Volcano
You've been hearing about it for a few months now, and you may have also heard that it was pushed forward to strike the confliction between the previous volcano movie, Dante's Peak. And, finally, it has arrived. Volcano is the second volcano movie to be released this year, and hopefully it will be the last. The producers of Volcano are probably thankful that their movie was pushed ahead because Dante's Peak opened amid the Star Wars re-release. Because of that, expect to see Volcano make more money than its predecessor did.
But my question is: should Volcano have been the one to be pushed forward? No reviewer can't help but compare the two movies because they are both related to each other. I will try and avoid comparing the two as much as possible, but it's destined to be compared. Walking into Volcano, I was expecting a thrilling ride, mixed with good performances and a good story. What did I get? I got a thrilling ride, mixed with good performances. What about the story? Volcano begins with a terrific premise which made it seem more original than Dante's Peak: signs of a volcanic eruption are present under the streets of L.A., and only the city's best seismologist (Anne Heche) knows about it. She tries to tell people, but everyone thinks that the idea is so ludicrous that they don't believe her.
This makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't believe her if she told me that there was a volcano under Los Angeles. But from the point where the volcano actually shows its ugly face (although, there really is no volcano up until the last few seconds of the film), the movie takes a turn downward. In fact, its originality drops so fast that instead of holding my interest, I took more interest in spotting the different cliches used (which I don't normally do during an action film). Of those cliches I spotted were the dog saved at the last second, the seismologist who tries to warn people, the people killed and other various warning signs, and many more.
Among all the bad things about Volcano, are several good and interesting aspects. The characters are mostly interesting, especially Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones) and the seismologist, Dr. Amy Barnes, and the actors do what they can with the script they are provided. In fact, they make it better than what it should have been. And, for the most part, the special effects are okay, but in no comparison to Dante's Peak's effects. The lava rolling down the street looks as realistic as can be imagined, but as it rolls down a tunnel and bursts from the ground and into the air, the effects look like... effects. And one minor thing that really bothered me was when the statue in the La Brea Tar Pits slowly melts away, and no one notices. Even small things like that can break a movie.
While thinking back about this film, I question whether I gave it too high of a star rating. However, to defend the film, I have to credit it for some of its daring moments, the most memorable for me was when the leader of a Subway rescue team sacrifices himself to save an engineer. It was a cool effect, and one I had never seen before. And during the film, I was entertained, for the most part. Unfortunately, just when I was being drawn in and almost believing everything going on, the writers would throw in another plot device or stupid trick to bring me back to reality. I mean, can you really barricade a river of molten lava using cement barricades?
Most of the blame I put on the director. Mike Jackson, whom I have never heard of before, has done an amateurish job of directing. Most of the action is blurred to the point of confusion, and even sometimes it is shown in slow motion which halts the believability dead in its tracks. However, the writers also must carry the blame along with Jackson. Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray have put together a formulaic screenplay which ruined a perfect premise. One shot of this film sums up the writing of Volcano, and that involves the engineer reading a book titled, "How To Write a Screenplay" (or whatever the book was called).
Volcano is rated PG-13, although with some of the violence and gruesome deaths, I wonder if the MPAA was being nice to them. There is plenty of violence, and gore, which include burned victims and charred remains, along with language. As mentioned above, Dante's Peak came out during the Star Wars release, but I wonder if they were the ones who got the better deal. They may have earned less money, but it is much better than Volcano. Perhaps it's because Dante's Peak seemed more original when it came out. Still, I would suggest you check out Volcano's predecessor instead of Volcano.