Leofwine_draca MAGMA: VOLCANIC DISASTER is a low key disaster film of the 2000s, barely remembered by anybody a decade later. It stars the constantly underrated Xander Berkeley, an actor I've been a fan of ever since I saw him in TERMINATOR 2, playing a vulcanologist who warns of the imminent eruption of volcanoes around the world. What follows is a by-the-numbers thriller full of insipid performances from everyone who isn't Berkeley, alongside poor scripting and the usual gamut of terrible and cheesy CGI effects. It's a shame that Berkeley's protagonist is so dull here because he alone carries the film and is the only worthwhile thing in it.

drystyx This film about an impending volcanic disaster that threatens the planet has a lot of upside.Formula films like this depend on writing and directing, even more than the acting. The direction here is logical, and the writing is pretty good.What makes or breaks such a film is the writing of the characters, and of being natural, or what we call in writing, "not expository".This pretty well does that. The characters are good for the most part. There are two poorly written characters, though, that bring this down. The usual naysayer, like the mayor who denies there is a shark at the beach, and the martyr.The movie would have been more of a "film" with these two characters toned down, especially the martyr. It must have been a tough role for the actor, because he seriously doesn't have motivation written into the role.What really works for this film is the lack of "contrivance", the ability to not "play God". This is something that movies did too much from about 1965 till about 1985. Whether you play God to kill ogres or to kill nice people, it looks contrived when you do it.This movie lets the cards like where they lie. It's as though they rolled the dice to see who might become a victim of the volcano. The people who are engulfed in lava are credible people, likable enough, not overly, but three dimensionally. One doesn't feel like one is being preached to.Hoping that isn't a spoiler. I hope instead that it gives an idea of what to expect, and if you're into a natural film with good characters and writing, you will appreciate this. If you are into the usual preachy movies, you won't.

tombo19842000 Has to be said that for a volcano disaster movie it was pretty pants. I mean no matter how much of a hurry you are your always going to be careful of where you put your foot aren't you... I mean when that chap accidentally 'steps' in the lava at the start...? Oh and 'i think there is lava inside that mine, why don't we go and have a look' seems to spell disaster...Plus you don't see any famous landmarks being destroyed, you just hear about them...? Oh no most of Rome's been destroyed...? Yeah well lets see? This could have been a brilliant film... Especially if they switched a couple of characters about and gave the lass that played Michelle in 24 more screen time...My biggest moan is when the people are trapped between the burning woods and lava in the Yellowstone national park. They just stand there and let themselves be melted by he lava... *beep* that, id make a run through the burning trees! So many things disappointed me about this film... Oh well... Lets hope the next volcano disaster movies are better.Watching Terror Peak and Volcano in New York soon... Fingers crossed... So far my fav out of this one, Volcano (LA), Dantes Peak and The Volcano Disaster is The Volcano Disaster... A very underrated movie which i love...

julian kennedy Magma: Volcanic Disaster: 5 out of 10: The always watchable Xander Berkley (24) and the impish Amy Jo Johnson (Pink Power Ranger) lead a surprisingly solid cast down made for television disaster movie hell.With Made for TV disaster movies the questions are not how good are certain elements but how mind numbingly awful will these elements be. Stack the deck with the terrifying fact this is a made for Sci-fi Channel Disaster movie (Only PAX is worse) and anything above pure pain is a feat of cinematic luck. This is not pure pain.As I said the leads were watchable and the screenplay liked to actually kill off characters on screen which is a nice touch. In addition Amy Jo Johnson's attempts to simultaneously bed Xander Berkley and save his marriage were more entertaining than anything else in the movie. (Usually in disaster movies these subplots put the "T" in tedium.) Alas the rest of the movie is a true disaster and both the screenwriter and the effects/sets departments share blame. First off all most natural disasters are not caused by man. Perhaps a look near a dictionary for the definition of natural might clear this up.The idea that nuclear testing and chemical waste is polluting the core of the earth (it's solid by the way and starts about 400 miles below the surface) causing it to expand is not the most ridiculous premise for a movie (that is shared by this film's bigger sister The Core, The Day After Tomorrow and Sixteen Candles) but it is close.As for the special effects guys I know the CGI lava looks bad and the model subs are wanting but if you're going to put the characters in a lava tunnel perhaps one without actual lights attached on the walls would be better. And what kind of underground mine was that anyway? It looked like a Styrofoam tunnel house.The movie simply falls apart at the end with nuclear weapons once again coming to the rescue and a Yellowstone finale which was one of the funniest things I've seen all year. Magma is average in a field where the competition is awful.