Cinema surveillance images are loading at the bottom of the page

Volcano

Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

It's hotter than hell!

Los Angeles. It is perhaps best known as the entertainment capital of the world, but millions more recognise the city of angels as the unwilling epicentre of virtually every natural disaster - including earthquakes, firestorms and mudslides.

Now the city which has become almost a byword for disaster is about to experience its most cataclysmic event ever, one that will ultimately test its ability to survive. A vent in the earth's crust has unleashed an incredible force of nature. The literally earth-shattering product: an erupting volcano... and ground zero is LA's famed La Brea tar pits. An unprepared Los Angeles is facing its worst nightmare as an endless stream of fiery, deadly lava insidiously creeps across traffic-choked streets while wreaking havoc below ground in the labyrinth of man-made and natural tunnels.

"I think we love disaster movies because we get to experience a crises as a community and explore how people rise to the occasion," says screenwriter Jerome D Armstrong. "It's a great ride that doesn't take itself too seriously," says co-writer Billy Ray.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film disaster volcano Los Angeles

Persons of interest

Tommy Lee Jones .... Mike Roark
Anne Heche .... Doctor Amy Barnes
Gaby Hoffmann .... Kelly Roark
Don Cheadle .... Emmit Reese
Jacqueline Kim .... Doctor Jaye Calder
Keith David .... Police Lieutenant Ed Fox
John Corbett .... Norman Calder
Michael Rispoli .... Gator Harris
John Carroll Lynch .... Stan Olber
Marcello Thedford .... Kevin
Laurie Lathem .... Rachel
Jerome Armstrong .... Storywriter
Billy Ray .... Screenwriter
Jerome Armstrong .... Screenwriter
Mick Jackson .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Volcano official movie site

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Imagine a river of red hot lava flowing through the streets of LA. Now imagine a river of Luke-warm sewage flowing through the streets of LA. after seeing this film I am not quite sure how to tell the difference.

The effects are technically adequate (you can't see any mistakes) but they are mostly very boring. If exploding volcanoes excite you then subscribe to the discovery channel on Foxtel, the real thing is so much better, which is a sad comment to make about a big budget Hollywood film.

The plot doesn't exist, so I can't say anything about that.

The characters are (a) one-dimensional, (b) hackneyed, (c) implausible. Actually, the whole thing is implausible. Imagine a volcano erupting in Los Angeles, spewing out rivers of lava, exploding lava balls, setting fire to everything it touches... and only 100 people die.

Some of the things I really hated about Volcano:

A dog that was trapped in a burning house escaped out the dog flap and survived.
The bigot white policeman arrested an aggro African-American, then let him go, the African-American came back and helped the policeman.
The bigot white architect didn't want his Asian-American doctor/girlfriend to help the wounded because they were from lower socio-economic background, so he ends their long term relationship.
The almost pretty geologist Doctor Amy Barnes (Anne Heche) falls in love with the (to say the least) unusual-looking Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones).
Mike and daughter Kelly (Gaby Hoffmann) survive having a 20-storey building collapse on top of them (without injury).
All the grey ash hides everyone's ethnicity, providing opportunity for an unsubtle comment about race.
It rains beautiful clear water (washing everyone and everything clean in 1½ minutes) and then the sun comes out; this got the biggest laugh of the whole thing... actually it was the only laugh.

Some of the things I really liked about Volcano:

There were lots of burning things (I am a pyromaniac).
I love seeing TV shows in movies (two for the price of one).
I didn't pay to see it because I'm a critic, and even if I had, it would be tax deductible.

Don't spend your money on Volcano, it's not even bad enough to be trashy. It's just bad.