Volcano

Director:Mick Jackson
Screenplay:Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray
Story:Jerome Armstrong
Starring:Tommy Lee Jones, Ann Heche, Don Cheadle and Gaby Hoffman

John's Review

To say this film was bad would be an understatment. I have read quite a few opinions on this film and they all pretty much lean towards the same thing, they didn't really like it. There were the few that said it was the best special effects laden film they'd ever seen, the lava was so real. Well, gee, that's great. Special Effects don't make a movie, the make a documentary (see Special Effects: Anything Can Happen review) Then there are those that touted the campiness and cheesiness of the film and say it was a classic (read the EW review). Me, I go to the theater to be entertained...I was not amused.

The premise behind the story is this. A volcano has erupted under L.A. and the lava is moving down Wilshire. Yay. Are you bored yet? So now we introduce the boring two..no, one dimensional characters. Jones plays the head of the Office of Emergency Management, Heche a Geologist, Cheadle, Jones' assistant and Hoffman as Jones' daughter. O.K., now you've been introduced. The plot is so preposterous it's, laughable. The characters are so pathetic, they're .. well, frankly they're pathetic. The visuals are o.k., I wouldn't say there great they're mediocre, but not enough to carry the film.

While wathcing this movie, I had several questions, the first is this, Just what the hell is a 'lava bomb'? The movie would have you believe that it was a ball of molten lava that exploded when it came in contact with something. Speaking of blowing up, when do buildings and other objects blow up when touched by fire? Strangley enough, lava, by force of will alone can change speed from very slow to a virtual sprint, very unusual. These are only a few of the questions I have, the rest would fill this entire page.

The only thing I did enjoy, was the music. I was thoroughly enraptured by the musical score. Overall I would suggest possibly renting this one, but only if nothing else is available.

Grade: D-

Werner's Review

This movie was BAD (I mean Dante's Peak BAD). Unlike Dante's Peak which tried to make a very visible mountain menacing, this movie tries the other Disaster movie plot device of making mother nature seem sneaky in the way that a disaster can spread (See Earthquake for what I am talking about). While the overall plot idea behind this movie was not bad (volcano showing up in the middle of a metropolitian area and how the people try to control the disaster that ensues), the execution of this movie was outright dreadful. I really wish Hollywood would take a moment to analyze all of the great Disaster movies of the 1970's and the movie "Jaws" since these seem to be the two inspirations for the crap that we are seeing today. All of those movies used STORYTELLING and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT to move the plot along. Today, Hollywood seems to be in love with CGI's to tell a story. Until the people out there realize that special effects will never out do a well told story, we will have to suffer through movies like "Volcano".

Plot:

For what its worth, Tommy Lee Jones is the head of the Office of Emergency Managment in LA. This office monitors the city and has control over all of the city's resources should a disaster of any magnitude occur. It should be pointed out that Mr. Jones is a single parent of a bratty daughter who moved out to LA after working in the flood ravaged mid-west. Anyway, back to the plot. After an early morning earthquake, we find out that a fisher has opened up in the middle of LA that leads directly to the earth's molten core. This fisher is causing lava to bubble up to the surface at various times throughout the beginning of the movie. It is at one of these times that a number of utility workers are killed by the lava which causes Mr. Jones to believe that something fishy is going on. After investigating the cause of the deaths on his own, Mr. Jones realizes that he needs to call in a geologist to help out with the problem. Enter Ms. Heche in the Richard Dryfuss role. She realizes that something major is about to go down in the middle of LA but she is not quite sure what yet. When she loses a co-worker in the fisher, she realizes immediately that a volcano is about to form in the middle of downtown LA.

Enter Act II of this fun little play. An earthquake some 60 miles away sets off the chain reaction that causes the volcano to form. Lava starts to spew out of the LaBrea Tar Pits and down Wilshire Boulevard. This lava (equipted with "lava bombs"???) starts to reak havoc in downtown LA as it winds up destroying everything and everybody in its path. Mr. Jones arrives on the scene and attempts to control the disaster by creating a dam in the middle of the street to stop the lava flow. He eventually gets enough man power and equipment to create his damn so as to stop the lava on Wilshire Boulevard.

Enter Act III. This is one smart volcano. Ms. Heche realizes that just because they stopped the lava on Wilshire does not mean that the danger is passed. Now the lava is flowing down the newly created LA subway tunnels and is heading towards the only hospital in the area where everyone is located. Once again, Mr. Jones must come up with a way to defeat the lava flow in order to save his precious city. This he does and we all live happily ever after.

The Good:

Not much is really good about this film. The special effects were alright but once you see red hot lava you don't need to see it again.

Don Cheadle was outstanding. I wished that he had been given the Tommy Lee Jones role since he seemed to fit the part of a man caught in an unusual situation.

The Bad:

Just about everything else in this movie. Other than the black actor mentioned above, the acting done by everyone else was sub-par. Tommy Lee Jones was woefully miscased as the lead in this movie and Anne Heche was totally underutalized as the movie went on.

The plot of the movie was dreadful. No character development existed in this movie at all. I never once cared for any of the characters so it did not matter to me if they lived or died. Also, the plot made up science as it went along. First the lava is hot enough to melt a plastic containment suit then it winds up being cool enough so that people can stand next to it or be swung on a latter over it. In other parts the lave moves at blinding speed while later on it seems to speed up or slow down at will. Unbeknownst to me, two thirds of LA is made up of combustible materials since everything the lava touched exploded (including trees!!!!!!) These plot holes were extremely glareing thoughout the movie and distracted me by how ludicrous they were.

The dialogue was just plain aweful. It told us nothing about the characters and was way too formula to be worth anything. Also, it tended to be demeaning in parts of the film. Case in point, Ms. Heche winds up being invaluable to Tommy Lee Jones throughout the movie however when the time comes to stop the lava at the end she asks if she can help and he says "Yes, go find my daughter." Definitely not a year of the woman type of film.

The attempt to make this a morality play about the racism in the world and how people need to work together to get beyond it was just way to stupid for my taste. During the middle of the disaster, a white cop arrests a black man just because he is asking for help. Yeah right, lets waste time arresting people while the lava is bearing down on us. Makes sense to me. And the end of the movie was so sappy with its "we are all the same down under" sentiment that it made me want to wretch.

Overall:

This movie is definely not worth seeing. If one should wind up seeing it however, turn it into a MST3K experience and start making fun of the movie at all of its stupid parts (there are many so you won't run out of material). That is the only way anyone will be able to get through this movie without wanting to get up and leave (or turn it off if you are renting it.)

Grade: D-
 
 

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