Volcano (film)
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| Volcano | |
|---|---|
 Volcano theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Mick Jackson |
| Produced by | Stokely Chaffin Martha Cotton Andrew Z. Davis Neal H. Moritz |
| Written by | Jerome Armstrong Billy Ray |
| Starring | Tommy Lee Jones Anne Heche Don Cheadle Gaby Hoffmann Keith David |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Theo van de Sande |
| Editing by | Don Brochu Michael Tronick |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | April 25, 1997 |
| Running time | 104 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $95,000,000 (estimated)[1] |
| IMDb profile | |
Volcano is an action drama starring Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, and Don Cheadle, and was directed by Mick Jackson. The film opened in the United States on April 25, 1997 just a couple months after Dante's Peak, a movie with a similar plot.
Taglines: "The Coast Is Toast", "There are 1,500 active volcanoes that we know about...and one that we don't.", "It's Hotter than Hell!", "L.A. Erupts in 1997"
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[edit] Plot
Tommy Lee Jones stars as Mike Roark, a Los Angeles emergency official who takes charge when a volcano grows out of the La Brea Tar Pits. A river of lava flows down Wilshire Boulevard, through the Metro Red Line subway tunnel, and creates a fountain of lava next to the Beverly Center shopping mall in Beverly Hills. The lava destroys one subway train in the Red Line, kills the Metro chairman by melting him, burns cars, firemen, and their trucks, and burns down the L.A. county art museum.
In spite of placing himself and his teenage daughter in danger, Mike saves the city by diverting the river of lava (with the help of demolition teams) into the concrete channel of Ballona Creek, which allows the lava to flow safely into the Pacific Ocean. Anne Heche plays a female protagonist.
[edit] Cast
- Tommy Lee Jones - Mike Roark
- Anne Heche - Dr. Amy Barnes
- Gaby Hoffman - Kelly Roark
- Don Cheadle - Emmit Reese
- Jacqueline Kim - Dr. Jaye Calder
- Keith David - Police Lieutenant Ed Fox
- John Corbett - Norman Calder
- Michael Rispoli - Gator Harris
- John Carroll Lynch - Stan Olber
[edit] Production
The premise for the movie is loosely based on the appearance of Parícutin, a volcano which emerged from a farmer's field in Mexico. The depiction of the behavior of volcanoes and lava in the rest of the movie, however, is for entertainment rather than scientific accuracy.
[edit] Filming Locations
California, USA
- Beverly Center and Los Angeles County Emergency Operations Center - Los Angeles, California
[edit] Reception
Giving the film 1.5/4 stars, Roger Ebert writes "This is a surprisingly cheesy disaster epic"[2]. While Mike LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle says, "It can't make us care",[3] 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[4].
On RottenTomatoes.com Volcano has a "freshness" of 35% classifying it as "rotten"[5].
[edit] Box Office
Volcano was released to 2,774 screens on April 25, 1997 and grossed $14.58 million on its opening weekend. Domestically the film grossed $47.47 million and $72.6 million at the foreign box office, bringing its world wide total to about $120.1 million. These totals were significantly lower than the $178 million world wide gross of Volcano's competitor with a similar plot Dante's Peak which opened in February 1997, just two months prior to Volcano. Comparing the two films, Marc Savlov says, "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"[4].
[edit] Awards and Nominations
Volcano was nominated for, but did not win, the 1997 Razzie Award for Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property.
[edit] Home video
Volcano was released on VHS on May 26, 1998. The film was subsequently released on DVD on March 9, 1999.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Article at EW.com about Volcano vs. Dante's Peak Accessed February 7th, 2007
- ^ Roger Ebert's review of "Volcano"Accessed March 14, 2007
- ^ Mike LaSalle's review of "Volcano" Accessed March 14, 2007
- ^ a b Marc Savlov's review of "Volcano" Accessed March 14, 2007
- ^ "Volcano" on RottenTomatoes.com Accessed March 14, 2007
