Supervolcano

As my job is to deal with the emergencies in disaster situations, I had found many studies regarding volcanic eruptions. At that time I hadn't seen the BBC's Supervolcano. As I found this title in my local DVD store I thought "it worths the try".

Finally, when the movie ended, I was really thrilled by what it was presented in this docu-drama film. Not the best disaster movie but far more the most realistic in all levels. The visuals were OK (its a TV miniseries so it is very impressive), direction was very good, focusing in the realistic scientific data and the people that would deal with this disaster. The most impressive about this film was that the details regarding the response were actually what all the protocols in disaster relief are predicting. Very good technical background and good study by the writer and director on how people do really react or what is their responsibility when a disaster like this is imminent and finally is evolving to a real catastrophe. Those people like the Rick or Wuendy (the FEMA woman) are really those that will decide eventually whether the impact of the disaster will be total or some lives can be actually saved. (In this point the script is great when Wendy says about the President of USA and the invasion in Mexico...perfect notation!!) Offcourse there were some small "I have seen and heard it before" moments but ID4 and the Day After Tomorrow was full of them.

As a movie, Supervolcano could easily stand in the theaters and I do hope that BBC will release a more detailed theatrical version with better CGI effects and more elaborated performances and additional footage. Imagine the sound when Mount Norris explodes in the theater with DTS or THX sound effect.

Anyway! It is a good material. People that are working in the field of Disaster Managment should see it, cause it gives a good point of view on what happens when a disaster of this magnitude actually occurs. And off course, it will happen in Yellowstone or elsewhere.

Thumbs up!! KIRKAN

Not bad at all for a made-for-television disaster movie. Great not so famous cast with excellent acting. This movie depicts the events of an eruption of a supervolcano beneath Yellowstone Park. For those who don't know the difference between a volcano and a supervolcano - and missed the movie: A supervolcano is basically a huge hole in the ground, 30 to 50 miles wide, with a huge lava chamber under pressure, many many times larger than a typical volcano. No one alive has ever witnessed a supervolcanic eruption. The last one was TOBA in Sumatra about 80,000 years ago, which almost wiped out humans. A supervolcanic eruption would do to the planet what an asteroid would do if it were to strike earth. There's even some who believe all the earthquake activity in the Sumatra area may be the supervolcano there yawning and getting ready to wake up. Hmmm, a sequel movie? This was a great flick, fun to watch. Well made with special effects you might not expect in a TV movie. Way to go Discovery Channel!

I waited over a week to see this with not very high expectations - I was expecting a half- documentary, half-dramatized kind of thing. The Yellowstone SuperVolcano was something I had wanted to see a movie made about for years, this is finally it. Way better than that lame, horrible cliché-wracked turkey called "10.5" that NBC cranked out last year.

Although I had some gripes, I was overall impressed, specifically with the acting. This had cinema-quality performances that made it all the more believable. I was surprised by the magnitude of the visual effects, given that this was a TV movie. They were also of superb cinema quality.

The one thing I wanted to see which, alas, did not present itself, was the mass detonation of the entire Yellowstone region and the expulsion of a vast ocean of lava, as this is how I had pictured the Yellowstone super-eruption, and the actual geology of the area does show such immense layers of lava flows that come from a single eruption. This did not detract from my enjoyment of this film, though.

A surprisingly good production for television. 8/10.

The recent spate of educational, high budget, what if documentaries has culminated in what can basically be said as a Hollywood blockbuster with BBC values. Showing off special effect that although are impressive for a British TV program still look 5 years behind current technology. (Resident Evil anyone?) This said the interjection of fictional experts telling us directly what the science is behind the program and what we can expect is refreshing and is not patronising or smack in the face obvious as some of todays blockbusters. (Inderpendance Day, The Day After Tomorrow) The characters were at first were less stereotypical than the average but ultimately also less interesting although some great acting and casting all round. (I swear half the guest stars of Stargate SG1 appeared throughout the program) The main problem with Supervolcano and the thousands of what-could-happen-in-your-future docu-dramas is that the sheer amount of them conveys a sense that Armageddon can happen any second, especially with Smallpox 2001, The Day Britain Stood Still and any Horizon episode ever made. This leads the validity of the threat (in this case a bloody giant magma core underneath Yellowstone National Park) to be underplayed even if it is based on researched factual events.

We watched this in Geography class; the teacher is not one to fall for the spectacle of a disaster flick, and he told us that it has been confirmed by scientists that almost everything that happens in this could, indeed, occur. This is a docu-drama in two parts, each about 50 minutes and the second one starting with a summary of the first one. The plot is engaging, and this can be rather exciting and intense. There aren't really any characters that are anything less than obnoxious, though, and the acting is decent at best(the kid is downright poor, good thing he has so few lines). The FX are great. This does try a tad too hard at times(and one portion did sadly remind me of 2012, I kid you not), and the "effective quick zooms" add nothing. The music isn't bad. I would personally have preferred if the guy with the Scottish accent would talk slower, or have less crucial dialog, but that's because it was shown on a regular TV, and I was too far away to read the subtitles. The writing is solid, not all that many clichés and stereotypes made their way into the script of this. I recommend this to anyone interested in volcanoes or similar phenomena. 7/10