Magma: Volcanic Disaster (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

3.6/10   

Director:

Ian Gilmore

Writer:

Rebecca Rian (dialogue)

Release Date:

21 January 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

Peter Shepard knows a catastrophe is coming. Unfortunately for us, no one believes him.

Plot:

When a volcano expert becomes convinced that a cataclysmic natural disaster is about to unfold, a volcanologist...

Plot Keywords:

Graduate Student | Volcano | Temblor | Failing Marriage | Undersea Volcano

Cast

Xander Berkeley	...	Peter Shepherd
Amy Jo Johnson	...	Brianna Chapman
David O'Donnell	...	C.J.
George R. Sheffey	...	Dr. William Kincaid
Michael Durrell	...	President Fletcher
Reiko Aylesworth	...	Natalie Shepherd
Vlado Mihailov	...	Kai Senakoia
Rushi Vidinliev	...	Jacques
Valentin Ganev	...	Oskar Valenteen
Assen Blatechki	...	Holloway
Hristo Mitzkov	...	Executive Officer
Scott Owens	...	Harv
Jonas Talkington	...	Stephen Daugherty
Ryan Spike Dauner	...	O'Neil
Nadia Ivanova	...	Girl

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for disaster violence and peril, and brief sexual content.

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | USA:PG-13 | South Korea:15 | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Company:

ApolloScreen Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. Filmproduktion KG

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Shepherd tells Brianna that the volcano they're on, Trollsvatn, is where Jules Verne's fictional explorers went underground in "Journey to the Center of the Earth". It's not. The passage Verne used was in a volcano under the glacier Snaefellsjokull.

Quotes:

Brianna Chapman: [to Dr. Kincaid] Look, Professor Plagiarism, you had your chance! Now, whether you want to admit it or not, we are running pretty low on options! So, if you have some brilliant idea, I'm sure we'd all love to hear it!
[Kincaid remains silent]

Movie Connections:

Features Solitaire (1981) (VG)

Absolute Average

It's hard to figure out what to rate a movie that's basically gives you a neutral feeling: nothing to get excited about and nothing that seriously disturbs you. In light of that, I'd have to say this movie is a 5.

This movie is entirely based upon one of the flimsiest of reasons - one that is explained in one sentence at a top government meeting. Basically it is this: humans have released toxins into the environment and this is causing the internal core to heat up.

Normally, I'd be outraged. In this case, I didn't really care because my expectations are so low that the movie can only go up in value. Somehow this movie slightly redeems itself if you're sympathetic to volcano disaster movies. In this case, many characters (both genders) are "allowed" to die by dripping magma and simply being overrun by lava flow. Generally this doesn't happen in most volcano movies.

Also, large populations of people also get wiped - another thing which doesn't typically happen in volcano disaster movies. So on these marks, I commend the filmmakers/screenwriters for daring to actually create a "disaster" in a volcano movie (most movies in this area typically avert all disaster).

The atmosphere, tone and performances in the movie are decently serious (except for Amy Johnson's character - way too nutty). The special effects reminded me more of 1970s film-making - but they were passable.

I'd rate this a '5', where a '7' is what it would take for me to actually recommend a movie. See it if you're under 15 and are easily impressed, or in the background if you're really into natural disaster movies - esp. volcanoes.