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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Retrospective: Volcano (1997)
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| Dragan Antulov |
 Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 4:30 pm |
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VOLCANO (1997)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2003
Feature films are by definition distortion of reality, but sometimes the
scale of such distortion borders on insulting viewers' intelligence.
Hollywood movies tend to distort reality by pandering to Los
Angeles local patriotism by showing that all the most important or
most attractive events imaginable have to take place in their beloved
city, regardless of their plausibility. VOLCANO, 1997 disaster film
directed by Mick Jackson, is one of the more obvious examples.
The plot, as the title suggests, deals with volcanic eruption. In the
film this eruption takes place in rather unlikely place - minor
earthquake leads to lava bursts from La Brea Tar Pits. Suddenly, the
city of Los Angeles is threatened by unstoppable lava flow that
destroys anything in its path. Mike Roark (played by Tommy Lee
Jones), dedicated director of Los Angeles Emergency Management
Board, together with seismologist Dr. Amy Barnes (played by Anne
Heche) must think quickly how to prevent impending catastrophe.
Volcanic eruption in Los Angeles might look like a ludicrous idea for
Hollywood blockbuster, but it is quite understandable when we
consider the 1990s practice of Hollywood studios releasing rival
projects with similar themes. VOLCANO was nothing more than 20th
Century Fox's idea of matching another's volcano movie - DANTE'S
PEAK - with its own, presumably more attractive to the audience.
DANTE'S PEAK had plot more grounded to reality - volcano
destroying isolated mountain community with poison gases and ash
- but it proved not to be as spectacular as rivers of lava destroying
major American metropolis.
Setting VOLCANO in Los Angeles was good thing for this film,
because screenwriter Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray had
opportunity to fill the otherwise thin plot with many inside jokes.
The special effects are impressive and the acting by Jones and Heche
is good, although their roles didn't require much skill or inspiration.
Because of that VOLCANO, if not taken seriously (and director and
screenwriters obviously didn't), functions like cheap but effective
entertainment, even when burdened by annoying Hollywood cliches
(dog in peril, protagonist having rebel teenage daughter that must be
rescued etc.). At the end the generally positive impression of
VOLCANO would be improved by simple but powerful humanistic
message. Because of that, VOLCANO could be recommended as
something more than cheap exploitation of 1990s movie trends.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
Review written on October 14th 2003
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Films Critics Society
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X-RAMR-ID: 36008
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1206816
X-RT-TitleID: 1076267
X-RT-AuthorID: 1307
X-RT-RatingText: 5/10 |
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