Volcano (DVD) > Reviews > For a realy HOT date......

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Entertainmant
Disadvantages:	Not enough of a story

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Did you ever get the feeling that you have been this way before? I have just sat and watched the film 'Volcano' made in 1997 and staring Tommy Lee Jones. And I have to say that it is familiar to me. Why I will say later.

O. K. Plot synopsis time. It is a normal (?) day in Los Angeles. People are going about their daily lives, Protesting, getting shot, driving all sorts of cars. There is a small earthquake and a minor disaster involving loss of life. Scientists are not happy, Construction chiefs are not happy, Police chiefs are not happy, Disaster Chief (Jones) is not happy. In other words everything is normal.

Then the real fun starts the next day with a full scale volcanic eruption. Tommy Lee must somehow save the day and the city, including his own daughter and a small child.

This is an action/adventure film. There are many factual errors in this film but do not let that put you off. Made in 1997 the special effects are rather good. I am sure that they would do it differently if they were making the film today and it would probably cost a great deal more.

The story develops quite well as a disaster film. Just watch it for the entertainment on a dull night. Do not look for meaningful insights into the human condition. The film was not made for that.

The characters do seem to interact quite well, but I will get back to that later. I do rather like Tommy Lee Jones. He has a rather 'lived in' face. I do know that Mr Jones has appeared in the Men in Black films but I could not tell you what else. I certainly could not tell you any history of the other actors as generally I do not follow the careers of movie actors.

The film runs for 100 mins and there are not many extras on the DVD. There are multi language subtitles, there is the original trailer and an interactive menu to take you to the various chapters of the film, and that's it.

So why did I say Deja Vu. Well I recall a book written in 1980 entitled The Genesis Rock by an author called Edwin Corley. He wrote a novel of a volcano erupting under a city only his was based in New York. There are several similarities between this book and the film. Without going into spoilers, the locations, city-park-lake-subway, some actions, some characters, human and non human that I feel that this book was the genesis for the film.
The film gives story writer credit to a Jerome Armstrong. This is the only credit according to IMDB.

I feel that this is only half or at most 3/4 of a film. The reasons for the actions of the various characters, and there are several characters given name credits in this film, are not explored.
Why certain people acted as they do is not part of this film. We are presented with a situation and the action is allowed to develop from there. The why of the people being where they are is not mentioned at all. And that I feel lets down this film.

As a disaster film this is quite entertaining. Suspend all critical belief before you start to watch. After all, Lava can be at 1000 degrees Centigrade and to be near normally requires special thermal suits. Yet here you have Police and Fire persons very near with no protection at all! I quite realise that such thermal protection is not normal equipment for a fire departmant and
to have had their officers in this would rather spoil the drama of the situations. But it could have been much better. More human tensions and interactions would have made for a better story I feel.

So, do you want to buy or to rent a copy. If you are buying then it is on sale through Amazon.co.uk at £5.99 though you may prefer to rent a copy for a dull night in.