In “The Smashing Machine,” we always feel like we are watching the characters, not apart of their lives. There's a noticeable distance between the cast and the camera placement. This makes sense for the fight scene, to copy the sensation of watching from the audience. When applied to the rest of the movie, it makes us feel detached from Mark and his struggles. When paired with a musical score that is discordant and inexplicably jazzy at times, the result is a movie that feels nearly as closed-up to the viewer as its protagonist is to his girlfriend. 

And about that romantic subplot. Emily Blunt gives a good performance as Dawn. She accurately plays a woman who is frustrated with a man who won't let her get any closer. Their arguments seem plausible and not melodramatic, clearly born out an inability for these two to communicate. Unfortunately, part of that lack of communication means Dawn doesn't take Mark's concerns seriously. While he's getting sober, she goes out drinking with friends. She mocks him calling his sponsor at one point. She outright admits she preferred Mark when he was high, so she could take care of him. She also picks the night before a big fight or during a tense training session to start an argument. Her most dramatic moment occurs when Dawn puts a gun to her head at the climax of another argument. This does not make me want to root for these two kids to work it out. These two need to break up. They are not healthy for each other. The script seems to take it for granted that the couple need to be together for their own good, when all the evidence suggests otherwise. 

When Johnson is a producer on “The Smashing Machine,” it is easy to blame him for the failure of the film. (Which includes commercially, as the movie flopped.) However, I think he was up to the task of giving an Oscar-winning performance. Instead, as always, it's the script, stupid. “The Smashing Machine” feels half-formed, unable to take us inside the head of a character we are clearly meant to connect to. It must have been a deliberate choice, as every aspect of the film keeps us from figuring out makes Mark tick. The film follows all the beats of a inspiring arc, in its final scene where Kerr finally accepts that it's okay to lose. It rings hollow. Hopefully, Johnson keeps trying to prove his actorly chops, as I do think he has a great performance in him. But “The Smashing Machine” doesn't have what it takes to be a champion. [6/10]

 

RECENT WATCHES: The Fate of the Furious (2017)

Since the characters became millionaires at the end of “Fast Five,” there's really been no narrative reason for the “Fast & Furious” franchise to roll on. Not that anyone is making these movies for the art, at this point. “Furious 7” made it into the billion dollar club, completely insuring that we'd be getting more of these ridiculous spectacles. F. Gary Gray, right off the success of “Straight Outta Compton,” was recruited to steer yet another entry in this turbo-charged series. The amusingly entitled "The Fate of the Furious" would roar into theaters in April of 2017. It would be another massive hit, also grossing over a billion dollars at the international box office. Depending on who you ask though, this is when the wheels start to fall off the “Fast” machine.

While on their second honeymoon in Havana with Letty, Dom is approached by a mysterious woman known only as Cipher. Meanwhile, Luke Hobbs recruits the rest of the gang to capture a EMP device from an extremist faction in Europe. That's when Dom appears, turns on his make-shift family, and steals the EMP. Mr. Nobody pulls the familiar players together to figure out what has happened and defeat Cipher. Hobbs ends up in jail with Shaw, the two eventually busting out together and joining the mission. Nobody knows the reason Dom is working for Cipher: She has the son he didn't know existed and is blackmailing him to be part of her terrorist plot to take over the world.

As has often been joked about and referenced, “family” has emerged as the uniting theme of the latter-day “Fast” movies. Having Dom switch sides, seemingly betraying his family (but actually out of further obligation to them), pushes that idea further. It's also the exact kind of comic book style plotting I've come to expect from this increasingly far-fetched universe. However, there's a problem with inserting such a standard “What if the good guy switches side?” set-up. Without the fatherly figure of Dom Toretto to head this familia, things begin to feel a bit aimless. Forcing Vin Diesel back into the stoic tough guy mode he started in robs him of his charm. He seems so checked-out through large parts of this movie, one scene further removing his humanity by placing him in bulky armor and a mask, like a car-driving Jason Voorhees or Iron Man. Turning Dom into a traitor sullies the hang-out movie vibes that propels this series.

That story turn also represents another clear phenomenon: Writer Chris Morgan starting to run out of ideas. Plot ranks somewhere around the level of catering in importance to these films. However, there's no denying that the story is a mess. The exact nature of the world-endangering MacGuffin seems to change from scene-to-scene sometimes. It's obviously nothing more than a plot device to get the crew from one set piece to the next. The finale takes place in a Siberian submarine port overtaken by some other occupying forces, one example of the kind of plot points that come at the audiences nearly as fast as the cars do. Dom asking a favor of a mysterious new character or the sudden appearances of jet packs are other examples. The vehicular mayhem has always led the rest of the plot around in these movies. The action scenes driving the story, instead of the other way around, starts to feel like a problem.

Balancing out such a large cast continues to be an issue too. The subplots involving Dom's child, Hobbs, or the Shaws sometimes feel like another movie interceding on this one. There are other new characters thrown in too. The least inspired of which is charisma void Scott Eastwood as Mr. Nobody's sidekick. The best of which is Charlize Theron as Cipher, the seductive villain. Like everything else, she's a ridiculous character. The kind of pseudo-profound dialogue Theron has to rattle off – such as a strangled metaphor about watering holes and crocodiles – is truly baffling. Yet Theron is a pro, bringing a sinister curl of her lips to each absurd line, making an otherwise generic villain – also revealed to be the Author of All Dom's Pain, another bad cliché of modern blockbuster writing – way more appealing than she'd otherwise be.

Despite the tangled mess of a screenplay and a number of questionable narrative choices, “The Fate of the Furious” still works when centering its hyper-macho cast of goofy bros. I'm not talking about Tyrese's Rome, who becomes more annoying and inessential with every film, or Michelle Rodriguez' Letty, dragged along by the plot. Instead, the cock-measuring contest between Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs and Jason Statham's Shaw is definitely the highlight of the film. The constant trash-talking between these two, which immediately escalates to homoerotic tension and then mutual respect, is highly amusing. That's what you get when you paired two physical titans with gallons of charm against each other. That unexpected cameo also proves that letting extremely charming performers bounce off each other is the real strength of these films.

That brings me to the action sequences. There are definitely some good moments. Rodriguez gets a good one-on-one fight with a goon, that ends in a nicely grisly way. Statham and Johnson's escape from cyber-jail features their respective fighting styles – brute force and parkour – contrasting nicely. Statham is at the center of the film's other best moment, where he has to kill lots of creeps while protecting a baby. 

The movie actually peaks early as far as its vehicular stunts go. The opening street race, where Dom pushes a jalopy way past its limit, is by far the best car moment in the film. Later scenes, such as when Cipher's super-hacking turns every thing with wheels into a weapon, feel a bit desperate. This franchise falling to its need to make cars the currency of every action scene. (Dom managing to kill a submarine with a muscle car is the normal level of desperate for this series.) The extremely long climax, and the unending vehicular mayhem it involves, started to bore me quickly. Explosions and twisted metal aren't enough sometimes. 

You don't see much of F. Gary Gray's personal style in this one. A rare dutch angle or some smooth cinematography for a few seconds is about all you get. Otherwise, macho melees, CGI chaos, and lots of pyrotechnics characterizes this installment. Even when those moments are effectively done, “The Fate of the Furious” feels a bit self-conscious about its desire to always top itself and earlier entries. That's led to a scrambled script and repetitive action that too often puts the best elements in the backseat. [6/10]

Director Report Card: James Wan (2015)

7. Furious 7 (2015)

Over the course of four movies, Justin Lin managed to transform the “Fast and the Furious” series from a humble trilogy of immediately dated car flicks to one of the most popular action/adventure franchises on the planet. The fifth and sixth installment especially moved past the simple stories of street racing into elaborate heist plots with enormous action set pieces. This naturally made Lin one of the most in-demand directors around. He was so in-demand that another studio scooped him up for their own blockbuster, Lin jumping to Paramount to make “Star Trek Beyond.” This opened the door for another filmmaker of Asian descent to enter. James Wan would make the leap from horror films to blockbuster cinema with “Furious 7,” proving he wasn't only talented with low budget tales of ghosts and serial killers. It would be a great move for Wan, beginning the next chapter of his career.

Picking up from “Fast & Furious 6's” mid-credits teaser, “Furious 7” begins with the simplest of set-ups. Deckard Shaw wants revenge on Dom Torreto for what he did to his brother, Owen. First, he kills Han, then he attacks Hobbs, and lastly sets his sights on Brian O'Conor and his family. Dom rides into action, taking on Shaw personally. That's when the mysterious government agent, Mr. Nobody, steps in. He promises to help Dom take down Shaw if his team recovers a super-powerful surveillance device known as God's Eye, along with the hacker who created it. The “Fast” family are thrusts into an international adventure, involving terrorists and drones, while Dom and Shaw prepare for their inevitable face-off. 

By its seventh entry, the “Fast” franchise has long since outgrown its humble roots as a series about street racing. The last three installments established these movies are international affairs with more than a passing resemblance to Bond or Ocean. “Furious 7” pushes this conceit further. Throughout this adventure, the Torreto gang travels from London, to America to Japan, Azerbaijan, and Abu Dhabi, before heading back to Los Angeles for the big finale. Considering these movies have always been popular overseas, it's not surprising that the studio would insist “Furious 7” be more of a global adventure than ever before. 

In order to facilitate such a globe-trotting adventure, what probably should've been a simple revenge plot gets ridiculously convoluted. I guess the premise of  Shaw seeking revenge on Dom and the gang wouldn't have provided enough material for a 139 minute run time. Instead, the story's primary antagonist disappears for long stretches while the heroes pursue a practically unrelated plot device. Oh sure, there are token attempts to tie Shaw in with the entire God's Eye story line. They feel tenuous at best. “Furious 7” sometimes feels like two separate ideas for a sequel where hastily smashed together, in order to make a bigger – and, consequently, more crowded and contrived – follow-up.

Why screenwriter Chris Morgan – who has been shepherding this franchise since the third film – felt the need to get quite so complex with the plot is something I can only speculate on. The fact that this, the most ridiculously exaggerated of blockbusters, has to involve advanced surveillance technology and war drones raises some question. Are we so numb to the every day presence of these things, these aspect of the dystopian future we're all living in, that general audiences don't blink at their inclusion? Or is this some sort of half-assed commentary on the state of the world? It's hard to say, as no clear point is made about these things. Other than they are bad, I guess. At this point, the “Fast” movies are basically science fiction, making me wonder why Morgan and Wan didn't simply push the MacGuffin technology further into the realm of the impossible, rather than reminding us of U.S. war crimes in our goofball action movie.

How goofball is this sequel exactly? Paul Walker running up the side of an armored truck as it falls off a cliff is among the least memorable sights here. By this point, the “Fast” films are definitely self-aware of their own reputation for ridiculous bullshit. This is presumably why the movie commits to the utterly insane image of the heroes parachuting out of an airplane while inside their trademark cars. After all, it's accepted knowledge that Dom Torreto has superpowers as long as he's behind the wheel of an automobile. That's why he survives ramping off a cliff side, plummeting down the mountain or later using his vehicle as a battering ram against the villain's helicopter. The trademark action set pieces involve a souped-up sports car rocketing between not one but two skyscrapers. This level of CGI tomfoolery, watching the movie top itself in terms of over-the-top mayhem, is exactly the point of the franchise by this point. 

I can appreciate some utterly absurd, digital action shenanigans as much as the next guy. The one-on-one fight scenes continue to prove to be the bigger distraction here. The movie knows what side its bread is buttered on, by having its two biggest action heroes beat the shit out of each other within the opening minutes. The Rock and Jason Statham toss each other through glass walls and into desks, body slams and flying punches a-plenty going down. Of course, Vin and Statham have to duke it out before the end too, which they do in a similarly acrobatic melee. However, a surprise fight between an otherwise wooden Ronda Rousey, brought in as a special guest fighter primarily to grapple with Michelle Rodriguez, is a real highlight. It's certainly more believable than Paul Walker besting Tony Jaa, one of the great on-screen martial artists of our time, in a close quarters battle.

At this point, the size of the "Fast" family has started to grow a bit ungainly. There's about ten or eleven central characters here. Smartly, the script sidelines a few of them. Hobbs is laid up in the hospital for most of the movie, though the Rock is still available to kick some ass, carry a massive gun, and deliver macho one-liners. Jordana Brewster's Mia Torreto and Elsa Pataky's Elena are more-or-less written out of the story. Despite that, juggling the remaining cast members is getting shaky. Ludacris' Tej doesn't have much to do beyond press buttons behind a computer console, while Tyrese's Rome has officially been reduced to the role of dumb-ass comic relief. The jokes he's given are so clunky that you really wonder why he's being kept around at this point.

These cast are always expanding too. Kurt Russell drops in as Mr. Nobody, the government liaison. It's a role anyone could've played but Russell's ability to turn the hoariest of exposition into poetry elevates it greatly. Though the movie kindly gives him one action scene to himself. The rest of the new additions aren't as memorable. Nathalie Emmanuel is cute and all as Ramsey, the super-hacker at the plot's center, but she's not much more than a plot device. That's at least more than Djimon Hounsou gets, as the film's secondary baddie. All he really does is stand around and look intimidating, a total waste of Hounou's talents.

Ultimately, these are only minor supporting characters. When Jason Statham made his cameo appearance during the end credits of “Fast & Furious 6,” it was a moment designed to get a huge cheer out of the audience. Statham is of the same generation of action stars as Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. Getting all these modern icons in a movie together was a huge deal, obviously. Placing Statham as the antagonist against the rest of the team was another smart move, allowing the tough guy to do his thing. He swaggers through multiple scenes, glaring and coughing one-liners in that distinctive accent. The kind of indelible screen presence Statham has adds so much to a role that would've been utterly forgettable in anyone else's hands. He's an invaluable addition to the film.

“Furious 7” would become the biggest hit in the franchise yet, the first of the series to cross the billion dollar mark worldwide. It's easy to assume that the non-stop carnage of the last act might have something to do with this. International audiences are known to crave explosions and shoot-outs. Yet the continuous mayhem of the last act is honestly a bit deafening after a while. There's only so many scenes of machine guns shattering concrete and cars swerving around fireballs I can take before I get a bit numb to it. At over two hours long, “Furious 7” definitely wares the viewer down a bit before it's over. 

I think another factor, however, might've given this installment the extra novelty to make it the biggest of the series. We're all well aware of Paul Walker's unexpected passing before the film was released, ironically in a fast car not unlike any of the ones his character drives in this movie. As much as “Furious 7” is preoccupied with pyrotechnics, it's also something of a tribute to Walker. The role his character's family plays is repeatedly emphasized. A lengthy epilogue is inserted obviously as a way to honor Walker and send his character off. It's an emotionally overwrought moment, that seems weirdly maudlin if you somehow aren't aware of Walker's passing. It's nice too. Oversized sentimentality has always been the secret weapons of these movies and I'm glad the time was taken to make this ending meaningful.

While there are signs that James Wan brought his particular style to “Furious 7,” it's obviously this was a work-for-hire gig for him. He wanted to prove to studio execs that he could be trusted with the keys to a massive action franchise. Considering “Furious 7” went on to become one of the highest grossing movies of all time, I think he more than succeeded in that goal. Like all of these sublimely silly motion pictures, “Furious 7” is definitely entertaining. It's too absurd not to be. The constant need to top itself in terms of collateral damage and the struggles of balancing out such an overgrown cast does weigh the movie down some, even if Statham's sinew and some giant action shenanigans got me to smile too. [Grade: B-]

RECENT WATCHES: Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

By 2013, the Marvel Cinematic Universe had come to rule the multiplexes. Other studios were eager to copy that successful formula. While there's been no shortage of superhero epics in the last decade, Universal managed to retrofit the “The Fast and the Furious” into something like their own Marvel universe  in one important way. That would be the mid-credit teasers setting up the next adventure. “Fast Five” ended in a fairly final place but a last minute scene happily set up another installment. Two years later, that promise would be delivered on with “Fast & Furious 6.” Justin Lin was back behind the camera, with the all the important cast members back too. Predictably, it was another enormous hit but could it top the last one in terms of action?

Hobbs is pursuing an internationally wanted super-criminal by the name of Owen Shaw. Shaw is attempting to assemble a “Nightshade” device, a weapon that can shut off all power in a country, and only needs one more part to complete it. He decides to lure Dom Torreto and the rest of his crew out of retirement to help him. He accomplishes this with one important clue. Letty, Dom's presumed dead wife, is part of Shaw's team. This convinces Dom, Brian, and the rest to gather in London and take down this newest threat, all while attempting to figure out what happened to Letty.

We're now six installments into this turbo-charged franchise and it's built up a surprisingly lovable ensemble. One of the simplest joys of “Fast & Furious 6” is simply watching these characters bounce off each other. The film delights in pairing these guys up in novel ways. Such as Rome and Han discussing the nuances of relationships or Rome and Tej shit-talking while playing around with a massive spear gun. Gal Gadot's Giselle – definitely the least well-defined of this troupe –  gets some charming moments, when interacting with Sung Kang or new recruit to the team, Gina Carano. We've built up enough of an attachment to this group that seeing them interact and screw around is as much fun as the enormous action set-pieces.

Something the “Fast” films have lacked, up to this point, are truly memorable enemies. The last two movies especially – I'm excluding Hobbs from this, as he eventually joins the good guys, "Dragonball Z" style – had indistinct crime bosses as their antagonists. “Furious 6” manages to cook up a supervillain worthy of its increasingly overpowered heroes. Luke Evans – who Hollywood was really trying to turn into a star in the 2010s – appears as Owen Shaw. He's a super-capable bad-ass with specialized gadgets and weapons at his disposal, including hockey pucks he can attached to other cars to control them. Shaw also has a team of henchmen identified as evil counterparts of Dom's crew. Evans can certainly handle being a ruthless baddie with a sinister sneer, despite the script providing him with little in the way of depth.

Not that character depth is what we watch these movies for. No, we sit down for a “Fast” movie because we want to see some gravity defying stunts. “Furious 6” certainly delivers in that regard. Shaw's coolest gadget is an armored dune-buggy designed to launch other cars into the air, which happens repeatedly. I really never get tired of seeing cars corkscrew through the air. Probably the movie's trademark sequence involves a tank being unleashed on a freeway. This is a sequence that only escalates in absurdity as it goes along. Countless cars are pancaked under the tank treads, a muscle car is slowly shredded, and the climax to the scene – involving Vin Diesel sailing through the air in slow-motion – is hysterical. As memorable as this particular sequence is, I'm glad the movie made room for some close quarters melees too. It would've been a waste to slot Carano and Joe Taslim in the cast and not having them do some fighting. Taslim's fight scene, which involves kicking Tyrese through multiple planes of glass, is probably the best.

Melodrama is nothing new to this particular franchise. “Furious 6” features that most hackneyed of soap opera plot devices: Amnesia. Letty is working with the bad guys, and was thought dead, because she has no memories of her past with Dom. This is a solid way to retcon Michelle Rodriguez's clumsy death in the previous movie, while also giving her a juicier character arc. This is far from the movie's only narrative contrivances. There's a lengthy subplot that drops Brian into prison, a long ways to go just to confirm a simple plot point. Because movies were still ripping off “The Dark Knight” at this point, the bad guy gets captured on-purpose as part of his master plan. I don't think a “Fast and the Furious” movie needs a story that takes this many detours is my point.

While its cast of characters are doubtlessly a benefit to this film, by the final act, I was losing track of where everyone was a little bit. The elaborate finale, which involves dragging a massive air bus to the ground, has each member of Dom's team sparing off with their own partner or adversary. So much is happening, with the film cutting back and forth between each confrontation, that you feel a bit overwhelmed. The obvious money-shots in these scenes, such as Vin and the Rock taking down a musclebound baddie together, get lost in the shuffle of so much happening.

Despite some serious flaws, “Fast & Furious 6” still places high in my personal ranking of this franchise. The action sequences are really fabulous, with the movie balancing genuinely impressive stunt work and amusingly absurd digital fakery. The cast is still fun to hang out with and the script provides a suitably intimidating adversary. I don't really ask for much more from these films than that. [7/10]

RECENT WATCHES: Fast Five (2011)

“Fast & Furious” ended on a cliffhanger, suggesting Universal was very confident in the retooled franchise. The film was another hit, paving the way for “Fast Five” two years later. This seems to be the point where public opinion on the series started to shift. The first four were dismissed by critics and divisive among action fans. They had passionate defenders but a large group derided the “Fast” films as dumb-ass shit for dumb-ass shitheads. “Fast Five,” however, successfully transformed this into a series that reveled in its own ridiculous awesomeness. This kind of beyond-the-beyond audacity – which recalled the over-the-top action classics of the eighties – quickly won over a lot of folks I trust, really getting my attention. 

After busting Dom out of prison, the Torettos and Brian relocate to Rio de Janeiro. In need of cash, they agree to a risky heist aboard a moving train. It quickly goes pear-shaped but after the gang makes off with an especially valuable car. Inside the vehicle is a chip containing all the financial information of Hernan Reyes, the most powerful drug lord in Brazil. After Mia announces she's pregnant with Brian's child, Dom decides they are going to steal Reyes' millions as one last job. A group of new and old faces are called in to assist such an ambitious heist. Meanwhile, DSS agent Luke Hobbs – believing the Toretto gang murdered several DEA agents – pursues the racers ruthlessly. With Reyes' men also on their trail, things quickly escalate. 

The fourth “Fast” movie moved the series in the direction of globe-trotting action extravaganza. The fifth entry presents a more unified vision for the franchise by literally bringing together the divergent casts from the previous films. Matt Schulze's Vince returns for the first time since the original. “Tokyo Drift's” Han becomes a major player, following his cameo in part four. Ludacris' Tej and Tyrese's Rome from “2 Fast 2 Furious” join the rest of the team. Even Gal Gadot's Gisele from the last one comes back. More familiar faces show-up during the mid-credits scene. When so many long-running series are happy to slam the reboot button, I'll admit that “Fast Five” embracing the history of the franchise is charming. 

If I knew nothing else about these movies going into it, I knew that it was all about one uniting theme: Family. This really comes to the forefront in this installment. Dom agrees to one last job precisely because he wants his little sister and in-coming nephew to be taken care of. Vince is immediately forgiven for any past transgression and accepted back into the group entirely because he's part of Torreto's found family. That idea is presumably why this installment brings back so many established characters, to emphasize that family isn't just about blood but about who you choose. As goofy as this premise is in execution – some of these folks have known each other for a few days – it can't help but play out as kind of sweet. Vin's big speech around barbecue and beer... It's cute, ya know? Makes it feel like you're hanging out with these misfits and goofballs too.

Of course, to go up against such a memorable group of characters, you need an especially colorful antagonist. The film found that in the form of Dwayne Johnson, pro-wrestler turned one of the biggest movie stars in the world. He plays Hobbs, a super-tough agent sent to hunt down our heroes. The role utilizes Johnson's best attributes. That would be his massive physical presence and his way with a trash-talking one-liner. Hobbs isn't only a mountain of a man, clearly capable of taking down any opponent he encounters. He's also a fast-talker, casually hurling insults and colorful turns-of-phrases at those around him. In other words, the Rock was exactly the kind of bigger-than-life character necessary to play an opposing force 

The movie is well aware of what the Rock's presence means too. One of the show-stopping set pieces is a melee between Johnson and Vin Diesel, which features both men getting tossed through multiple walls. That's one of my favorite action beats in the film and also one of its more grounded. This is, after all, a movie that begins with a car jack-knifing a bus and causing it to flip through the air several times. That's not the real opening set piece either. That would be a ludicrous – but not Ludicris, he shows up later – sequence involving a truck, a train, a bridge, and a slow-mo dive into a river. The movie never quite tops that moment but its finale, where a massive bank vault dragged behind a muscle car and weaponized, sure as hell tries. Most impressively, the movie uses more practical effects than you might think. That gives these ridiculous stunt sequences a lot more heft and weight, making them exactly the kind of crazy action filmmaking I'd admire.

Built around these over-the-top sequences of vehicular mayhem is a fairly standard heist movie. I think anybody familiar with the genre knows that the plan set in place early in the film will naturally go wrong. The movie wouldn't be telling us this information if it didn't plan on subverting it. What's most fun about heist pictures is watching a group of bandits with highly specialized skills working out a complex scheme to solve some convoluted problem. “Fast Five” provides us with just that, as Dom's gang perfects a number of technique and wacky schemes to break into the vault central to the story. A moment involving exploding toilets is especially amusing.

“Fast Five” really feels like it could've been the final installment in the series, leaving all of our misfit heroes in a comfortable place. Of course, things were really only beginning for this gang at this point. If I've been a little baffled by the massive popularity of these movies up to now, “Fast Five” is when it really started to click into place for me. It's big, loud, and dumb but I can't deny that I didn't enjoy myself the whole time. [7/10]

RECENT WATCHES: Be Cool (2005)

“Get Shorty” made 115 million dollars at the box office in 1995 but did anybody remember that in 2005? Barry Sonnenfeld's Elmore Leonard adaptation had largely faded from the pop culture landscape not long after it came out. Yet Leonard wrote a second Chili Palmer book in 1999 and it too was a best seller. Someone, up along the movie studio ladder, must've decided that a cinematic version of this sequel would be worthwhile. “Be Cool” would arrive in theaters a full decade after the original. The sequel was greeted with a certain degree of hype, owing to its impressive cast. Now, another decade later, this one is also all-but-forgotten. Yet, as I all too often do, I found myself looking back at some flick and thinking “Oh yeah, I never saw that. Was it any good?” Only one way to find out. 

Chili Palmer has been working as a movie producer for several years now, enough to be disillusioned with the entire industry. He's just about to call it quits when his friend Tommy Athens, a record executive, is killed right in front of him. He checks on Edie, Tommy' widow and an old friend of Chili's, and discovers their company owes a considerable debt to a dangerous rap producer. Chili also discovers Linda Moon, an aspiring singer whose contract is being sat on by another record producer. (With his own dangerous thugs.) Chili is inspired to give music-producing a shot, while unraveling the various entanglements around the up-and-coming singer. 

“Get Shorty” was clearly hoping to ride on the coattails of “Pulp Fiction.” “Be Cool” blatantly emulates the more famous movie in another way. It reunites John Travolta and Uma Thurman. From what I recall, the entire movie was sold on this couple being back together on-screen again. Following right on the heels of her “Kill Bill” boost, Thurman is admittedly charming and cute in many of her scenes. Travolta, meanwhile, seems utterly drained of energy. Chili Palmer wasn't that interesting in “Get Shorty” but at least John seemed engaged with the material. Here, he sleepwalks through the movie. Moreover, none of the chemistry with Thurman that sparked so much in “Pulp Fiction” is evident here. The two share another dancing scene together – of course they do – and it's utterly lifeless. 

Much like the first film, “Be Cool” has a convoluted story filled with multiple colorful characters. A number of famous faces fill these roles. Harvey Keitel – who appeared as himself in “Get Shorty” – hams it up as the evil record executive. Vince Vaughn is terribly annoying as a white wannabe rapper/hitman. Cedric the Entertainer is amusingly cast against type as the soft spoken and threatening hip-hop producer. Andre 3000 gets a handful of laughs as one of his thugs, who greatly overestimates his own importance. Notable figures like James Woods, Seth Green, and Danny DeVito (returning from “Get Shorty”) drop in for cameos. There's also appearances from a number of notable pop music figures: The Black Eyed Peas, Gene Simmons, an incredibly self-aggrandizing Steven Tyler, and, uh, Fred Durst.  

It's a stacked, A-list group. Yet only one cast member of “Be Cool” makes much of an impression. Dwayne Johnson plays Elliot, another one of Keitel's bodyguards. Elliot is gay, something the antagonists frequently mock him for, and dreams of becoming a country-and-western singer. This was early in Johnson's movie career, when his only star vehicles were middling action fair like the “Walking Tall” remake. Johnson subverted his macho image here but, more importantly, displayed his considerable range. He's quiet, charming, and funny. When he claims he's going to break into Hollywood with a raised eyebrow, it's Johnson poking fun at his own career. Yet it's also a knowing nod that this guy was on the verge of super stardom, destined for bigger things than what he had previously done. When he breaks into a Hawaiian dance at the end of the movie, it's one of “Be Cool's” few lively moments.

“Get Shorty” wasn't a movie I liked that much but at least it reflected on the film industry in some ways. Chili dreamed of breaking into movies because he loved movies. It showed Hollywood as full of con men but ultimately worth it, for that joyous moment of creative fulfillment. “Be Cool” has no such statement to make about the music industry. Linda never really comes to life as a character and we never learn much about her dreams or aspiration. The sole introspective scene we get about how people relate to music is an embarrassing moment. Chili talks Steven Tyler into reinterpreting one of his old songs, both actors coming across as incredibly hammy and unnatural.  Otherwise, “Be Cool” has nothing to say about the music industry or anything much at all.

Honestly, I don't know why this movie exists. “Get Shorty” was a moneymaker in its day but I doubt anyone was clamoring for the Further Adventures of Chili Palmer. Audiences certainly didn't appeared to be. “Be Cool” grossed 95 million against a 53 million budget, which isn't terrible but isn't great either. John Travolta and Uma Thurman's careers would falter again shortly afterwards. Director F. Gary Gray – obviously hired because of his long association with music videos – obviously knows how to make a visually flashy film and has continue to get high-profile projects. Ultimately, aside from Dwayne Johnson's amusing performance, this a movie with very little to offer. [5/10]

VIDEO GAME MOVIE MONTH: Rampage (2018)

Video game movies usually happen because someone — a film studio, the game developers, or an opportunistic rogue like Uwe Boll — is eager to capitalize on the popularity of a franchise. You’ll notice most of the movies I’ve talked about this month have springboarded off titles that were relevant at-the-time. But something odd happened in 2011. Warner Bros. technically acquired the rights to “Rampage,” a quarter-gobbling arcade classic devoted to cartoonish kaiju smashing buildings and eating people, when they bought Midway Games in 2009. There hadn’t been a new game since 2006 and nobody was crying out for a “Rampage” film. However, producer John Rickard realizes the studio owned the game in 2011 and thought it would make a cool movie. He quickly got superstar Dwayne Johnson attached, who then reeled in his “Journey 2” and “San Andreas” director Brad Peyton. (Films with giant animals and lots of urban destruction, respectively.) In brief, nobody expected a “Rampage” movie, not even Midway or Hollywood.

Genetics corporation Energyne has been doing unethical gene-splicing experiments in space, causing wild mutations in animals. After a giant rat escapes, the satellite is destroyed and canisters of secret gas fall to Earth. Three animals are exposed to the pathogen: A wild wolf that grows into a ravenous monster, an alligator that becomes even larger and more dangerous, and an albino gorilla named George. George’s caretaker is former special forces and anti-poaching expert David Okoye. When George grows to giant size and escapes, Okoye and a former Energyne scientist tries to bring him in peacefully. The heads of Energyne, the evil Wyden siblings, cook up a scheme to clear their names, drawing all the mutated animals towards Chicago. Naturally, much mayhem ensues.

In a way, “Rampage” was an ideal series to adapt to film. None of the games have much in the way of story, the plottier entries not extending far beyond “evil corporation turns people into giant monsters, they escape and seek vengeance.” (Sometimes, alien invaders or time travel are involved but the execution is the same.) In other words, a “Rampage” movie could be about anything, as long as it had giant, mutant animals destroying buildings. The film’s team of screenwriters rightly decided upon a Saturday morning cartoon-like tone. “Rampage’s” heroes are very good, a group of smart-asses who are ultra talented, always ready with a one-liner and determined to save George. “Rampage’s” villains are very evil, a pair of scheming corporate executives who unleash a trio of giant monsters on Chicago to cover their own asses. “Rampage’s” script is very dumb. The villain’s ploy has a few holes in it, including staying in the city long after the rampage starts and putting themselves in danger. George is treated like a hero at the end, despite destroying a lot of property and killing a ton of people. Okoye’s ability to communicate with George via sign language far out-strips any previous human/primate relations experiments.

The film overcomes its central dumbness by embracing an intentionally comedic tone. “Rampage’s” jokes are frequently crude. There’s references to pooping your pants and sexual intercourse within the first few minutes. George flips the bird not once but twice, as far as I can tell only the second time this event has been portrayed on-screen. The big silly ape later mimes the universally recognized hand gesture for doin’ it. The Rock reacts to the unlikeliness of what is happening around him with silly quibs pointed right at the audience. In fact, several of the characters speak exclusively in corny jokes. One half of the evil siblings is exceptionally dumb and his departure is fittingly sarcastic. “Rampage” knows how silly it is and further signals this by putting the original arcade cabinet in clear sight in one scene. (George also makes sure to throw a Dave & Busters logo, which featured an exclusive “Rampage” game based on the movie, right at the camera.)

The “Rampage” games were always jokey homages to kaiju movies of old, so it’s fitting the film follows a similar path. The film makes its trio of giant monsters as realistic looking as possible, with some quite excellent digital effects. Yet the goofy cool factor of the creatures are not sacrificed for realism. Ralph the Wolf, who is so named in-film, can glide like a flying squirrel and throw porcupine-like spines. Liz the Lizard becomes a massive alligator, with spikes, a frill, and a club-like tail. George is the least grotesque of the creature, though the albino gorilla still gets a cartoonish range of facial expressions. That the film allows its monsters some actual personality is a great benefit. That makes watching them reek endless destruction on Chicago much more entertaining. It’s even mildly cathartic, nature’s fierce beast striking back against the corporate world that deformed them. The film is definitely on the monsters’ sides. Even if it also mines them for fear, in surprisingly scary scenes like Ralph taking the mercenaries apart in the woods. Or a decently tense opening devoted to Larry the Rat chasing an astronaut through a satellite.

The film’s extensive scenes of urban devastation are fun to watch, initially. George flips tanks into the air and tosses them back down. Liz crunches a fighter jet right as it passes between her jaws. The giant gator gets another cool stunt when she scales a skyscraper just to walk directly through it. There’s a definite glee to the film’s destruction, the giant but not-quite-Godzilla-scale creatures ripping buildings apart in a fun, cinematic way. Yet, much like Peyton’s “San Andreas,” the movie’s endless destruction eventually wares the audience down. The film peaks when George eats one of the bad guys and the monsters tear down the central skyscraper. Though the kaiju brawl that follows is inevitable, George and Liz recreating “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” we’ve had about as much gray, ash-sodden mayhem as we can take by that point. “Rampage” runs 107 minutes, when it probably should’ve tapped out at 90.

Still, it is a fun movie and the cast is certainly in on that fun. Dwayne Johnson has come a long way since “Doom.” In 2018, the man formerly known as the Rock is totally self-assured in his movie star charisma. David Okoye is a standard issue Johnson role, a hyper-capable and giant tough guy with a soft spot for animals and an endless supply of one-liners. He’s having a ball. (If you still doubt Mr. Johnson’s classic gaming credentials, he was also attached to an unrealized “Spy Hunter” movie for many years.) Jeffrey Dean Morgan is gloriously over-the-top as a Southern fried government agent that cracks most of the film’s jokes. Malin Ackerman and Jake Lacy play the blank-faced antagonists, on the script’s cartoonish level. Joe Manganiello is similarly hammy as the short-lived leader of the evil mercenaries. The only actor seemingly playing the material straight is Naomie Harris, as the scientist following Okoye around.

Likely because of the Rock’s status as the biggest movie star in the world and the global appeal of cinematic mass destruction, “Rampage” was a proper blockbuster. The film rode the same wave of revived interest in kaiju movies that “Pacific Rim” and 2014’s “Godzilla” reboot enjoyed. The film also held the dubious distinction of being the best reviewed video game movie on Rotten Tomatoes, a title it held until very recently. Pretty good for an adaptation of a thirty year old video most people had probably forgotten about. The kind of fun-dumb popcorn flick that doesn’t get made much anymore, “Rampage” is a good time if you’re in the mood for supremely silly chaos. [7/10]

VIDEO GAME MOVIE MONTH: Doom (2005)

While its hard to quantify these things, the original “Doom” truly is among video gaming's most influential titles. While the game didn't invent the first-person shooter, it popularized the concept to such a degree that games in that genre were originally called “Doom clones.” Not to mention the game's overall affect on gaming culture – modding, the controversy, so on and so forth – is hard to overstate. In 2004, “Doom 3” would push the somewhat dormant demon-slaying franchise into more of a survival horror orientated direction. The sequel was a huge success and, before it was even released, a cinematic adaptation entered development. 2005's “Doom,” however, would not replicate the game series' popularity. It came and went from theaters quickly and was soon forgotten. 

“Doom” is set around 2046, the filmmakers apparently believing humanity will successfully colonize Mars within the next twenty-six years. The Union Aerospace Corporation has discovered strange fossils of genetically enhanced humanoids near their Martian compound. The lessons learned from those fossils are soon clandestinely applied to humans. This results in an infectious virus sweeping through the compound, turning people already prone to violence into hideous monsters. A group of space marines are sent in to search for and rescue any survivors. Led by “Sarge,” the team is unprepared for the horrors that await them. Emotionally traumatized Sgt. John Grimm, nicknamed “Reaper,” emerges as the unlikely hero.

Despite “Doom's” prominent place in video game history, there's probably a good reason twelve years passed before a movie was made. The original “Doom” doesn't have much of a plot. Its story largely boils down to “A gateway to Hell is opened on Mars and then a bad-ass space marine kills every demon that pops out.” Sadly, screenwriters David Calaham and Wesley Strick expand on that concept in disappointing ways. All references to Hell and demons are removed, much of the series' identity and flavor going with it. This leaves us with another uninspired “Aliens” rip-off, about a group of overconfident space marines going into a facility and being killed off by the creatures there. The game's creature designs are largely discarded too, some of the monsters even looking like xenomorphs. It seems the first “Resident Evil” movie was an influence too, as there are similar scenes of tough dudes firing at zombies.

There's not much attempt to expand past “Aliens'” blueprint, save for mildly clever scenes involving high-tech doors or electrified walls. Director Andrzej Bartkowiak, who previous directed a trilogy of action films starring DMX, does not add much flair to the action scenes. “Doom” is visually a dark movie, far too many scenes devoted to people firing aimlessly into the dark or fumbling around in shadowy rooms. While there are a few acrobatic fight scenes, such as the closing brawl between the hero and villain, most of “Doom's” action is pretty forgettable...  Save for a brilliant moment, late in the film, where the camera assumes Reaper's POV. We are then treating to a thrilling, beautifully directed sequence of fighting monsters and blasting demons. As is “Doom” tradition, driving heavy metal blares on the soundtrack and there's even a chainsaw. This one scene is the only time “Doom” really comes to life or, indeed, feels much like its inspiration at all.

I'll admit, there is an attempt to deepen the material. Reaper's sister is the project's head scientist. The two grew up on Mars and a family tragedy occurred near the film's setting. This is an attempt to make the protagonist deeper that largely comes off as somewhat shallow, especially during a ham-fisted audio memory. On the other hand, the way the virus only mutates already violent people is an interesting premise. This leads to an mildly interesting switch-a-roo, concerning who the bad guy turns out to be. A smarter film might've been able to weave a point about how the military desensitizes people towards violence or macho toxicity from this concept. “Doom” isn't that smart or interesting, so the idea doesn't amount to much.

“Doom” was made fairly early into the film career of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. This was back when Johnson's incredible charm was too often shackled to flatly blustering bad-asses. So Sarge is a fairly one-note guy, even after his monster-y face-heel turn. Johnson's still growing acting skills are used to gruffly bark cliché military dialogue. Karl Urban actually attempts some acting as Reaper, trying to add some depth, but he frequently comes off as more confused than conflicted. (Rosamund Pike plays his sister, breathlessly delivering a lot of exposition.) A nice touch has each of the marines giving video game-like nicknames that describe their personalities. So the new-comer is 'The Kid,” the touch black guy is “Destroyer.” You get the idea. Of this lot, a smart-ass Richard Brake is the most entertaining as “Dean.”

“Doom” failed to recoup its budget at the box office, coming up just shy of its 60 million dollar expense. While you can maybe blame this on a number of things – the Rock still finding his footing as a blockbuster star, the movie coming long after “Doom's” peak popularity – I think the general quality of the film and the lack of the resemblance to the source material is the true culprit. A new “Doom” movie is scheduled to come out this year, being released direct-to-DVD. It says a lot about how forgettable this adaptation is that even that belated and low budget follow-up will be unconnected to this movie. [5/10]

DISASTER MOVIES MONTH: San Andreas (2015)

The disaster movie has not quite receded from the public's mind. The blockbuster market is primarily dominated by superhero movies and other forms of rebooted, sci-fi spectacle these days. In this world of high-tech distraction, just watching a city get shaken apart or blown away probably seems a little quint. Yet, when paired with the right A-list star or spiffy enough trailer, audiences will turn out for such films. Despite being as stock-parts as a disaster movie could be, so much so that it's practically a remake of “Earthquake,”  “San Andreas” managed to be a decent sized hit in 2015.

Ray Gaines is a rescue helicopter pilot, working in Los Angeles. He's very good at his job. He separated from his wife, Emma, when their first daughter died in a boating accident. Their second daughter, Blake, is heading to college in San Francisco. Emma is re-marrying a famous architect. This normal day is interrupted when a series of massive earthquake shakes through Nevada. The quakes only grow as they progress up the San Andreas fault line. The biggest earthquake on record – a 9.6 – absolutely decimates all of California. Through this chaos, Ray and Emma become determined to find Blake and ensure she's safe.

If watching a month of disaster movies have taught me anything, it's that most of these films have pacing problems. It's pretty common for there to be a half-hour or so devoted to developing our characters. After that, disaster strikes. Once the mayhem cools down, we have a slower second half, perhaps building to a smaller calamity. “San Andreas” tries to get around these frequent issues by filling the film with constant calamity. A large earthquake destroying the Hoover Dam is just the beginning. A series of successively bigger earthquakes shake through the state of California, destroying each of its biggest cities. Cue a shit ton of buildings shaking, falling over, and collapsing. And, after that, the tidal waves strike!

From the perspective of navigating the genre's usual pacing problems, this is pretty clever. Yet this approach, of the film constantly topping itself with even bigger destruction, introduces problems of its own. Director Brad Peyton and his effects crew do create some memorable set pieces. Carla Gugino trying to escape a skyscraper as he falls down around her, eventually running across the roof to Johnson's helicopter, is suitably tense. A later scene has the parents racing a boat up a tidal wave, just avoiding collision with a massive freighter. That's ridiculous but pretty cool, especially when shipping crates slide across the Golden Gate Bridge. However, “San Andreas'” non-stop devastation causes few of the set-pieces to stand out. The film borders on the repetitive, maybe even the exhausting, at times.

“San Andreas” is unapologetic about the cliches it utilizes. There's an expert delivering grim warnings. A minor character sacrifices himself to save a child. The stock element the movie leans on the hardest is an estranged couple reconciling through the disaster. Carla and Dwayne confront the pain that led to their split-up and forgive each other. She realizes that her current boyfriend is an asshole. By saving their living daughter, they symbolically save their deceased one. It's routine stuff. However, the charms of Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino go a long way. The two have great chemistry together, joking and chatting in a believable fashion. The film emphasizes their sense of adventure over the destruction they see, such as when they intentionally crash a copter or make a daring escape via parachute. It's not exactly fresh but it is a lot of fun.

I'm not sure if “San Andreas'” cast quite classifies as star-studded. The Rock is, of course, a huge star. Paul Giametti, beloved and widely recognized, appears as the geologist who predicts the worse? Is Gugino, beloved character actress though she might be, a star? What about Ioan Gruffudd, as the new boyfriend who is punished for unworthiness? His leading man career never really took off, even after playing Mister Fantastic. Alexandra Daddario, who is a good choice to play Gugino's daughter, is more up-and-comer than full-blown star. (Though the movie does feature a random appearance from a pop star, Kylie Minogue which seems in keeping with the all-star cast tradition.) Either way, the supporting cast is very likable. Daddario is gorgeous and believable as a young but tough girl. Hugo Johnson-Burt is down-to-Earth as the guy who accompanies her while Art Parkinson is never obnoxious as his little brother.

“San Andreas” gets a lot out of its memorable images. Those shots of the California skyline literally rippling are so cool, the film repeats them several times. The cast, Johnson and his immense shoulders, carry much of the movie too. Otherwise, “San Andreas” is a destruction-filled disaster flick that doesn't bring anything special to the table. It was successful enough that a sequel entitled “Ring of Fire” is supposedly in development. Watching the Rock fight a volcano will probably be pretty fun but part two will hopefully – but not likely – be not so excessive that it becomes deafening. [6/10]

[THE DISASTER MOVIE CHECKLIST: 7 outta 10]
[] Awards Bait Ballad
[X] Corrupt or Incompetent Authority Figures
[X] Destruction of Famous Landmarks
[X] Grim Predictions
[] Group In-Fighting
[X] Heroic Sacrifices
[X] Massive Collateral Damage or Explosions
[X] Pets or Kids are Imperiled but Survive
[X] Romantic Couple Resolves Problems
[] Star-Studded Cast