Volcano Information

Volcano is a 1997 disaster film directed by Mick Jackson and produced by Andrew Z. Davis, Neal H. Moritz and Lauren Shuler Donner. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray. The film features Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, and Don Cheadle. Jones is cast as the head of a crisis agency called the Office of Emergency Management (O.E.M.) which has complete authority in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. His character attempts to divert the path of a dangerous lava flow through the streets of Los Angeles following the formation of a volcano.

A joint collective effort to commit to the film's production was made by the film studios of 20th Century Fox, Moritz Original and Shuler Donner/Donner Productions. It was commercially distributed by 20th Century Fox. Volcano explores civil viewpoints, such as awareness, evacuation and crisis prevention. Although the film used extensive special effects, it failed to receive any award nominations from mainstream motion picture organizations for its production merits.

Volcano premiered in theaters nationwide in the United States on April 25, 1997 grossing $49,323,468 in domestic ticket receipts. It earned an additional $73.5 million in business through international release to top out at a combined $122,823,468 in gross revenue. Taking into account its $90 million budget, the film was technically considered a moderate financial success after its theatrical run. Despite its release and recognition, Dante's Peak (which was released 2 months before) gained more commercial success than Volcano. It was also met with mixed critical reviews before its initial screening in cinemas. The Region 1 code widescreen edition of the film featuring special features was released on DVD in the United States on March 9, 1999.

Plot

An earthquake strikes the city of Los Angeles. Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones), head of the city's Office of Emergency Management, insists on coming to work to help out with the crisis, even though he has taken a vacation with his daughter Kelly (Gaby Hoffmann). His associate Emmit Reese (Don Cheadle) notes the quake caused no major damage in the city, but seven utility workers are later burned to death in a storm drain at MacArthur Park. Despite the city's Department of Public Works insistence that the incident had nothing to do with the tremor and was just an accident, Roark tries to halt the subway lines which run parallel to where the mishap took place as a precaution. Metro Chairman Stan Olber (John Carroll Lynch) though refuses, feeling there is no threat to the trains. Against regulations, Roark and a colleague Gator Harris (Michael Rispoli) venture down the storm sewer in the park to investigate. They are nearly burned to death when hot gases suddenly flood the tunnel. Geologist Dr. Amy Barnes (Anne Heche) believes a volcano may be forming near the city with magma flowing underground, but cannot come up with enough evidence for Roark to take action.

Early in the morning, Dr. Barnes and her assistant Rachel (Laurie Lathem) go back to MacArthur Park to investigate the scene of the accident. After descending into the storm sewer they discover a crack in the ground which released the gasses earlier. While they are taking soil samples, a massive earthquake strikes and Rachel is killed when she falls into the crack. Near the La Brea Tar Pits, smoke rises out along with lava bombs. Steam explodes from the sewer system sending steel grates flying into the air, while a subway train filled with passengers derails underground. Roark and his daughter witness the calamity while driving through the city streets.

Minutes later, a newly formed volcano erupts from the tar pits and lava begins to flow freely down Wilshire Boulevard. Roark and his daughter become separated as she is injured when a nearby lava bomb ruptures and ignites her right leg, and taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the care of Dr. Jaye Calder (Jacqueline Kim). Roark, Dr. Barnes, and police lieutenant Ed Fox (Keith David) devise a plan to organize the stacking of concrete barriers at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue to create a cul-de-sac to pool the lava. The authorities then dump massive amounts of water from helicopters on it to form a crust. The operation is successful, but Dr. Barnes later theorizes that the magma is still flowing underground through the Red Line subway extension, heading north. She calculates that the main eruption will occur at the end of the line at the Beverly Center near Cedars-Sinai. Meanwhile, Olber leads a team through the Red Line tunnel to the derailed train to look for survivors. They save everyone, but Olber notices the conductor is still missing and goes back to find him. He finds the conductor alive but unconscious just as the lava reaches the train and begins flowing underneath it. Olber sacrifices his life to save the conductor as Olber is melted by the lava.

Through Roark's direction, explosives are used to create channels in the street to divert the flow of lava into Ballona Creek, which will later flow into the Pacific Ocean. But Dr. Barnes deduces through a geological map that the street is sloping in the opposite direction. Therefore, Roark engineers another plan to demolish a 22-story condominium under construction by Jaye's husband to block the lava's path from entering the city. When Gator refuses to abandon an LAPD SWAT cop who has gotten trapped under wreckage while slotting explosive charges, he sacrifices their lives to detonate the final explosive charge. Roark then spots Kelly nearby, trying to retrieve a small boy who wandered off, putting them in the path of the collapsing building. Roark barely manages to save both of them from being crushed as the building collapses across the street. The plan to divert the lava is a success and the lava flows safely to the ocean.

The film's epilogue displays a graphic stating that the volcano named Mount Wilshire is still in an active state.

Cast

• Tommy Lee Jones as Mike Roark
• Anne Heche as Dr. Amy Barnes
• Gaby Hoffmann as Kelly Roark
• Don Cheadle as Emmit Reese
• Jacqueline Kim as Dr. Jaye Calder
• Keith David as Police Lt. Ed Fox
• John Corbett as Norman Calder
• Michael Rispoli as Gator Harris
• John Carroll Lynch as Stan Olber
• Harvey Levin as TV reporter

Production

Filming

Filming was shot primarily on location in Los Angeles, California. Various filming sites included MacArthur Park, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the La Brea Tar Pits. 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. An 80% full-size replica of Wilshire Boulevard, which was one of the largest sets ever constructed in the U.S., was assembled in Torrance, California. The computer-generated imagery was coordinated and supervised by Dale Ettema and Mat Beck. Between visuals, miniatures, and animation, over 300 technicians were directly involved in the production aspects of the special effects.

Music

The score for the film was originally composed and orchestrated by musical conductor Alan Silvestri. Recording artists James Newton Howard and Dillinger among others, contributed songs to the music listing. The audio soundtrack in Compact Disc format featuring 8 tracks, was officially released by the American recording label Varèse Sarabande on April 22, 1997. 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.

Reception

Among mainstream critics in the US, the film received generally mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 44% of 39 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 5.0 out of 10. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 55 based on 22 reviews. In 1997, the film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award in the category of "Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property" .

"The ads say The Coast Is Toast, but maybe they should say The Volcano Is Drano. This is a surprisingly cheesy disaster epic. It's said that Volcano cost a lot more than Dante's Peak, a competing volcano movie released two months ago, but it doesn't look it. Dante's Peak had better special effects, a more entertaining story, and a real mountain."

"?Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times

Janet Maslin writing in The New York Times, said early on, "Volcano begins so excitably and hurtles so quickly into fiery pandemonium" but casually noted that "in the disaster realm, it's not easy to have it all. A film this technically clever can't get away with patronizing and familiar genre cliches." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times called it a "surprisingly cheesy disaster epic" while musing, "The lava keeps flowing for much of the movie, never looking convincing. I loved it when the firemen aimed their hoses way offscreen into the middle of the lava flow, instead of maybe aiming them at the leading edge of the lava"?which they couldn't do, because the lava was a visual effect, and not really there." In the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle wrote that "Things go bad after Volcano plays its last card "? the lava "? and from there it has nothing to show but more of the same. A host of characters is introduced in the opening scenes, but Volcano doesn't know what to do with them. It can't make us care." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, said "Volcano is cheese, all right, but it's tangy cheese. I'm not sure I've ever seen a disaster movie in which special effects this realistic and accomplished were put to the service of a premise this outlandish." He declared: "Volcano is jittery in a clinical, self-important way." Walter Addiego of the San Francisco Examiner, felt "Volcano offers a bit of humor, a minimum of plot distraction and the joys of watching molten rock ooze down Wilshire Boulevard." Left equally impressed was James Berardinelli of ReelViews. Commenting on the character significance of Mike Roark played by Jones, he said it was "a wonderfully heroic figure "? a man of action who never has time to rest. The fate of the city rests on his shoulders, and he knows it. Jones' fierce, unflagging portrayal helps us accept Roark not only as the man to save L.A., but as a loving father who is more concerned about his daughter's safety than that of every other citizen." In his overall summation, he wrote "Volcano has opened the "summer" movie season at an astoundingly early late-April date. But there's no mistaking this as anything but a blockbuster trying to get a running jump on competition like The Fifth Element and The Lost World. This isn't the kind of film where it's worth waiting for the video tape "? it's too big and brash, and demands the speakers and atmosphere of a state-of-the-art theater." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, added to the positive sentiment by saying the film "glows with heat. Lava heat. The coast may be toast, but it's the lava, covering everything like a malevolent tide of melted butter, that makes this a disaster picture that's tastier than usual."

Writing for Time Out, author TCh exclaimed, "The most striking aspect of this fun, old-fashioned disaster movie is the novelty of seeing the most familiar of backdrops used as a creative resource in its own right." He commended how "Jones and Heche work hard to dig up an emotional rapport from next to nothing" while also praising how the "slow but inexorable progress of the lava makes for more suspense than the usual slam bang firework display." Not entirely impressed was Margaret McGurk writing for The Cincinnati Enquirer. She called the film "depreciating entertainment value of the natural-disaster trend" while also mentioning how the "High-caliber special effects are still fun, but all this lock-step storytelling is wearing thin." But in a hint of commendation, McGurk thought "on its own escapist terms, Volcano dishes up a textbook serving of low-I.Q., high-energy entertainment." Describing a comical position on seismic activity, Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle said Volcano was a "laughably ridiculous take on what we all secretly dream of: Los Angeles, washed away in a huge, molten tide of cheese "? uh, lava, I mean." Savlov added, "Screenwriters Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray have crammed the script with topical references to the L.A. riots, Rodney King, racial inequality, sexism, the ineffectuality of the 911 system, and reams of very, very bad dialogue. So bad, in fact, that the screening audience I viewed Volcano with seemed to enjoy it immensely, hooting and hollering and laughing as though it were an old episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000."

"director Jackson and his crew (who made good use of hand-held and Steadicam shots and reportedly averaged an impressive 30 to 40 camera setups a day) move so quickly from shot to shot and location to location that viewers have a limited time to dwell on the film's predictable implausibilities."

"?Kenneth Turan, writing for the Los Angeles Times

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post, openly wondered why "there's no volcano in "Volcano"?" Explaining herself, she detailed how "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." She thought "they should have called the picture "Lava," since the red-hot goo presents the principal threat to protagonist Mike Roark (stalwart Tommy Lee Jones), whose ingenuity is all that stands between the burbling goo and the city of Los Angeles." She concluded her review by declaring that "While disaster yarns aren't known for subtlety, there are limits, and Volcano giddily goes beyond them. Director Mick Jackson, who also made Steve Martin's wry "L.A. Story," must have had his hands full with the logistics of this bombastic extravaganza. He sets a blistering pace, but the movie never generates any real thrills." In a slightly more upbeat tone, Todd McCarthy of Variety saw Volcano delivering "enough spectacular action to get it off to a hot B.O. start" and 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."

Box office

Volcano premiered in cinemas on April 25, 1997. At its widest distribution in the U.S., the film was screened at 2,777 theaters. The film grossed $14,581,740 in box office business averaging $5,256 in revenue per theater in its opening weekend. During that first weekend in release, the film opened in first place beating out the films Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion and Anaconda. The film's revenue dropped by 37% in its second week of release, earning $9,099,743. In the month of June during its final weekend showing in theaters, the film came out in 12th place grossing $602,076. The film went on to top out domestically at $49,323,468 in total ticket sales through a 7-week theatrical run. Internationally, the film took in an additional $73,500,000 in box office business for a combined total of $122,823,468. For 1997 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 39.

Home media

Following its cinematic release in theaters, the film was released in VHS video format on May 26, 1998. 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. Currently, there is no scheduled release date set for a future Blu-ray Disc version of the film. As of July 2011, the film is available in HD via Netflix streaming.