Supervolcano (2005)

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I found that the show was very well done, the acting wasn't what I would have expected from that kind of TV docudrama. The information stated in the film was accurate and it was presented in a believable manner. I also liked the special effects thought I think some of the clips from the first eruption vent were taken from Dante's Peak. Anyway, I enjoyed it and I will watch it every time it's on. Not to mention Tom Brokaw at the end with his after the film documentary is a plus. I really hope that I can buy this film on DVD. My father saw a part of it when it was on Thursday on Discovery Science I think and he would really like to see the whole show.

I came upon this today while clicking through the channels and was amazed how good it was.A volcano is a difficult subject for a film because there's not going to be a scene where the hero defeats it. The best that he can hope for is to outrun it (Pierce Brosnan in DANTE'S PEAK) or find a way to divert the lava flow (Tommy Lee Jones in VOLCANO). But that doesn't give the audience the same satisfaction as seeing Ripley in the original ALIEN launch the monster into the vacuum of space.Based on the program that came on after the movie, this is an all too possible event. The last time it blew its top was some 600,000 years ago. It may be another 600,000 or it could be tomorrow.The movie isn't meant to be fun. It's a very sober examination of the fact that despite all our technology we stand helpless against Nature's wrath.It helps that the Canadian cast was totally unfamiliar to me. There weren't any actors that I could figure always/never get killed off in this.No heroes. No bad guys. Just people trying to muddle through the best they can.It reminded me of an excellent movie called THREADS that dealt with the threat of nuclear war in a mature, hysteria free manner.Way to go, Discovery Channel.

This movie brings to light what might happen if the lava in the caldera (which is really most of the Yellowstone park ) should rise. The results might be a massive volcanic eruption. We already see evidence of volcanic changes in the park which were pointed out in the TV discussion after the movie. The lake is tipping, the recent deaths of Buffalo bison in the area from escaping gas, and some increases of tremors. Of course it might not happen in our life time but the movie had a good base it what might happen in the future. Well acted, great visual effects. However the walk for life in which some of the people of the tragedy escape was completely passed over. How did they survive might be a story of its own. This movie is great in it makes you think. Discuss with your friends what and if this should happen what could we do and how would we cope with it.

Mild Spoiler Alert!!!The first wrong note this speculative drama started with was the ridiculous holographic display. The excuse that this was set in "the near future" doesn't work as everything else in the film is exactly as they are today. Then an unusual number of British actors appeared in roles that should have been casted to American actors. That probably doesn't make much of a difference to the non-English speaking backers of this film. Then we get inserted "interviews" like they do in those crime re-creation shows. The writing is frequently not very good and the actors were suffering for it. The shock edit techniques got tiresome early on. One actor seemed to have been instructed to imitate Mr. Scott from Star Trek. The whole thing was getting like those bad made-for-TV movies on the Sci-Fi Channel here. I was ready to find something else to watch.Then the first eruption happens and suddenly the film take a good turn. It gets very tense and urgent. The tone changes for the better and stays that way until about 10 minutes before the end when the film loses focus again.The science is much better than anything out of the Hollywood disaster machine lately. But that really isn't much to be proud of. Just turning by on the Weather Channel after the film was premiered, you could easily see that if a similar event happened just then, the outcome would be much different. Most of the ash would be deposited in Cannda, not that that wouldn't be with out it's own set of problems for the world.By the end I was wondering what the point of it all was. I had the strange feeling that this was all some sort of British fantasy about the lousy yanks getting their just desserts. Sort of like how "Rocky" was really a white boys revenge fantasy on African Americans. Or the many Hollywood films of the 1980's and 90's where the black character is killed off halfway thru the film as a subtle way to tell African-Americans that it wasn't a good idea to be heroic or try to be successful. Interestingly, something like this happens in Supervolcano when the ONLY black character in the film is killed by the volcano.On a technical note, the film was shown in a 3 hour time slot with plenty of commercial breaks and a 30 minute mini-documentary hosted by Tom Brokaw. I assume that nothing was cut.