I'm late to the show by 15 years, but what great fun! It's got everything, drama, destruction, explosions, I saw BAMBI!!! And best of all, even your achul ACTORS - who can even act! Not a poser in the lot!
And then there's the super volcano itself. What could be more satisfying in the age of trumpist America than 27 million dead in the central US and that means almost all Republicans!!!! It just makes me wet at the very prospect!
Seriously, the BBC's "Supervolcano" is a classic calamity flick carried by a fifteen researcher/writer and an authentic ensemble troupe.
When they argue they hate! When they're terrified, you can smell the sweat. They have coworkers they like and some they only just tolerate and only because they have to. Some have petty grievances with each other, they all ignore the bigmouth. But, like the rest of us, they still get the work done because they have to.
There are (practically) no over the top reactions that seem out of place and there are some surprisingly human bits of "business" subtly slipped under the door by the actors to surprise and endear. All of the performances are naturalistic, and unique to each actor's characterization. Too often seemingly jealous directors so aggressively impose their "vision" that their actors become monochromatic and clonish. Not here. It's refreshingly humanist.
Also, the writer(s) actually did reality based research. For a once-was-wannabe volcanologist like me it was startling to hear real historical events accurately described - Toba, the Huckleberry Ridge Yellowstone eruption, somewhat obscure geologically active place-names like Kaohsiung province, correct recounting of the geologic/volcanic processes that created the Yellowstone region, all delivered by fine actors who had given serious thought to fashioning realistic, understated characters who weren't shocked by their own professional lives.
Actors Michael Riley and Rebecca Jenkins are terrifically talented and nuanced stars far too little known to US audiences. They do some of their usual best work herein. But, all of the cast brought their top games. Well...Tom McBeath as head of the USGS might've been expected to understand his line about steaming mud POTS, not mud "spots" at Yellowstone and his pronunciation of "reservoir" was as jarring as hillbilly nails on a chalkboard, but meh...who cares! Fun fun fun!!
The BBC could've forked over another 10 or 20 P on some of the special effects here and there; the tsunami scene was frankly worse than a sub-par homespun cartoon...BUT WHO CARES! Fun fun fun!!!
I have a job that demands a sometimes unhappy combination of working in isolation and intense focus - though not too much! for endless hours. I've played Supervolcano so many times as background in my studio that I lip sync and mug the lines without missing a stroke of my own work. It's as good as spoken-word-story as it is a visual action thriller.
"Supervolcano" though not nearly as depressing, is on par with the naturalism of the incredible 1983 nightmare "Threads," not surprisingly also a BBC production. Our US writers and producers have always been little more than precocious, annoying children when measured against the depth and breadth of movies like Threads and Supervolcano. These and other films are lasting gifts from our beloved and far brighter cousins to the east.
I'm not quite sure how I missed "Supervolcano" when it was first broadcast in The States, but I'm glad I did. As horrific as 2020 has been everywhere it takes a story of even more terrible proportions than our shared global reality to take one away from it all. I needed this movie this year. It was a lucky find.
And right now, here in the US, 27million lava-baked conservative burks is just what the Dr ordered.
FUN FUN FUN!!!!
Review of Supervolcano
