VOLCANO
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
Volcano (1997) *** out of ***** - Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Don Cheadle, Gaby Hoffmann, David Keith. Written by Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray. Directed by: Mick Jackson. Running Time: 105 minutes.
When I reviewed "Dante's Peak", I made the comment that "Volcano" would easily be the best of this year's two volcano flicks. The problem with "Dante's Peak" is that it basically boiled down to this:
Volcano Expert: "See that huge volcano looming behind your town? Well, It's going to erupt. I should know, I'm an expert."
Townsfolk: "Expert-schmexpert. We don't buy it and we ain't leaving."
Moments later...
Townsfolk: "Aaaaaaaaaah! The volcano's erupting! He was right! We're idiots! Ow, I'm on fire!"
While in "Volcano", just the premise alone is more intelligent than anything in "Dante's Peak". An earthquake in Los Angeles causes a volcano to form from the La Brae Tar Pits, which sends ash, fireballs, and rivers of lava out to threaten the fine citizens of L.A. And anything about the destruction of Los Angeles is okay in my book.
Tommy Lee Jones stars as Mike Roark, the chief of operations at Los Angeles' Office of Emergency Management (OEM). While investigating some minor earthquake activity, he becomes suspicious of some strange happenings in the tunnels beneath the city. Seems as though intense heat has killed some workers there.
Enter geologist Amy Barnes (Heche), a pretty blonde whom you know is going to end up with Tommy Lee Jones in the end. She warns of the possibilites of volcanic activity beneath the city caused by the friction of the earth's plates. People hearing this, as in "Dante's Peak" dismiss it, but unlike "Dante's Peak", the film wastes no time in proving her right. Soon the city is in flames and a river of lava is flowing down Wilshire Blvd.
Now, I fully admit that "Volcano" is pure fluff, and cliches are thrown into our faces every few seconds. For example, you've got the racist cop who puts aside his feelings to help the same people he has contempt for. You've got the "dog in peril" scene. Countless people have the line "Get out of here! Save yourself!" And there's plenty of scenes where the characters get to run in slow motion, racing to save a person in danger. Even at the end of the film, a black police officer (Keith) holds a small boy and asks if he can see his mother. Since everyone is covered in gray volcanic ash, the boy innocently relpies "Everyone looks the same." Awww....
Despite it's ridiculousness though, I cannot deny that "Volcano" is entertaining. The initial eruption scene especially. And while I do admit that just about everything is a cliche, what else can you really do? I mean, sure a river of lava threatening the very hospital where all the injured are staying is a cliche, but what else are you going to do? If this were actually to happen and you were fighting to save the hospital, who you hold back because what's happening is a cliche? In the days after, would you criticize the volcano for behaving in a cliched manner? That's how you make the story compelling enough for us, the audience, to care about the people trying to prevent the disaster. If the river of lava was flowing towards gangland or a prison, would we care? Nope. Go lava!
Tommy Lee Jones adds class to the film, even though his character is just a slight variation of his character from "The Fugitive". The surprise of the film is the special effects, which to me were entirely convincing, and surprisingly were more believable than anything any of the characters said or did.
I found it pretty funny that after the lava has finally been diverted, that an ironic act of nature occurs as heavy rain starts to fall. "Mother Nature, could you help us out with some rain to stop the lava?" "No, but I'll make it rain as soon as you're successful, which will wash all that gray ash off you so your races will be clear again and so you can return to raping, mugging, and murdering one another in your homes, streets, and freeways." And even though, in the end, the threat of an active volcano is just another in a long list of potential disasters threatening the people in California, I guarantee you that NO ONE would get the message and move away!
When "Volcano" was all over, I was amazed that the whole movie went by and no one thought to use Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." as a joke, however an obvious and pathetic one. But then the end credits rolled... [PG-13]
-- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, film related links, and reader's reviews.
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