VOLCANO Reviewed by Pierce Dalton 2 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Volcano blows its wad way too early.
Even before the opening credits are done, we have seen ominous rumbling underground and an earthquake that rocks Los Angeles.
Plus, the film isn't very believable, as disaster films should be.
Tommy Lee Jones stars as an ex-EMS who is called back into action (a la Sly Stallon's character in Daylight [1996] ) when motlen rock starts pouring out of the Lar Brea Tar Pits.
Anne Heche is also on board as a scientist, and, lo, she is pretty darn wonderful. And very believable. So is Jones, who is always great. He'd make paint drying look exciting.
The action is the only real drawback in the film.
It's too dramatic and nonstop. Not that volcanoes aren't dramatic. Volcano just trys too hard to extend its action from one scene to the next.
It is said Volcano cost a lot more than Dante's Peak, another volcano film that came out about two months before. Peak, which I thought was a thrilling, intelligent, stunningly scary film, looks very realistic and was more apt in the brains department.
Volcano looks cheap and not very sure of itself.
Enjoyable turf, it looks like a poor man's Irwin Allen.
1999 (c) Quick Flick Pix pierce80@aol.com
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