“I’m just doing my job.”
In the opening scene of San Andreas, protagonist Ray Gaines is flying an LAFD air rescue helicopter to the site of a stranded driver in the San Fernando Valley. Alongside two other rescue workers, Ray is transporting a journalist and her camera operator. While the two rescue workers are happy to make jokes in response to the reporter's questions, Ray is less talkative. When asked about the connection between his time in Afghanistan with the military and his current rescue work, Ray simply says he's just doing his job. The terse response reveals both the seriousness with which Ray undertakes his work and the reticence that characterizes him. As the film progresses, the audience will learn that his tendency to shut others out when difficult subjects arise led to the dissolution of his marriage.
“It’s not a matter of if, but when.”
In the scene that introduces seismologist Dr. Lawrence Hayes, the professor and researcher finishes a lecture about the history of earthquakes. When discussing the San Andreas Fault, a tectonic boundary that spans the length of California, Hayes says it is well overdue for a once-in-a-century earthquake. Although he is still developing technology that can accurately predict earthquakes, Hayes says with an ominous certainty that there is no question of a major earthquake rocking California. The only question is when it will strike—a warning that foreshadows the disaster at the center of the film.
"Who should we call?"
"Everybody."
After surviving an earthquake at the Hoover Dam, Hayes returns to his seismology lab at Caltech and sits down with a journalist to discuss his findings. Research assistants suddenly rush in to inform Hayes of seismic activity along the San Andreas Fault. Hayes realizes in that moment that the Nevada earthquake was a precursor to a greater earthquake soon to come. The scene ends on this exchange of dialogue in which Dr. Hayes tries to convey the severity of what's to come.
"I'm Blake. No—I'm Ben."
When Ben spills coffee on himself, Blake offers him a napkin from her purse. She introduces herself, and Ben replies by saying his name is also Blake. In this charming exchange, Ben reveals his nervousness when speaking to Blake, a strikingly beautiful woman who Ben just saw walking in with Daniel, the man who owns the company for which Ben hopes to work.
"You left my daughter. If you’re not already dead, I’m going to fucking kill you."
"Attagirl."
When Blake phones Ray and Emma, she tells her mother that Daniel abandoned her while she was trapped in his car. Had it not been for Ben and Ollie, Blake would have died. After the call ends, Emma promptly phones Daniel's voicemail and leaves the short message quoted. Ray is pleased to hear Emma defend their daughter and denounce the man who has been competing for Emma's affection. The moment is significant because it shows the beginning of Emma rejecting Daniel for being dishonorable and remembering how Ray always risks his life to help others.
"You will feel it on the East Coast."
When Hayes realizes that an earthquake is going to strike coastal California, he rushes to the Caltech media lab so he can hack into national news broadcasts and transmit a warning for people to flee San Francisco. To emphasize the severity of the earthquake his models predict, Hayes says that people will feel its power across the continent. Hayes uses these dramatic terms to ensure people listen to his warning and get to safety immediately.
“It’s been a while since I got you to second base.”
When Ray and Emma fly over San Francisco, Ray sees there isn't a safe place to land. He straps Emma into a tandem parachute and they leap from the plane, sailing down to the middle of AT&T Park stadium. The couple sets down in the baseball diamond, and Ray makes a pun, joking that it has been a while since he got her to second base. This reference to their sexual history is significant because it shows the couple's growing familiarity as they reconcile.
“You just need to get up against something sturdy.”
When another earthquake rocks San Francisco, Ray and Emma rush people to safety from falling buildings by making them huddle against the outer stadium wall of AT&T Park. When the shaking stops and the strangers look around to see that Ray was right, one of them asks how he knew where to stand to stay safe. Based on her reaction, Emma interprets Ray's reply—to get up against something sturdy—as having a metaphorical double meaning: To get through life, Ray anchors himself to an unwavering determination and sense of responsibility.
“It’s more like she was there for us.”
In the film's final scene, the survivors stand together and watch the sun set over the ruined Golden Gate Bridge. Emma thanks Ben and Ollie for being there for Blake during the disaster. Ben corrects her, admitting that she helped them survive more than they helped her. The line is significant because it speaks to the major theme of cooperation. Without the boys' help, Blake wouldn't have escaped the crushed car; without Blake's help, the boys would have been unable to navigate the chaos and destruction. But with each other's help, they all survived.
"What now?"
"We rebuild."
This exchange is the final line of dialogue in the film. While watching an American flag unfurl over the wrecked Golden Gate Bridge, the surviving characters of San Andreas consider what lies ahead of them. Despite the chaos that has ensued, the film ends on a resolute, optimistic note as the characters set out to recover from the earthquakes and the tsunami. Rather than succumb to the grief of what has been lost, they will band together and rebuild what has been destroyed.
