Pssst, want to check out Volcano in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 1997
- Runtime
- 104 min.
- Director
- Mick Jackson
- Genres
- Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- Rating *
- 5.5
- Votes *
- 65,477
- Checks
- 4,194
- Favs
- 61
- Dislikes
- 179
- Favs/checks
- 1.5% (1:69)
- Favs/dislikes
- 1:3
Top comments
-
dbrgss
Not a bad movie.. but I liked its competitor movie better. Dante's Peak was better written and more fun. 12 years 3 months ago -
Siskoid
I remember mocking Volcano when trailers were running on TV for showing lava seeping out of the ground, like, that's NOT a volcano. Well, there IS an actual volcano in it, but this is also a movie where the citizens of Los Angeles don't know the word "magma", so... I'm not sure the film makers have either, as the science is out to lunch on this one, but once the absurd set-up is done, we get to the pretty engaging business of figuring out a city might actually deal with such a situation. If Volcano succeeds, it's largely due to its magnetic cast. Tommy Lee Jones is dependable as the dad caught between having to resolve the situation and get back to his daughter (a teenage Gavy Hoffmann motivated by disaster movie tropes to wander where she shouldn't, but she gets a dose of her own medicine when a smaller kid does the same on her watch). Seismologist Anne Heche. Don Cheadle. Jacqueline Kim and Keith David who deserved more to do... The effects are good, except those weird reverse shots which make no sense. Interesting as well how news coverage is used throughout, not just as inserts or stuff on screens, but as soundtrack. It gives Volcano an immediate, ripped from the headlines feel. However, I can't fathom the anti-racism/classism message they have running under this (ha!) - feels so tacked on. I'm reminded of the ending of Starship Troopers ("They're afraid!"), which was PARODY. 10 months 1 week ago -
