Volcano (1997)Factual errorsWhen Roark asks Amy to find Kelly, he gives her Kelly's picture but not her name. How would she know who she was looking for?In the humvee when Roark found out wherethe lava was going to erupt he said, "my god, thats where Kelly is." And as Amy is in the humvee with him she heard that name and would know his daughters name.

This has the most brain-dead script of all time ever. The effects are mostly a little tacky but pretty cool. Not as good effects as Dante's Peak (1997) or The Day After Tomorrow (2004). The biggest fault is the fact that the whole movie is based on the most stupid premise ever. There are moments with dogs, children and even trains that are so painfully beyond belief that you just want to stick a volcano up your own bottom. Having said that there is fun to be had knowing that this is more ridiculous than Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings combined. Not knowingly campy, this is a shame.

Hollywood was an odd place in late 1990s. I was a cinemagoer back then and we went through a time where every year there were two rival movies on the same subject coming out at the same time. One year we had ARMAGEDDON and DEEP IMPACT; in 1997 we had this and DANTE'S PEAK. While I much preferred the Pierce Brosnan movie (and have gone so far as to purchase it on Blu-ray for continued enjoyment), I think VOLCANO is a fun production. It has a good plot that harks back to the old Hollywood disaster hits like EARTHQUAKE and a very fast-paced story that gets straight to the crux of the matter without much hanging around. The worst thing about it is the terrible direction, which is cheesy beyond belief. It starts off restrained and ends with slow-motion running, bad CGI backdrops, and some hugely embarrassing zooming-in on people's faces that has to be seen to believed. You'd think you were watching a spoof.Tommy Lee Jones acquits himself well as the hero of the hour, enjoying the peak of his popularity in the years following on from THE FUGITIVE. He's well supported by solid character actors including Keith David and John Carroll Lynch who can be relied upon to do their very best. The one missstep is the casting of the terrible Anne Heche as the female lead; she's totally unconvincing as the geologist and another embarrassment at times. The special effects haven't held up as well as those in DANTE'S PEAK, but the lava lake still looks good today and there are some fairly exciting set-pieces along the way. As cheesy as this is, I'd still take it over any of the modern-day B-movie disaster films made by the SyFy Channel and The Asylum.

Volcano (1997): Dir: Mick Jackson / Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann, Don Cheadle, Keith David: Containing all of the suspense and excitement of a beer commercial, and about as much ambition as a bowel movement in the bathtub. It follows the formula closely with problem discovered by hero who goes unbelieved until disaster strikes etc, etc. Outcome is predictable and dumb as expected and directed with the same arrogance by Mick Jackson who also made The Bodyguard and L.A. Story. This would easily be the worst disaster film since Twister. Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche basically recite what every hero must go through when becoming involved in bid budget disaster crap. Heche in particularly has a lame scene where she runs about a crowded panic stricken street screaming someone's name, as if she actually believes that she will be heard. Gaby Hoffmann plays Jones's daughter who serves as little purpose as possible. Then there is Don Cheadle as that trouble maker with a last minute change of heart. David Keith also gives a wasted performance in a role that is about as broad as lava of the ass. There is also a total lack of plausibility such as making a horse shoe barricade that would hardly work since the lava can flow through the cracks. It is about as entertaining as plugging the toilet. That could be fun if the object used to plug it is this film. Score: 1 / 10