Volcano

After slogging through the infernally boring Dante's Peak (see VL-7/97), I didn't relish spending another two hours watching lava flow, but director Mitch Jackson's Volcano--while never stepping one toenail out of Cliché City--delivers the action film goods. Tommy Lee Jones is his usual take-charge self as Mike Roark, head of Los Angeles's Office of Emergency Management, who is spending a little quality vacation time with his teenage daughter when the ultimate bad hair day begins: we're talking earthquakes, fire, fissures, lava, falling buildings, smoke, ash, bureaucratic buttheads, and only Roark and geologist Anne Hecht (recently famous as Ellen's real-life main squeeze) can save Los Angeles from the hell it--let's be honest, because this is part of the fun--so richly deserves. Yes, there are holes in the script bigger than the San Andreas Fault, as well as contrived bits and some two-fisted ham acting. No matter; it's a fun ride. Recommended. (R. Pitman)