After seeing both “Volcano” and “Dante’s Peak” - similar movies with similar flaws - I am only left to wonder, what is the obsession with dogs?
In both of these disaster movies, there is a really annoying scene where a dog narrowly skirts death, while humans all around it are being threatened and seem to have a much greater chance of death than the animals.
In fact, the nature of the “dog scene” seems indicative of the quality of each movie. “Dante’s Peak,” with its melodramatic, completely unbelievable canine rescue, was a similarly outrageous movie. “Volcano,” on the other hand, had an only mildly pathetic, relatively believable dog scene.
For this reason, “Volcano” was not nearly as painful to watch, and was a far superior movie.
The degree of seriousness with which each movie addressed itself was also a determining factor in its entertainment value. While “Volcano” was more believable, it still understood that the plot was a little silly, and knew it wasn’t really in line for the 1997 Best Picture Oscar.
Continuing the comparison, Tommy Lee Jones proved a much better lead actor than Pierce Brosnan. As the movie did, Jones didn’t take his part too seriously, and this attitude paid off. While Brosnan spent his movie being a stunt double in and out of the action scenes, Jones actually developed a character.
Jones plays Mike Roark, the head of the Los Angeles Office of Emergency Management, who becomes the leader of the city’s defense when seismic activity takes place. He is soon established as quick-witted, and most often right.
To make a long story short, lava starts pouring out of the La Brea Tar Pits and down Wilshire Avenue, threatening a million lives and most of L.A. The lava itself is half the entertainment of the film. The idea of lava flowing through the city streets of a major metropolis has never really made it to film before, and it will prove to be tough to top this effort.
Somehow, this somewhat feeble plot turns into a fairly suspenseful action picture where it is equally exciting to watch the lava and guess what is going to happen next.
Even besides Tommy Lee Jones, the performances in “Volcano” are as good as those in “Dante’s Peak” were bad. Anne Heche, as a feminist scientist, and the always-impressive Don Cheadle, as Jones’s second-in-command, contributed a great deal to the film with their slightly over-the-top portrayals of stereotypes.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I hated “Dante’s Peak,” and saw everything in “Volcano” that I wish I would’ve seen in the other one. I only hope that in future volcano movies, someone will think to kill the dog.
Grade: B+