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Directed By
Mick Jackson
Written By:
Billy Ray, Jerome Armstrong
Cast:
Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffman, Don Cheadle, Keith David, John Corbett, Michael Rispoli, John Carroll Lynch, Jacqueline Kim, Gareth Williams
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Volcano (1997)
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Movie Review by Veronica 
February 3rd, 2009
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So much better when I was 12!
Ok so I caught this movie on late night cable (it's so sad that that is how I watch most movies now-a-days) and must admit that although I remember enjoying it ten times more as a child when it first came out, it was still entertaining enough. I must admit that for 90's work, the special effects were convincing, the cast was also persuasive and entertaining, my main problem was probably how little the plot was developed and how long it took to do so.
You don't watch this movie for it's artistic effect but rather to become enthralled in a truly treacherous tale where you begin to wonder who'll make it and who won't. My biggest problem with this movie was its lack of realism. I believe film-makers have accomplished a lot lately in respect to that and this film was clearly before that concern. The casts' solutions to dealing with the lava were unrealistic, I spent the majority of the movie thinking "yea right, because anyone in their right mind would actually do that". Other than that, it did suck you in, keep you entertained and spit you out only a few IQ points less intelligent than when you began watching.
The fiilm begins with Roark (Jones) in his home with his 13 year old daughter who appears to be visiting. There is an Earthquake and although he doesn't want to leave her alone, he feels he must cut his vacation short and check-in at the office. He calls a neighbor over to watch his daughter and goes in. While there he attempts to shut down various subway trains in an attempt to find out what is really going on near the tar pits. Other transit authorities such as Stan Olber (Lynch) refuse claiming there are too many people depending on it to do so. Roark calls for a scientist and when she arrives, Dr. Barnes (Heche) claims that she needs more data for a conclusive answer but that based on the rising temperature in the tar pits, volcanic action may be possible. He laughingly disregards her and returns home.
The next morning before sunrise Dr. Barnes and her associate enter the red line tunnel to gather more data. While taking a sample, the associate falls through a steam pocket into a river of lava. Dr. Barnes rushes out of the tunnels but by the time she is out, the tar pits have already erupted in a mini-volcano and there is lava flowing down Wilshire Blvd. Roark and his daughter just so happened to be driving by at the time of the eruption and begin to help others escape the flow of the lava.
Roarks' daughter is injured by a fireball and taken to Mt. Sinai by a doctor who also happened to be on the scene. After various attempts to stop the lava flow; by blocking it with trucks, and a riveting scene where all the emergency personnel come together to create a blockade with highway dividers and douse the flaming pool with thousands of gallons of water; Dr. Barnes realizes that there is still a strong flow underground, utilzing the man-made tunnels, and that it will soon erupt with more vigor than before right under...Mt. Sinai.
~*~*~*~SPOILERS~*~*~*~
The emergency personnel quickly relocate to that area and begin building trenches with explosives. Roarks daughter, who was following a young boy she had been entrusted with, is almost caught in the crossfire. Roark runs to her aid and soon the three emerge from the rubble. The trench works and although the volcano does erupt and lives are lost, it is soon detoured through storm drains and into the pacific where it subsides.
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