Volcano main backdrop
Volcano main poster

5.9/10 • 1.6K

1997-04-251h 44m

Science FictionActionDramaThriller

The coast is toast.

An earthquake shatters a peaceful Los Angeles morning and opens a fissure deep into the earth, causing lava to start bubbling up. As a volcano begins forming in the La Brea Tar Pits, the director of the city's emergency management service, working with a geologist, must then use every resource in the city to try and stop the volcano from consuming LA.

Directors
Mick Jackson
Editors
Don Brochu

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Tommy Lee Jones

    Tommy Lee Jones

    Mike Roark

  2. Anne Heche

    Anne Heche

    Dr. Amy Barnes

  3. Gaby Hoffmann

    Gaby Hoffmann

    Kelly Roark

  4. Don Cheadle

    Don Cheadle

    Emmit Reese

  5. Jacqueline Kim

    Jacqueline Kim

    Dr. Jaye Calder

  6. Keith David

    Keith David

    Lt. Ed Fox

  7. John Corbett

    John Corbett

    Norman Calder

  8. Michael Rispoli

    Michael Rispoli

    Gator Harris

  9. John Carroll Lynch

    John Carroll Lynch

    Stan Olber

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

May 27, 2023

6/10

When Los Angeles starts blowing off a little more steam than usual, it falls to disaster emergency supremo "Rourke" (Tommy Lee Jones) to find out what is going on - and when that turns out to be an impending volcanic eruption, he enlists the help of "Dr. Barnes" (Anne Heche) to stop it destroying the city. To be fair, there are plenty of great pyrotechnics and the film pretty much starts in fourth gear - but the ending really lets it down. Not the science, that's quite entertaining as they have to use subway tunnels, storm drains and quite a bit of dynamite; it's the "have to rescue my daughter" nonsense that spoiled it for me. Maybe there ought to be a rule that anyone charged with such responsibility is not permitted to have a teenage child anywhere within a 200 mile radius of their zone of responsibility? Yes, there are plausibility issues too - has the construction industry really been hoodwinking us all for so long? Is demolition really this easy? It's still quite an enjoyable disaster movie, though, that shows well the dedication and commitment of the emergency services when it comes to scenarios like this, but most of the drama is noisily contrived and the performances are merely adequate.

Media

  • Volcano poster
  • Volcano poster
  • Volcano poster
  • Volcano poster
  • Volcano poster
  • Volcano poster
  • Volcano poster
  • Volcano poster
  • Volcano poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$90,000,000.00
Revenue
$122,823,468.00
Keywords
lavasubwayvolcanovolcanologyburned alivedisasterlos angeles, californiadisaster moviefiremenabsurdambiguousaudaciousawestruckdefiantembarrassedvibrant