You know what’s awesome? Cheesy, over-the-top disaster movies. Know what’s even better? Having an actual scientist in the audience telling everyone, point-by-point, exactly how cheesy and over-the-top the movie is. USGS seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones attended the San Andreas premiere in Hollywood on Tuesday night, and her tweets during the movie were priceless.
If you’ve managed to miss the wall-to-wall advertising lately, San Andreas is a film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, in which a major earthquake hits the San Andreas Fault and destroys most of California. Johnson’s character searches madly for his lost daughter while skyscrapers topple like trees, Santa Monica slides into the ocean and a massive tsunami takes out the Golden Gate Bridge.
Dr. Jones showed her credentials right from the start, pointing out the exaggerated science and outlandish special effects.
First big howler. San Andreas the movie pretends that California has a subduction zone. We can only have a M8.2
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
If seismologists could actually predict EQs, we’d all be much richer. Too bad that part of San Andreas isn’t real… — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
We expect serious damage to 1 in every 16 buildings in a real San Andreas EQ. The movie damage over the top.
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
Recognizing water draw down as sign of tsunami is good. However tsunami from San Andreas is impossible. Now we are in fantasy territory — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
OMG! A chasm? If the fault could open up, there’d be no friction. With no friction, there’d be no earthquake — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
However, it sounds like San Andreas does get a few details sort of right:
I like that the aftershocks keep on hitting and cause more damage. That’s the reality of Big EQs — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
The human reality of EQs. You are probably going to be rescued by your neighbor- or the cute guy you just met — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
Great emotional message – not knowing if your family is ok is hard. Do you have a family communication plan? — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
In the end, Dr. Jones decided that the movie could at least persuade people to come up with a plan of action in the event of a real, scientifically-feasible quake.
Now people fall trying to run but they run anyway. I guess only the seismologists know Drop Cover Hold On — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
The competent young woman knows what to do! And wins over the guys. Advertising for emergency training — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
Bottom line: don’t learn seismology from #SanAndreas but maybe it will inspire people to take Community Emergency Response Training — Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
We can’t wait for this movie. Can you wait for this movie? Tell us in the comments, and don’t forget to share!
