"San Andreas" - Review

There has long been ridiculous rumors and predictions about the entire state of California detaching from the rest of the United States as the result of a massive earthquake. The reason some scientists have backed this theory up, is because California has several active faults throughout the state which produce large earthquakes. The most active faults are the San Jacinto Fault and the San Andreas Fault located in Southern California.They form tectonic plates between the Pacific ocean and the North American boundaries.

So there really is a "San Andreas" fault, but it would take a catastrophic series of earthquakes.registering over 8.0 on the Richter scale to cause the type of damage seen in the movie. The largest earthquake in California history was a 7.9 magnitude back in 1857 in Fort Tejon. That earthquake did indeed rupture the San Andreas Fault from Parkfield to Wrightwood (a distance of 225 miles!) However, the most destructive earthquake in California history was in 1906 in San Francisco. That earthquake registered at a 7.8  and ended up killing more than 3,000 people and ruptured the northern part of the San Andreas Fault, all the way from San Juan Bautista to Cape Mendocino (a distance of 296 miles).

So, the plot of the movie is actually plausible, but still not very probable. It's been over 100 years since the San Andreas fault caused an earthquake of that magnitude, and California still hasn't broken off from the rest of the U.S.to become independent yet. Still, it was a pretty good movie with great CGI graphics and nail-biting suspense. Plus I think Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is actually a good actor.... and he's gigantic. The movie also stars Paul Giomatti and my dream girl, Alexandra Daddario. The movie is pretty cheesy, so I give "San Andreas" a 6 /10.