Just getting over the aftershock of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the Los Angeles area now had to deal with other major issues. If it wasn't drive-by shootings, it was the destruction of old historical buildings to put in mini-malls as well as the expansion of the red line into Beverly Hills, a fight that would eventually cease and leave the end of the line in Hollywood. But there's magma forming underground, and that is even a bigger problem for an already freaky city where film crews didn't even have to leave town to get to.MacArthur Park really will be melting on the dark if something isn't done, and when the bubbles start a brewin' in the La Brea tar pits, trouble is definitely on the way. At the helm of the investigation into what's bubblin' up is a straight faced Tommy Lee Jones (assisted by Don Cheadle) who quickly puts two and two together, getting a two minute warning of pending disaster. The result is the return of the disaster movie genre, off the box office roster since the mid 1970's.I have fond memories of seeing this at the Beverly Connection cinema, right across the street from where much of it took place. To say that the audience reaction to this was just a little weird is an understatement. The conclusion brought the volcano literally under my seat, adding a ton of fun to my film going experience. This is a mixture of disaster, only the slightest of family subplot interference, growing intensely as it moves on, and featuring a feisty Carole Lombard like performance by Anne Heche as a geological expert.Released almost simultaneously with the similar but more rustic "Dante's Peak", this never slips up like more recent disaster films that crossed the line on credibility, although the character played by Gaby Hoffman (as Jones' teenaged daughter) starts to get on ones nerves after a bit due to her selfishness. There's also a bit with a racist cop that could have been done away with. Scenes of genuine tragedy happen with two trapped firemen in an overturned truck and an MTA employee trapped underground are gruesome and caused violent shaking when I saw this again. I happen to prefer "Dante's Peak" over this, but this has comedy, tension, conflict, a little bit of romance, a bit of real L.A. history that I experienced, and none of the excess garbage that pretty much ruined the new wave of disaster films that came out following the millennium.

A Beautiful day in L.A., it's business as usual; we are introduced to Mike and Kelly Roark. Mike ( Tommy Lee Jones)is head of the O.E.M.- Office of Emergency Management. Kelly( Gaby Hoffman) is his 13 yr.old daughter; and Mike is very overprotective of her. When a 4.9 earthquake happens just outside of Palmdale, Mike calls a babysitter( his neighbor) to watch her. He has to go into work and doesn't want to leave her alone. He feels she is too young, doesn't know what to do, and has a tendency to panic in an emergency. Meanwhile the quake has messed up the underground rail system in L.A.. Stan( John Carroll Lynch) is head of the M.T.A.. While working they are standing around taking bets on the epicenter, whoever wins gets the cash pile. Mike also works with Emmitt Reese(Don Chelde), who is an eager beaver who wants Mike's job badly; and Gator( Michael Rispoli) who thinks Reese wants his job. When an explosion happens while 7 DWP(Dept. Water and Power) workers are down underground, all but one is killed. Theories start to arise that maybe a new fault system has developed. Mike goes to the scene of the explosion and the first thing that comes to his mind is a massive steam explosion. When the only surviving victim arrives at the hospital, it's ruled out steam didn't burn the victim. It was something containing sulfur and other gases that have. When Gator and Mike decide to investigate below the storm drain, they are baffled. Roark decides it's time to talk to other O.E.M. members and city officials to get a scientist involved. As Mike and Gator leave activity begins to arise in La Brea Tar Pits.The next day at the O.E.M. office Stan brings in Dr. Amy Barnes( AnneHeche) from the California Geological Institute(C.G.I.). She and Mike go to MacArthur Park to the tar pits. Dr. Barnes and her colleague, Rachel(Laurie Lathem) have been taking temperature readings of the lake. They both discover temperature has increased 6 degrees in 12 hours. She explains to Mike the only thing that can contribute that is a major geological event. She begins to explain to him it could be a fissure that has opened, creating lava. Mike brushes it off, a Volcano in L.A. no way. Barnes and Rachel decide they have to investigate more below, like early in the morning when their is little security. The next morning they start their investigation; meanwhile tremors keep happening. Barnes and Rachel find samples of sulfur, Magnesium, as well as other gases. Rachel goes further down, and finds a opening so she begins to take samples. It's about 6 a.m., and a stronger earthquake comes again. When this happens Rachel and Barnes are still down in the tunnel; and the ground opens up. The ground opens wider swallowing Rachel, Barnes tries to save her; but it's too late. Once Rachel is taken a lava flow is seen. Mike is called in, and takes his daughter with him. At this point L.A. is completely dark, and in a sea of ash. Mike is trying to comfort his daughter while all this is going on. The city is on fire, and Roark is administering first aid to the victims caught in it's wrath. While Roark is bandaging people up, he is on the phone to police Lt. Fox(Kieth David). Mike turns around and notices that his daughter is out of the car in trouble. He runs to his daughter rescuing her, he then notices that Amy Barnes has shown up. All of a sudden it is the calm before the storm; it gets really quiet. Then lava bombs and lava spew out of the tar pits taking with it everything. Barnes and Roark help get this man out of the way by using a F.D. ladder truck. It is complete chaos, Mike Roark, Amy Barnes, and O.E.M. decide to send all casualties to Cedars Sinai Hospital. It is the only hospital not in the path of this flow. Roark talks to all emergency officials, and decides to come up with a plan to stop it. The plan is with K-Rails( Concrete Highway) dividers. They will place them in a horseshoe patter to stop the flow, with the help of tons of pool water to cool the lava. The plan works, but Dr. Barnes discovers that the flow is going to turn. The worst is yet to come and Roark thinks it's over.Barnes discovers a new threat while investigating below the subway system. She call Roark, tell him about it. A bigger Explosion is about to blow on Wilshire and West. Barnes and Roark discover a massive lava flow underneath that is headed toward Ceaders Sinai. To stop this disaster Barnes, Roark and O.E.M. devise a new plan. They call in a demolition team to construct a dam, by blowing a building. When they blow the building a trench is formed just in time; leading the lava out to the Pacific. This film is non-stop action from beginning to end. The cast is excellent, especially Anne Heche and Tommy Lee Jones. The special effects are superb and no one needed to call George Lucas in on it. I would recommend this thriller to anyone, it's a non-stop thrill ride from 1997.

Disaster movies have been popular ever since Clark Gable survived the 1906 earthquake in "San Francisco." Decades later, producer Irwin Allen raised the disaster-movie stakes with all-star casts that battled capsized ocean liners and burning high-rises. Unfortunately, Irwin Allen had no hand in "Volcano," and the stars featured are limited to Tommy Lee Jones and Don Cheadle, unless viewers consider Anne Heche a star. Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray's nonsensical screenplay focuses on the destruction wrought in Los Angeles by the eruption of a newly formed volcano that rises from the La Brea Tar Pits.Director Mick Jackson keeps the action swirling to distract viewers from the implausible events taking place on screen. "Volcano" is one of those films in which characters have arguments or emotional interchanges while molten lava fast approaches, but apparently does not emit any heat, because the mindless chat continues. Of course, kids and dogs are spared, shattered glass falling from skyscrapers lands harmlessly on the lead actors, hair-breadth escapes abound, fire fighters have time to stand and cheer while buildings burn around them, and the initially antagonistic Jones and Heche form a mutual admiration society at fadeout. Jones and Cheadle must have appeared for the money, and both emerge relatively unscathed. Heche and Gaby Hoffman as Jones's daughter are best left unmentioned; the rest of the cast is best left in the embers.The essential key to a successful disaster movie is the quality of the special effects, and those in "Volcano" fail to get a passing grade. Fire, lava, explosions, falling glass may sound exciting, but, by the final credits, the film has become a reddish blur, and viewers have long lost interest in who survived and who did not; we never got to know any of them anyway. "Volcano" makes the earlier Los Angeles disaster flick, "Earthquake," seem like "Citizen Kane;" at least that 1974 entry had Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and George Kennedy leading the cast. "Volcano's" best moment is a fleeting glimpse of Fox News anchor Shepard Smith.

Volcano (1997) It's a good film, got some nice effects, action and drama but there's not a lot of science or thinking behind it. If you're looking for this sort of thing it's great but there is definitely better disaster movies out there.In addition, you're probably going to have to wait a while for it to get started but then after that it's literally lots and lots of lava/ fire even though it's still pretty average. It also has the potential of being so much better as the plots good and same goes for the characters.I personally thought it was an interesting film, and I wouldn't mind watching it again. I do recommend watching it.