Volcano *** (1997, Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann) – Classic Movie Review 11,071

Director Mick Jackson’s 1997 American disaster film Volcano stars Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann, Don Cheadle and Keith David, and is inspired by the 1943 formation of the 1,500-foot volcano that emerged between 1941 and 1943 in Parícutin, Michoacan, Mexico. Its tagline ‘The Coast Is Toast’ is so good they should have used it as the film’s title.

The film is produced by Andrew Z Davis, Neal H Moritz and Lauren Shuler Donner, and the screenplay is written by Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray.

Jones stars as Mike Roark, the head of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management, the authority in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. Roark tries to divert the path of a dangerous lava flow through the streets of Los Angeles after the formation of a volcano at the La Brea Tar Pits. Anne Heche plays Amy Barnes, a geologist/ seismologist, Gaby Hoffmann plays Mike’s daughter Kelly Roark, the of Michael, Don Cheadle plays Mike’s assistant Emmit Reese and Keith David plays LAPD police lieutenant Ed Fox. It is a good cast, giving committed, credible performances, bringing credibility to a none-too-believable storyline.

Volcano can’t help being entertaining and it is quite good, cheesy fun but there is a credibility gap and it fails by comparison with the competition. Unluckily, the competing volcano movie Dante’s Peak was released nearly three months earlier, and Volcano is in every aspect a poorer movie, with weaker special effects, a less entertaining story, less interesting characters and less excitingly well used locations.

It cost $90 million, against the Dante’s Peak budget of $116,000,000, and took $122.8 million at the box office, against the Dante’s Peak take of $178.1 million.

It is made by 20th Century Fox, Moritz Original and Shuler Donner/Donner Productions, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Volcano was released on 25 April 1997, whereas Dante’s Peak was out on 7 February 1997.

Also in the cast are Jacqueline Kim as Dr Jaye Calder, John Corbett as Norman Calder, Michael Rispoli as Gator Harris, John Carroll Lynch as Stan Olber, Dayton Callie as Roger Lapher, Richard Schiff as Haskins, Valente Rodriguez as Train Driver, Marcello Thedford as Kevin, Bert Kramer as Los Angeles Firefighters Chief and Bo Eason as Bud McVie.

The score is composed and orchestrated by Alan Silvestri, and the cinematography is by Theo van de Sande.

It is mostly shot on location in Los Angeles, California, including MacArthur Park, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the La Brea Tar Pits. Extensive special effects, eg for the lava flow, were created by ten digital effects companies including VIFX, Digital Magic Company, Light Matters, Pixel Envy and Anatomorphex. An 80 per cent size replica of Wilshire Boulevard, one of the largest sets in the US, was built in Torrance, California. The CGI was coordinated and supervised by Dale Ettema and Mat Beck. More than 300 technicians were involved in the special effects visuals, miniatures and animation. The lava was mostly made of methylcellulose, the thickening agent in fast-food milkshakes and the ash was made mostly of ground newspaper, as in Dante’s Peak.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,071

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com