Volcano

"It's hotter than hell."

1997 1h 44m EN

😐

6.0

MID

🥫

48%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.6

IMDB

★6.0TMDB · 1,772🥫48%Rotten Tomatoes●54Metacritic★5.6IMDB · 86,213

Science FictionActionDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“It's hotter than hell.”

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Cast

Tommy Lee Jones
Mike Roark
Anne Heche
Dr. Amy Barnes
Gaby Hoffmann
Kelly Roark
Don Cheadle
Emmit Reese
Jacqueline Kim
Dr. Jaye Calder
Keith David
Lt. Ed Fox
John Corbett
Norman Calder
Michael Rispoli
Gator Harris

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mick Jackson
Writers: Billy Ray, Jerome Armstrong, Jerome Armstrong
Languages: German, Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $90M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

267+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mick Jackson, shot by Theo van de Sande. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alan Silvestri. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Tronick shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche and Gaby Hoffmann carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mick Jackson directs. Theo van de Sande behind the camera. Alan Silvestri scores. Michael Tronick cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in German, Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $90M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
229 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, Spanish, English.
4267+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Mick Jackson, shot by Theo van de Sande. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Alan Silvestri. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Michael Tronick shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche and Gaby Hoffmann carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "It's hotter than hell.".
10IMDB entry: tt0120461 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 16 themes, including "lava", "subway", "volcano", "volcanology".

The technical file

Cinematography: Theo van de Sande
Original score: Alan Silvestri
Editing: Michael Tronick
Production design: Jackson De Govia
Makeup / hair: Michael Mills
VFX supervisor: Mat Beck
Sound: Gary Summers
Stunt coordinator: Mic Rodgers
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $90,000,000
Box office: $122,823,468
Return: 136% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Volcano (1997)
Rotten Tomatoes: 48% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 54/100
IMDB rating: 5.6/10 · 86,213 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

1 win & 1 nomination total

Also by

Mick Jackson

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-05-27
★ 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.

Production companies