Volcano
Volcano Image
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Metascore
55 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critics What's this?

User Score
5.9 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 14 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Starring: Anne Heche, Tommy Lee Jones
  • Summary: Beneath the famed La Brea Tar Pits, a raging volcano pushes to the surface, raining a storm of deadly firebombs and an endless tide of white-hot lava upon the stunned City of Angels in this pulse-pounding action thriller! (Fox)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 22
  3. Negative: 3 out of 22
  1. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: John Krewson
    90
    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.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    80
    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.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    The fun is in the mayhem, and there's plenty of it.
  4. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    38
    This is a surprisingly cheesy disaster epic.

See all 22 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. BrandonL.
    10
    Excellent movie. Tommy Lee Jones' best film to date. Also, it's the best disaster film ever, even better then "The Day After Tomorrow."
  2. KyleM
    6
    Good special effects. could've easily been better. its no dantes peak.
  3. Tss5078
    6
    The story is ridiculous, a volcano in the middle of L.A.? It's hard to believe and kind of hard to follow. The story starts out very strong, but descends into chaos as everything happens at once. A lot is going on and it's a jumble of impossible acts, which include stopping lava with a bus, a blown up building, and finally the sewers. At points it's more than just impossible, it's ridiculous! The only reason I liked this movie is Tommy Lee Jones, I love Jones and he once again shows that he can carry a film on his back. He's done it before, he'll do it again, and he did it here. Without Jones, this movie stinks, it's his distinctive, energetic, and authoritative personality which makes this film interesting. The movie is utterly ridiculous, yet Jones keeps you interested. Volcano may not be a movie you run out and buy, but if it's on cable, Jones will definitely keep your attention and get you to watch it.… Expand
  4. hoops2448
    3
    Volcano is a shallow, effects heavy disaster movie that looks and feels like a Roland Emmerich film, which is not meant as a complement. Volcano just feels empty of emotion, common sense and character. It substitutes all of it for special effects that are now incredibly dated leaving a film with very few redeeming features. That being said, Tommy Lee Jones is always reliable in almost anything he is in and is a entertaining lead. He is let down by Anne Heche who isn't bad, but she is miscast with her never meshing with the film. That may be because the script is awful but it's probably the fact the film feels chaotic and she is always bizarrely chirpy. In fact the films chaotic feel actually makes the whole film seem messy which isn't helped by the fact the story is borderline nonsensical. Overall it's a film that hasn't held up over time due to some terrible writing, casting and special effects. All in all it's really really bad.… Expand

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