Filipe Neto American cinema loves to destroy things, the bigger the better. In this case, the thing to be destroyed is Los Angeles, with a huge volcano rising right in the middle of the city. Its a very traditional disaster film, true to its genre, in which the improvised hero saves the day with total heroism, in a situation off total despair. The only two real characters here are the Volcano and the City because no character is truly developed, not even the hero. They are faces, people who do things. Sometimes they're there just to scream hysterically, be scared, to die, to show cowardice or to create situations in which the hero will shine. Because of this, the work of the actors is just OK, including Tommy Lee Jones. It would be impossible for any actor to shine with such empty characters. The strongest part of the film are the action scenes, stuffed with special effects. Some are so far-fetched that we're forced to think that guy should be on the luckiest day of his life to survive in that unbelievable way. But anyone who is expecting a CGI show will be disappointed: they're not always good and seem a bit dated in the eyes of the current audience. But it's a 1997 movie... everything has its time and, of course, with today's technological breakthroughs, our eyes will not see this movie the same way we watched it twenty years ago. Even so, there are some scenes and sequences where the film is powerful and emanates a pleasant tension that makes us uncomfortable. Not everything is bad, predictable or cliché.

buckikris A Beautiful day in L.A., it's business as usual; we are introduced to Mike and Kelly Roark. Mike ( Tommy Lee Jones)is head of the O.E.M.- Office of Emergency Management. Kelly( Gaby Hoffman) is his 13 yr.old daughter; and Mike is very overprotective of her. When a 4.9 earthquake happens just outside of Palmdale, Mike calls a babysitter( his neighbor) to watch her. He has to go into work and doesn't want to leave her alone. He feels she is too young, doesn't know what to do, and has a tendency to panic in an emergency. Meanwhile the quake has messed up the underground rail system in L.A.. Stan( John Carroll Lynch) is head of the M.T.A.. While working they are standing around taking bets on the epicenter, whoever wins gets the cash pile. Mike also works with Emmitt Reese(Don Chelde), who is an eager beaver who wants Mike's job badly; and Gator( Michael Rispoli) who thinks Reese wants his job. When an explosion happens while 7 DWP(Dept. Water and Power) workers are down underground, all but one is killed. Theories start to arise that maybe a new fault system has developed. Mike goes to the scene of the explosion and the first thing that comes to his mind is a massive steam explosion. When the only surviving victim arrives at the hospital, it's ruled out steam didn't burn the victim. It was something containing sulfur and other gases that have. When Gator and Mike decide to investigate below the storm drain, they are baffled. Roark decides it's time to talk to other O.E.M. members and city officials to get a scientist involved. As Mike and Gator leave activity begins to arise in La Brea Tar Pits.The next day at the O.E.M. office Stan brings in Dr. Amy Barnes( AnneHeche) from the California Geological Institute(C.G.I.). She and Mike go to MacArthur Park to the tar pits. Dr. Barnes and her colleague, Rachel(Laurie Lathem) have been taking temperature readings of the lake. They both discover temperature has increased 6 degrees in 12 hours. She explains to Mike the only thing that can contribute that is a major geological event. She begins to explain to him it could be a fissure that has opened, creating lava. Mike brushes it off, a Volcano in L.A. no way. Barnes and Rachel decide they have to investigate more below, like early in the morning when their is little security. The next morning they start their investigation; meanwhile tremors keep happening. Barnes and Rachel find samples of sulfur, Magnesium, as well as other gases. Rachel goes further down, and finds a opening so she begins to take samples. It's about 6 a.m., and a stronger earthquake comes again. When this happens Rachel and Barnes are still down in the tunnel; and the ground opens up. The ground opens wider swallowing Rachel, Barnes tries to save her; but it's too late. Once Rachel is taken a lava flow is seen. Mike is called in, and takes his daughter with him. At this point L.A. is completely dark, and in a sea of ash. Mike is trying to comfort his daughter while all this is going on. The city is on fire, and Roark is administering first aid to the victims caught in it's wrath. While Roark is bandaging people up, he is on the phone to police Lt. Fox(Kieth David). Mike turns around and notices that his daughter is out of the car in trouble. He runs to his daughter rescuing her, he then notices that Amy Barnes has shown up. All of a sudden it is the calm before the storm; it gets really quiet. Then lava bombs and lava spew out of the tar pits taking with it everything. Barnes and Roark help get this man out of the way by using a F.D. ladder truck. It is complete chaos, Mike Roark, Amy Barnes, and O.E.M. decide to send all casualties to Cedars Sinai Hospital. It is the only hospital not in the path of this flow. Roark talks to all emergency officials, and decides to come up with a plan to stop it. The plan is with K-Rails( Concrete Highway) dividers. They will place them in a horseshoe patter to stop the flow, with the help of tons of pool water to cool the lava. The plan works, but Dr. Barnes discovers that the flow is going to turn. The worst is yet to come and Roark thinks it's over.Barnes discovers a new threat while investigating below the subway system. She call Roark, tell him about it. A bigger Explosion is about to blow on Wilshire and West. Barnes and Roark discover a massive lava flow underneath that is headed toward Ceaders Sinai. To stop this disaster Barnes, Roark and O.E.M. devise a new plan. They call in a demolition team to construct a dam, by blowing a building. When they blow the building a trench is formed just in time; leading the lava out to the Pacific. This film is non-stop action from beginning to end. The cast is excellent, especially Anne Heche and Tommy Lee Jones. The special effects are superb and no one needed to call George Lucas in on it. I would recommend this thriller to anyone, it's a non-stop thrill ride from 1997.

Terryfan The 1990s were full of movies that left their mark in one form or another on the film industry.1997 was a good year for movies, however Volcano isn't one of those films I would consider one of those films.Volcano is often consider either the poor man's Dante's Peek or whatever the case may be because Volcano was release a few months after Dante's PeekThe film also stars Tommy Lee Jones,Anne Heche,Gaby Hoffmann Don Cheadle,Jacqueline Kim,Keith David,John Corbett,Michael Rispoli John Carroll LynchWhen I watch Volcano recently because I haven't seen it for many years since I saw it on VHS from the video store but nevertheless it's one of those films that hasn't aged very well. Now I love movies from the 1990s but this film just doesn't hold that strong of a candle as others from the decade.What hurts the film is the writing just feels out of wax, while the plot is interesting enough it just the writing inside the film itself just don't hold up very well and most of the characters are just there to make you lose your mind. The acting in the film just has that B movie feel. The only really notable performances were Tommy's, Anne's and Don's. Their performances made up for the film's lack of talent. The music score works for the film and some of it is pretty good but the rest not so much. It's hard to give a good opinion on the effects of the film because Volcano has wins and loses on the department.The production setting gives you the feeling that they at least try to make it look real.Overall Volcano is a mix movie while it did offer some things to make it watchable and I'm not saying it's a really bad movie but it is not one of those movies you should just go out and get. It's just one of those films that you either love or hate or in between. It is just Volcano hasn't aged very wellI give Volcano an 5 out of 10

Amber Park Volcano (1997) It's a good film, got some nice effects, action and drama but there's not a lot of science or thinking behind it. If you're looking for this sort of thing it's great but there is definitely better disaster movies out there.In addition, you're probably going to have to wait a while for it to get started but then after that it's literally lots and lots of lava/ fire even though it's still pretty average. It also has the potential of being so much better as the plots good and same goes for the characters.I personally thought it was an interesting film, and I wouldn't mind watching it again. I do recommend watching it.