YMMV / San Andreas

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Daniel: Was he a sincerely Nice Guy, willing to even compromise for the sake of Ray and Blake's father/daughter relationship, who panicked after nearly being killed in an aftershock and simply resorted to self-preservation, or was he a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing from the beginning and the earthquake simply made him show his true colors?
• Designated Hero: In a time of unprecedented disaster and when people needed him the most, Ray abandons his job as a rescue pilot, steals a helicopter and goes to a completely different place to where he was ordered... all to save his ex-wife. In doing so, he condemned the dozens of people he could've saved (which again, was his job) to a horrible death.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In 2008, Dwayne Johnson did this trailer for the fake disaster movie featured in the Disaster! ride at Universal Studios Orlando. Now, in 2015, he's pretty much done that exact movie for real.
  • As mentioned under Memetic Mutation, it was a common joke for people to reference Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas when talking about this movie, even though it had nothing to do with the game. The joke became funnier two years later when this film's director (Brad Peyton) and Dwayne Johnson teamed up again for another film that actually is based on a video game.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Raise your hand if you give two hoots about the actual characters, and aren't here just for the Disaster Porn.
• Like You Would Really Do It: The film really, really tries to get the viewer to believe that Blake isn't going to spring back to life following her near-drowning.
• Memetic Mutation: It's common for people to reference Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on comments related to the film. The most common joke is that this is what happens when CJ doesn't follow the damn train.
• Moment of Awesome: The heroes' powerboat and the other boats riding over the Tsunami's crest. What makes this all the more awesome is the fact that several yachts also make it over the top, something which is almost impossible to do in real life.
• Narm:
  • The car flipping down a hill in the beginning is unintentionally hilarious to watch; instead of barrel-rolling, it goes end over end, and the CGI is quite obvious (which is strange because the majority of the film's effects are quite good).
  • The one-thing-after-another happening to Emma in the building and then the helicopter over LA is hard not to laugh at.
    • Unless you were cringing at all the Cruel and Unusual Death the earthquake causes.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The sheer devastation caused by the quake almost rivals that of the crustal displacement of California in 2012, with the ground undulating and everything falling apart as if held together by cheap glue.
  • Every Cruel and Unusual Death counts.
  • The building that was ripped in half.
  • The tsunami scene. Just when you think everything's over, it gets much worse.
• Tear Jerker: During the tsunami scene, as people are running en masse from the Giant Wall of Watery Doom, an old couple sees it and tearfully hugs, insinuating that they physically cannot run (or realize it's futile). Not to mention the fate of the thousands of other people on the Golden Gate bridge, who are trapped as a cargo tanker smashes into it and bisects it, destroying the bridge and sending hundreds of cars plunging into the ocean.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Ray's rescue team from the opening. They were Put on a Bus to go deal with rescue at the Hoover Dam, and never got a chance to shine outside of that one scene. It becomes Fridge Horror when you realize the guy who'd gotten his arm stuck under the crashed car probably died when the L.A. hospital in which his injury was being treated collapsed on him.

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