by Paul Pruitt
Staff Writer
With a catch phrase like "The Coast is Toast," Volcano initially appeared to be another flashy but weak disaster film like Twister or Dante's Peak. Surprisingly, though, Volcano is in a category all its own.
When I saw the advertisements and other promotions on television and in the papers, I figured this film was going to be the usual disappointment that looks great in the ads, but is an overall waste of time once you're in the theater. I have never been so mistaken.
This is hard to explain though, because there is virtually no plot at all. A volcano erupts in L.A., and the authorities work together to redirect the lava flow away from people and buildings.
What was really great were the special effects. It looked as if this disaster actually happened, and a film crew happened to be there to document it all. Director Mick Jackson (L.A. Story, The Bodyguard ) said, "The great thing about lava is that you can't stop it. Anything that is put in its way catches on fire. It has all the characteristics of the best movie villain: You cannot kill it."
Halfway through the film, I overheard an audience member behind me proclaim, "I am never going to California." The movie was so real it was plain scary to watch. I'm not ashamed to admit that at times I could not hold back the tears for the onscreen victims as the lava overcame the helpless inhabitants. The patriarch of the film is Mike Roark, director of the Office of Emergency Management (a real agency), played by Tommy Lee Jones. He collaborates to divert the hot stuff with the matriarch, university seismologist Dr. Amy Barnes (Anne Heche, who most recently co-starred with Johnny Depp in Donnie Brasco).
The interaction between the two was balanced just right. Every time they talk, you think they are about to kiss.
Screenwriter Jerome Armstrong got the idea for the script from an article in Scientific American about tectonic plates, and how magma can rise between two of them as lava. He said the story depicted the Los Angeles area as being "somewhat vulnerable" to volcanic activity.
A component of the film that was totally unexpected was a powerfully executed underlying theme of racial equality. When the volcano erupts, everyone in the city bands together: black, white, Hispanic and others. In the aftermath, a policeman carrying a little boy asks him what his mother looks like. The boy looks around at the people of all races, covered in ashes, and says that everybody looks the same.
Volcano is the best film I have seen this year, and I urge everyone to go out and see it as soon as possible. You might as well do it now, because if you don't, everyone else will be talking about it. This film is an instant classic, in the same category as Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and King Kong.