Volcano

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Volcano
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Mick Jackson
Produced by	Andrew Z. Davis Neal H. Moritz Lauren Shuler Donner
Written by	Jerome Armstrong Billy Ray
Starring	Tommy Lee Jones Anne Heche Gaby Hoffman Don Cheadle Keith David
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Theo van de Sande
Editing by	Don Brochu Michael Tronick
Studio	Shuler Donner/Donner Moritz Original
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	April 25, 1997
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$95,000,000
Gross revenue	$122,823,468

Volcano is a 1997 disaster-action film starring Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, and Don Cheadle. It was directed by Mick Jackson, and was released in the United States on April 25, 1997.

Plot

An earthquake hits Los Angeles. Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones), the head of the Office of Emergency Management, insists on going into the office, though he promised his ex-wife he would take a vacation from work while his thirteen-year-old daughter is visiting him. His second-in-command Emmit Reese (Don Cheadle) notes the quake caused no major damage, but then seven underground workers are burned to death in a storm drain at MacArthur Park. Despite public works insistence that it was just a freak accident, Mike wants to stop the subway's Red Line. Chief Stan Olber (John Carroll Lynch) refuses, feeling there is no threat to the trains. Mike takes Gator Harris (Michael Rispoli) down the drain to investigate, and they are nearly burned to death when hot gas suddenly floods the pipe. Geologist Amy Barnes (Anne Heche), from CIGS, believes a volcano may be forming under the city, but Mike cannot take action without evidence.

Early in the morning, Amy and her assistant Rachel (Laurie Lathem) go to MacArthur Park to investigate the tunnel. While they are taking samples, a massive earthquake hits. Rachel is killed, and the Red Line subway trains derails. Near the tar pits, steam explodes from the sewer system, sending the grates flying into the air. Smoke pours out of the tar pits, along with lava bombs. Mike, heading to the OEM office with his daughter Kelly (Gaby Hoffmann), stops to aid a downed firetruck.

The volcano erupts and lava surrounds Mike's truck, trapping Kelly and burning her leg. Mike rescues her. Realizing he has to stay to do his job, but that it is not safe for Kelly, he sends her to Cedars Sinai Hospital in the care of Doctor Jaye Calder (Jacqueline Kim). The lava flows down Wilshire Boulevard and Stanley Avenue. In the subway tunnel, Stan and a rescue crew reach the train just as the lava river does. The team rescues the passengers, but to save the driver, Stan has to jump into the lava flow so he can throw the unconscious subway driver to the others, sacrificing himself.

Mike and Amy try to find a way to stop the lava. They organize the stacking of 82 concrete K-rails at Wilshire and Fairfax to create a cul-de-sac. Once the lava pools, they have massive amounts of water dumped on it to form a crust. The operation is successful, but Amy realizes that the main lava flow is still running underground in the Red Line tunnel, heading north. She calculates that the main eruption will occur near San Vicente Boulevard where the tunnel ends and where Cedars is located.

They have channels blown into the street to divert the flow into Ballona Creek, which flows into the Pacific Ocean, but the street is sloping the wrong way. Mike sends Amy to find his daughter while he has another team blow up a 22-story condominium nearby causing it to fall across the street and block the lava. However, as the demolition begins, Mike spots Kelly with a small boy in the building's parking lot and runs to rescue her just as it comes down. The plan succeeds and the lava flows safely to the ocean. Mike emerges from the debris with Kelly and the child, and they "head home". On screen text notes that the volcano, named "Mt. Wilshire", is considered active.

Distribution

Volcano was released theatrically on April 25, 1997 where it ran until June 8. At its peak, the film was screened in 2,777 theaters across the country.^[1] It was released to VHS format by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on May 26, 1998, and to Region 1 DVD on March 9, 1999.^[2][3]

Reception

Volcano topped to box office its opening weekend, grossing $14.58 million.^[1] The film had a lifetime gross of $49,323,468 domestically and a worldwide gross of $122,823,468.^[4] Location manager Steve Dayan was awarded a 1997 California on Location Award for his work.^[5] The film was nominated for a 1997 Golden Raspberry Award in the category of "Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property".^[6]

The film received mixed reception from critics, with an aggregate rating of 42% from RottenTomatoes and 55% from Metacritic.^[7][8] Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5/4 stars writing "This is a surprisingly cheesy disaster epic."^[9] Mike LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle says, "It can't make us care",^[10] and Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle describes the film as "an embarrassment, albeit one of the so-bad-it's-kinda-good variety" giving it 1.5/5 stars. In comparing it to the similar film, Dante's Peak, which was released two months previously, he stated "While Dante's Peak at least offered some sort of glimpse into the geological workings of volcanoes and the men and women who study them, Volcano dispenses entirely with the intellect and goes straight for the guts".^[11]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Volcano (film)

• Volcano at Allmovie
• Volcano at the Internet Movie Database