Volcano (1997) Critic Reviews

Deft filmmaking that allows the special effects to help, not be, the story combines with an actual script to make Volcano a smart, self-aware, and most of all fun disaster movie.Read the full review

But a great sense of pace is a wonderful thing, and director Jackson and his crew (who made good use of hand-held and Steadicam shots and reportedly averaged an impressive 30 to 40 camera setups a day) move so quickly from shot to shot and location to location that viewers have a limited time to dwell on the film's predictable implausibilities.Read the full review

In fact, this is one of the best pure disaster movies ever made (not that it has much competition). Congratulations to director Mick Jackson for a job well done.Read the full review

A furiously paced popcorn picture whose outrageous implausibility is somewhat amusing, Volcano delivers enough spectacular action to get it off to a hot B.O. start, although like the lava in the picture, it may not flow quite as far as anticipated.Read the full review

I had a pretty good time at Volcano. The reason I didn't have a better time is that the characters aren't just schlocky, they're boring.Read the full review

In Volcano, the thrills are so well wrought that they eventually lose their novelty and become numbing.Read the full review

You hope against hope that the lava flowing through the city will wipe out Los Angeles and everyone in it, if only to prevent them from making more movies like this.Read the full review

With its fake-looking technology and empty characters, Volcano eventually becomes as obvious as its what-if premise.Read the full review

While disaster yarns aren't known for subtlety, there are limits, and Volcano giddily goes beyond them.Read the full review