WHAT merit you might find in this not-too-distant futurist disaster movie rests in its depiction of the cataclysm that would follow the San Andreas Fault releasing its grip on California with, not surprisingly, the major focus on San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Flying a rescue helo for the LA Fire Department is Ray (Dwayne Johnson) whose wife Emma (Carla Gugino) left him when he became morose and taciturn after their younger daughter drowned.

Architect Daniel (Ioan Griffud) in whose firm their older daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) wants to work has moved in on Emma.  British graduate engineer Ben (Hugo Johnson-Burt) is having an interview at Daniel’s firm.  Ben’s younger brother Ollie (Art Parkinson) waits in the reception lobby.

And there you have the full complement of main characters whom writer Carlton Cuse has given to director Brad Peyton to guide through calamity in a family story that approaches the pinnacle of achievement for plot triteness and dialogue cliché, as they face risks from tsunami to a helo with in-flight gearbox failure and more.

In a laboratory at UC Berkeley, seismic expert Lawrence is tracking the progress of the quake and hijacking the media to warn all those people to get somewhere, anywhere, else.  Actor Paul Giamatti once again reminds us that while a movie and his role in it may be duff, his performance never is.

At Palace Electric, Dendy, Capitol 6 and Hoyts