Volcano Movies 1997

[Albina Hickel]

Volcanois a 1997 American disaster film directed by Mick Jackson, written by Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray, and produced by Neal H. Moritz and Andrew Z. Davis. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Don Cheadle and Keith David. It tells the story of an effort to divert the path of a dangerous lava flow through the streets of Los Angeles following the formation of a volcano at the La Brea Tar Pits. The story was inspired by the 1943 formation of the Parcutin volcano in Mexico.

In downtown Los Angeles, an earthquake strikes. Mike Roark, the new director of the city's Office of Emergency Management, insists on coming to work to help out with the crisis even though he has been on vacation with his daughter Kelly. His associate Emmit Reese notes that the quake caused no major damage, but seven utility workers are later burned to death in a storm drain at MacArthur Park. As a precaution, Mike tries to halt the subway lines near the location of the earthquake. MTA Chairman Stan Olber opposes, believing that there is no threat to the trains. Seismologist Dr. Amy Barnes believes that a volcano may be forming beneath the city due to the earthquake opening a fissure in the fault line; however, she has insufficient evidence to make Mike take action.

Early the next morning, Amy and her assistant Rachel venture in the storm sewer to investigate. While they take samples, another (more powerful) earthquake strikes the city. Rachel falls into a crack and is killed by a rush of hot gases. A subway train derails from falling debris, and a power outage occurs across the entire city. Later, in the La Brea Tar Pits, the volcano begins to erupt. As Mike helps injured firefighters out of the area, lava begins to flow down Wilshire Boulevard. The lava incinerates everything in its path and kills two firefighters in an overturned fire truck. The Roarks become separated, as Kelly is injured when a lava bomb burns her leg and is taken to Cedars-Sinai Hospital along with other patients. Meanwhile, Stan leads his team through the tunnel to the derailed train to search for survivors. While his team save everyone aboard, Stan rescues the driver just as lava reaches the train, causing it to disintegrate. Stan sacrifices his life by jumping into the lava flow to throw the driver to safety.

Mike, Amy, and LAPD lieutenant Ed Fox devise a plan to use concrete barriers to create a blockade, which obstructs the lava in its path. A fleet of helicopters dump water collected from the ocean to subdue the lava and volcano, forming a crust and making the plan a success. However, Amy thinks that the magma is still flowing underground through the subway because of the amount of ash still falling. When Mike helps her confirm her suspicions, she calculates that another eruption will occur at the end of the Red Line at Cedars-Sinai and, after calculating the speed of the flowing lava, determines the lava will reach the end of the tunnel in thirty minutes.

Mike devises another plan to demolish a 22-story condominium building to block the lava's path from flowing towards the hospital and the rest of the West Side of Los Angeles, redirecting it into a nearby storm drain. As the lava arrives, Mike's co-worker Gator and an LAPD Bomb Squad officer (trapped under debris) sacrifice their lives to detonate the final explosive charge. Mike then spots Kelly nearby, trying to retrieve a little boy she was watching who wandered off; the two are in the direct path of the collapsing building. Mike barely manages to save them from being crushed as the building collapses. The plan succeeds, and the lava flows directly into the ocean. As it begins raining, the trio emerge from the rubble unscathed and reunite with Amy before heading home.

Filming was primarily on location in Los Angeles, California.[3] Various filming sites included MacArthur Park, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the La Brea Tar Pits.[3] Extensive special effects surrounding certain aspects of the film such as the lava flow were created by ten separate digital effects companies including VIFX, Digital Magic Company, Light Matters Inc., Pixel Envy and Anatomorphex.[4] An 80% full-size replica of Wilshire Boulevard, which was one of the largest sets ever constructed in the United States, was assembled in Torrance, California.[5] The computer-generated imagery was coordinated and supervised by Dale Ettema and Mat Beck.[3] Between visuals, miniatures, and animation, over 300 technicians were involved in the production aspects of the special effects.[4][6]

The score for the film was originally composed and orchestrated by musical conductor Alan Silvestri.[7] Recording artists James Newton Howard and Dillinger among others, contributed songs to the music listing.[4] The audio soundtrack in Compact Disc format featuring 8 tracks, was officially released by the American recording label Varse Sarabande on April 22, 1997.[8] The sound effects in the film were supervised by Christopher Boyes. The mixing of the sound elements were orchestrated by Jim Tanenbaum and Dennis Sands.[4]

Among mainstream critics in the US, Volcano received mixed reviews.[9] Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49% of 47 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 5.10/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Volcano's prodigious pyrotechnics and Tommy Lee Jones' crotchety sneers at lava aren't quite enough to save this routine disaster film."[10] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average using critical reviews, the film received a score of 55 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[11] In 1997, the film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award in the category of "Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property", but lost to Con Air.[12]

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wondered why "there's no volcano in "Volcano"?...The hokey disaster drama features towering plumes of smoke, a splendid display of fireworks and brimstone, and rivers of molten magma, but I'll be darned if there's a burning mountain."[23] Todd McCarthy of Variety was more positive, writing that "first-time screenwriters Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray waste no time with exposition or scene-setting, starting the fireworks with a nerve-jangling morning earthquake that puts city workers on alert for possible damage."[5]

Following its cinematic release in theaters, the film was released in VHS video format on May 26, 1998.[31] The Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD in the United States on March 9, 1999. Special features for the DVD include interactive menus, scene selection and the original theatrical trailer. It is not enhanced for widescreen televisions.[32] The film was released on Blu-ray Disc on October 1, 2013 by Starz/Anchor Bay.[33]

Amid the disaster movie revival of the 1990s, we were bound to get some films competing on similar turf. The most famous of these accidental rivalries is, of course, Deep Impact and Armageddon, the pair of asteroid films that arrived to rock the summer of 1998. Just one year earlier, though, we got another accidental disaster movie rivalry that's less discussed, but still memorable.

We're talking, of course, about the pair of volcano disaster films that arrived in the first half of 1997. The more famous of these, Volcano, starred Tommy Lee Jones as an emergency manager trying to navigate an unexpected and disastrous lava flow running through Los Angeles. Just a few months earlier, though, another volcano film arrived that was less successful, but still packs an intriguing punch more than 25 years later. It's called Dante's Peak, and you can stream it right now on Peacock.

Directed by Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Species) and starring Pierce Brosnan as a volcanologist trying to protect the titular Pacific Northwest town, Dante's Peak arrived in February of 1997 to largely negative reviews and a decent, if not spectacular, box office haul. Its somewhat muted reception, which was overtaken by Volcano a few months later, means that while it's been in steady cable rotation over the years, it's never quite risen to classic status, or even cult classic status. It's just one of those films that's always there in the background somewhere, and that's a shame, because despite some rather predictable storytelling and a front half with some pacing issues, there's quite a bit of disaster movie fun to be had here.

There are a couple of classic disaster movie tropes put front and center by the script from Leslie Bohem (Daylight, Nowhere to Run), starting with Harry's life as the film begins. A prologue reveals the loss he suffered in the last major eruption of his career, then reveals a man completely devoted to his work, who stays home when he's supposed to be on vacation and insists on going out to check on potential danger even when his bosses would rather hold him back. He's not without levity or warmth, but like so many disaster heroes before him, we're meant to see Harry as a guy whose life has been hardened by circumstance, and is waiting to be softened by the right person.

Then there's the whole first half of the film, which is largely devoted to Harry trying to warn everyone of increasingly dangerous activity around the mountain, only to be pushed back by governmental concerns, local naysayers, and others who insist that he's crying eruption when there's no need for such warnings. This is the part of the film that can get a little rough to watch, particularly in a post-COVID age when we've seen so many similar arguments about other natural dangers, and it sometimes feels like the characters are disagreeing not because it's what they'd really do, but because the film needs some kind of drama. The film takes its time, unfolding like the Deep Impact to Volcano's Armageddon, and that requires a little patience from the viewer.

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