lukem-52760 Review of Volcano

Volcano (1997)

A FANTASTIC 90's DISASTER THRILLER WITH AN EXCELLENT TOMMY LEE JONES

[7/10 · 28 November 2020]

I loved the 90's resurgence of the Disaster movie that was cemented as a Genre back in the 1970's but like a Volcano that genre laid dormant for a long time until the 90's exploded with huge, big budget Disaster films with the likes of VOLCANO, DANTE'S PEAK, TWISTER, INDEPENDENCE DAY, DEEP IMPACT, ARMAGEDDON, DAYLIGHT & even JURASSIC PARK could be considered a Disaster movie!!! There's probably more that i haven't mentioned but those were the "Big Ones" & i consider Dante's Peak & Volcano the very best of the bunch. I've always been a big Tommy Lee Jones fan after The Fugitive & Men In Black & U.S Marshalls, Batman Forever, Under Seige, among others as the 90's were his glory days as a star & here he gets his own big budget summertime Blockbuster with his name written big above the title on the poster, this is his film & he's the main star lead of the whole damn thing & he's excellent as our rugged hero lead as he runs about Los Angeles trying to rescue everyone & save the city from a big erupted Volcano spilling out a river of scorching hot lava, Tommy is great & i love his voice & his smart authoritative manner & he puts it all to good use here. There's a nice ensemble cast to round out the supporting characters with Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffman, Don Cheadle & Keith David. I totally love the Thrilling & exciting music score by the legendary ALAN SILVESTRI (Predator 1&2, Judgment Night, Death Becomes Her, Back to the Future & so many more) & the look of the sticky hot summertime LA is captured beautifully on screen & i loved the opening of the movie just showing LA in the morning with everyone going about their day as usual & busyness of it all with not knowing what's growing under the famous city, it's just an exciting & lovely 90's opening especially with the music. The special effects still hold up beautifully & the production design is perfect for a Disaster movie & the most important thing for this big budget popcorn movie is it's simply FUN & full of entertainment. As the City of Angeles starts to crumble & the lava flows through the streets we follow Tommy Lee Jones on his mission to save it all if he can & it's a thrilling & fun experience, i love 90's movies. My favourite Tommy Lee Jones "Vehicle" movie