Volcano (1997)

Volcano is a 1997 American disaster film directed by Mick Jackson and produced by Andrew Z. Davis, Neal H. Moritz and Lauren Shuler Donner. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray. The film features Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, and Don Cheadle. Jones is cast as the head of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management (LAC OEM), which has complete authority in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. His character attempts to divert the path of a dangerous lava flow through the streets of Los Angeles following the formation of a volcano at the La Brea Tar Pits.

A joint collective effort to commit to the film's production was made by the film studios of 20th Century Fox, Moritz Original and Shuler Donner/Donner Productions. It was commercially distributed by 20th Century Fox. Volcano explores civil viewpoints, such as awareness, evacuation and crisis prevention. Although the film used extensive special effects, it failed to receive any award nominations from mainstream motion picture organizations for its production merits.

Volcano premiered in theaters nationwide in the United States on April 25, 1997 grossing $49,323,468 in domestic ticket receipts, on a $90 million budget. It earned an additional $73.5 million in business through international release to top out at a combined $122,823,468 in gross revenue. Despite its release and recognition, Dante's Peak (which was released 2 months before) gained more commercial success than Volcano. It was also met with mixed critical reviews before its initial screening in cinemas. The Region 1 code widescreen edition of the film featuring special features was released on DVD in the United States on March 9, 1999.

In downtown Los Angeles, an earthquake strikes. Michael Roark, the director of the city's Office of Emergency Management, insists on coming to work to help out with the crisis, although he has been on vacation with his daughter Kelly. His associate, Emmit Reese, notes that the quake caused no major damage, but seven utility workers are later burned to death in a storm drain at MacArthur Park. One escapes and survives, but is severely burned on one side of his face. As a precaution, Roark tries to halt the subway lines that run parallel, but Los Angeles MTA Chairman Stan Olber opposes, feeling that there is no threat to the trains. Against regulations, Roark and his coworker Gator Harris venture down the storm sewer in the park to investigate. They barely escape when hot gases suddenly spew out of a crack in the concrete lining and flood the tunnel. C.I.G.S. Geologist Dr. Amy Barnes believes that a volcano may be forming beneath the city with magma flowing underground. Unfortunately, she has insufficient evidence to make Roark take action.^[2]

The next morning, at around 5:15 A.M., Barnes, and her assistant Rachel, venture in the storm sewer to investigate the scene of the incident. They discover the crack in the ground that released the gases earlier. While taking samples, a more powerful earthquake strikes, and Rachel is killed when she falls into the crack that is later engulfed by a rush of the hot gases. A subway train derails underground, and power is knocked out across the city. Minutes later, steam explodes from the sewer system, and in the La Brea Tar Pits, volcanic smoke and ash billow out, followed by lava bombs that burst out of the tar pits, which ignite several buildings.

Roark helps injured firefighters out of the area. Moments later, a newly formed underground volcano erupts from the tar pits, and lava begins to flow freely down Wilshire Boulevard, incinerating everything in its path, including Roark's Sport utility vehicle, and an LAFD fire truck downed by a lava bomb, killing two firefighters inside. Roark and his daughter become separated as she is injured when a lava bomb burns her leg, and she is taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by Dr. Jaye Calder.

In the red line metro tunnel, the passengers in the derailed subway train are exposed to severe heat and toxic gases, which causes them all to eventually lose consciousness. The train driver tries but fails to open the doors along the length of the train, until reaching the rear where he sees the incoming lava flow in the tunnel hundreds of meters away. Meanwhile, Olber leads his team through the tunnel to the derailed train, searching for survivors. They manage to save everyone, but Olber notices that the train driver is still missing and goes back; he finds the driver alive but unconscious, just as the lava reaches the train and begins to flow underneath it. Olber sacrifices his life by jumping into the lava flow, throwing the driver to safety. Roark, Barnes, and police lieutenant Ed Fox devise a plan to stack concrete barriers at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, creating a cul-de-sac to pool the lava as helicopters dump water on it and all fire fighters open their hoses to form a crust, making the operation a success. However Barnes later theorizes that the magma is still flowing underground through the Red Line subway extension, and calculates that the main eruption will occur at the end of the line at the Beverly Center near Cedars-Sinai. To prove this, Barnes and Roark lower a video camera into the tunnel to watch it, only for the camera to be incinerated by a fast-moving flow of lava. They calculate the speed and realize that they have thirty minutes until the lava flows reaches the end of the Red Line.

Through Roark's direction, explosives are used to create channels in the street to divert the flow of lava into Ballona Creek, which will later flow into the Pacific Ocean, but Barnes realizes that the street is sloping in the opposite direction, and instead, the lava would flow directly towards the injured patients. Roark devises another plan to demolish a twenty-two story condominium building to block the lava's path from flowing towards the medical area and the rest of the Los Angeles West Side. Gator refuses to abandon an LAPD SWAT cop, who has gotten trapped under a fallen ventilation duct while slotting explosive charges when it fell on him due to the tremors. At that point, the lava reaches the dead end of the subway tunnel extension, and bursts out of the ground in a massive geyser. Gator and the officer sacrifice their lives to detonate the final explosive charge by giving Fox the all-clear to ignite the charges. Roark then spots Kelly nearby, trying to retrieve a small boy who wandered off, putting them in the direct path of the collapsing building. Roark barely manages to save both of them from being crushed as the building collapses. The plan is successful, and the lava flows directly into the ocean. Roark escapes from the wreckage with Kelly and the young child still alive. The death toll is nearly a hundred people, thousands injured, and damages in billions. It starts to rain, with surviving civilians having a sigh a relief. Reese shows up with the family dog Max, along with a call from the police chief on how to rebuild the city. Roark tells Reese that he is on vacation after all, and to tell the chief that too, as he goes home with Kelly while Reese takes over to handle the situation.

The film ends by displaying a graphic stating that the volcano, named "Mount Wilshire", is still in an active state as the intro to I Love L.A. plays.