Things to love:
The story arc for the main characters is at least about
a broken family coming back together.
The budding romance for the young characters is handled
with rare modesty and innocence, and includes the younger brother remarking
that “Mum’s gonna love her!” Recognition
that romantic relationships involve entire families; wow!
A father character who is committed to will the good of
his wife and daughter, even if that doesn’t include himself as part of the
picture.
A scientist who—as the vast majority of real-life scientists
do—clearly believes in God, and—as perhaps not nearly enough of them do—is not
ashamed to express these beliefs, wishing “God be with” some people who will
shortly be in great danger, and—as the “big one” starts shaking up the world—shouting
“Pray for the people of San Francisco!”
A female lead (Carla Gugina) who, despite being absolutely
beautiful, manages to be dressed both practically (I made careful note of her
footwear, after recently seeing “Jurassic World” and being endlessly distracted
by these issues in that) as well as reasonably modestly, throughout the
disaster (amazing how gorgeous leading ladies always seem to lose their
clothing in disasters. . . ). Chalk up
two points for letting the adventure be the interest of the story, and letting
the actors “sell” the story, rather than their bodies.
“The Rock’s” astonishing smile.
Things to lament:
The tattoos!
Dear God in heaven, all the mutilated skin! Lord save our children.
To add to the list of “Things to Love” about this movie:
ReplyDeleteHero dad Johnson saves his family (and a number of others) without ever once shooting anybody. He does resort to violence once—a single knockout punch to a looter who was holding a gun to his head—but I believe that is the only incident in which he uses that formidable physique for anything other than rescuing others.
Also, he has apparently remained faithful to his marriage vows, even in the face of his wife’s clear violation of them.