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Dom Robinson reviews
20th Century Fox
- Cat.no: 06039 DVD
- Cert: 12
- Running time: 100 minutes
- Year: 1997
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 23 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 11 languages available
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer
Director:
- Mick Jackson
(The Bodyguard, Clean Slate, L.A. Story, Volcano)
Producer:
- Neal H. Moritz and Andrew Z. Davis
Screenplay:
- Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray
Music:
- Alan Silvestri
Cast:
- Mike Roark: Tommy Lee Jones (The Amazing Howard Hughes, Batman Forever, Blown Away, The Client, Cobb, The Fugitive, Heaven And Earth, House Of Cards, JFK, Men In Black, Stormy Monday, Under Siege, U.S. Marshalls, Volcano,Wings Of The Apache)
Dr. Amy Barnes: Anne Heche (Donnie Brasco, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Kingfish, Pie In The Sky, Psycho (1998), Six Days Seven Nights, Volcano, Wag The Dog, Walking And Talking)
Kelly Roark: Gaby Hoffmann (Man Without A Face, Now And Then, Strike, Uncle Buck, Volcano)
Lt. Ed Fox: Keith David (Armageddon, Article 99, Clockers, Dead Presidents, Flipping, Johns, Marked For Death, They Live, The Tiger Woods Story, Volcano)
Volcano is one of two films released in 1997 whichcentred around erupting volcanoes which set out to cause havoc and bring a cityto a standstill. One was a rather dull affair with dodgy set-pieces and onemajor explosion which, apart from a few minutes of something interesting, wentout, not with a bang but a whimper and was calledDante’s Peak,whereas, the film on the DVD being reviewed here, has just enoughbuild-up to set the story and from approximately twenty minutes in the actiontakes hold and the pace never lets up for a minute.
Beneath the famed La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, a vent in the Earth’s crusthas unleashed a raging volcano, raining a storm of deadly fire bombs andan endless tide of white-hot lava upon the stunned city. An unprepared cityfaces its worst terror as the fiery lava-flow insidiously creeps acrosstraffic-choked streets and wreaks havoc below ground in the labyrinthinetunnels that snake beneath the city.
The Office Of Emergency Management (O.E.M.) is a permanent division of the cityof Los Angeles and in the event of an emergency or natural disaster, itsdirector has the power to control and command all the resources of the city.The man in the (literally) hot seat is Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones) whois as confused as anyone as to how such an improbable event can happen in hisfair city and immediately summons the help of resident know-it-all Dr. AmyBarnes (Anne Heche) who explains the processes of a volcano as the filmgoes by.
I’m glad of one thing about this film – the two lead characters do not embarkon a whirlwind romance as a result of their chance meeting, which is the normfor most Hollywood fare, such as the other recent Anne Heche film, Six DaysSeven Nights, despite the fact that Ms. Heche is one of Hollywood’s mostfamous lesbians and currently the beau of US comedienne Ellen DeGeneres.
However, I do have a couple of reservations when it comes a certain cliche usedhere: that of a character either selfishly giving up their own life to savesomeone else (chapter 13: where the foreman of the underground rail network hasa chance to save himself, but instead rescues a train driver and lets himselfsink into the lava feet first in one of the most gruesome scenes I’ve witnessedin a 12-certificate film) or just giving up the will to live (chapter 20: wherethe army guy is trapped at the bottom of the towering hospital about to bedemolished in a desperate bid to stem the tide of lava. If he put his mind toit he could at least try to get out, but like the death of Tiffany in Eastendersanyone in the surrounding area just stands about leaving the fated character toget on with the inevitably-avoidable).
A brilliant transfer brings the red-hot lava, fireballs and other assortedCGI effects to life, out of the cinema and into your front room. A pin-sharp1.85:1 picture replicates the original cinema ratio and it’s anamorphic withno artifacts on view. The average bitrate is a good 6.43Mb/s, often hoveringaround 7Mb/s.
I could describe the sound as ‘explosive’ and that might seem like a pun, butthe audio couldn’t be any better, making this a demo disc to show to yourfriends. For an example of the best you can check out most ofthe chapters such as “Wake-Up Shake” (ch.7), “Fire in the Sky” (ch.8),”The Coast is Toast” (ch.10), “Lava in the Red Line” (ch.13)and “A Disposable Skyscraper” (ch.20). Even the opening credits stamp their markas the outside scenes of happy shoppers are intercut with underground activitiesgetting ready to burst out and say hello.
Extras : Chapters and Trailer :There are 23 chapters during the 100-minute film which is good and the discis coupled with the original theatrical trailer. Languages and Subtitles :There’s just one language on this disc – English, but it is available in DolbyDigital 5.1. Subtitles come in 13 flavours: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish,Portuguese, Hebrew, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandicand English for the hearing impaired. Menu :The main menu is animated and scored and looks, at first, very good indeed.However, when you click on an option, as the film’s title flashes at youreyes, it’s so jittery. The other menus are static and silent though.
Overall, the fact that such an event would be incredibly unlikely in the givenlocation may cause the words “artistic licence” to shout out loud, but this issurprisingly a very engaging and gripping film from start to finish, despiteits implausibilities.
A review of the PAL Laserdisc can be foundhere.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.