https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLpeGUGVLfM
I was fairly ebullient in my praise of San Andreas, a movie that depicts The Rock tandem skydiving into AT&T park with his ex-wife to save his daughter from an Earthquake, and in the process repair his marriage and avenge his other daughter’s tragic whitewater rafting death. But aside from the fact that The Rock and Alexandra Daddario are only 14 years apart in real life, it turns out the film is full of scientific inaccuracies. Son of a bitch.
Dr. Lucy Jones, a USGS (United States Geological Survey) seismologist took to twitter to set the record straight:
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
First big safety message- if the shaking is bad enough to damage a dam you won't be able to run
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
The predictions aren't real but EQ triggering is real. A California EQ M7.3 in 1992 triggered a M5.7 in Nevada the next day
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
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
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
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
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
God dammit, Hollywood. I wanted to watch The Rock drive different vehicles as Alexandra Daddario’s clothes gradually fell off, but not like this, man. Not like this.
Speaking of which, in the midst of her scientific quibbles, Dr. Jones did save some praise for Ms. Daddario’s character:
The competent young woman knows what to do! And wins over the guys. Advertising for emergency training
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
Competence makes the girl sexy! That's a new message i can applaud!
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) May 27, 2015
Competence in a woman is absolutely sexy. And the effect is quadrupled when the woman has perfect breasts and eyes of a color that doesn’t exist in nature. As a seismologist, I’m surprised she didn’t know that.