Volcano is a film about a volcano that forms and erupts underneath Los Angeles.
Three months after Dante’s Peak’s release, Volcano was churned out by 20th Century Fox. Gotta get some of that sweet volcanic disaster movie money. Volcano was directed by Mick Jackson, who’s claim to fame is directing The Bodyguard. It was co-written by Billy Ray, who has actually written some good stuff (Captain Phillips).
The first part of the movie is played up like a bit of a mystery film. A big earthquake happens and then a group of subway workers are burnt alive by an unknown source whilst working underground. Michael Roark (Tommy Lee Jones) is the head of the Office of Emergency Management, so it’s sort of his job to fix things when the volcanic shit hits the fan. But he’s also looking after his teenage daughter and his whole character’s arc is the tired old “work responsibilities vs. family responsibilities”. Anne Heche plays Doctor Amy Barnes, who you could probably compare to Pierce Brosnan’s character in Dante’s Peak. Except Dr Barnes actually gets stuff done and makes a difference in the plot.
The movie doesn’t waste all that much time before we get to the big eruption. The main focus is on Roark at ground zero as he tries to formulate a plan to save as much of the city as he can. But unlike Dante’s Peak, the film doesn’t just stick with the protagonist, it shifts around to other characters. It shows us glimpses of what civilians are doing, how the police are handling things (via borderline racial discrimination naturally) and how the crisis is impacting a variety of people. We meet a lot of different characters along the way, most of which are minor. But there’s fleeting attempts to get us invested and care about the film beyond big explosions and fires.
Tommy Lee Jones carries the film better than Brosnan does to Dante’s Peak. There’s more confidence and gusto behind his performance, not to mention that his character has a stronger impact on the story. Like Dante’s Peak, Roark starts the film on vacation as well, but he chooses to come in to work and the film does a better job of convincing the audience that he’s a workaholic. He has to balance his job of trying to save lives and minimize damage with his responsibilities as a father.
There’s some outright corniness though as well. Some lines are disgustingly cheesy, and most (if not all) of the side characters are very much two dimensional and generic. Anne Heche is fine but doesn’t exactly do anything memorable. Don Cheadle tries to provide what passes in this movie as comedy relief.
The plot does move fast and relatively snappy. We’re constantly going from one set piece to the next, and there are some cool little sequences. Like Ruth needlessly sacrificing herself in a lake of acid though, this film also has some inadvertently silly deaths. There’s one scene where a man tries to rescue a train conductor while the train is overrun by lava. The man tries to jump out of the train, whilst carrying the man, but he lands right in the lava and it’s like watching Arnold Schwarzenegger sink into the molten metal in Terminator 2, except like, it’s almost kind of funny.
The effects are fine, but not quite as good as Dante’s Peak. It’s mostly just a lot of red and a lot of fire. There’s something weird about this movie. It flows smoothly, it’s easy to watch, Tommy Lee Jones is being Tommy Lee Jones, the script is a bit more competent, but Dante’s Peak came off as the more memorable movie. Yet of the two, I would say Volcano is the better written and presented in a lot of ways.
In closing, whichever volcanic disaster movie you watch, you’re going to end up watching a dumb movie. Just make sure your brain is switched off enough in the first place.
Rating: ★★
Zero Stars 