This movie was a little bit better than i thought it would be. Which isn't saying much as the Scifi Channel has a history of showing some real sulfurous stinkers.<br /><br />But volcanoes are one of my most favorite movie genres, and wild dead horses couldn't drag me away from watching one i haven't seen yet. And i do believe i've seen just about all of them. Or at least those that i have been currently aware of.<br /><br />As this was a Scifi Channel movie showing, i wasn't really expecting an outstanding movie, and in that, i wasn't disappointed. The screenplay seemed awfully, awfully similar in some places to a certain volcano movie that took place on the US west coast, on Wilshire Blvd. Apparently, some idea "borrowing" went on...<br /><br />I was pleased to see Mike Ironsides still in the movie biz. Mike has been in good movies and in bad movies, and sometimes in the bad movies, he was the only reason to bother watching it. His character here is pretty amusing in its irresponsible ego mania and Mike plays it pretty well. The good doctor is not so good and maybe more than a little bit teensy-weensy frothing-at-the-mouth bat doodoo crazy. Ironsides' performance of the raving wacko got me snickering. I think he could have thrown in a few more drops of rabid drool for fun, but still, it was acceptable for a demented scientist role.<br /><br />A note to film makers: a shouldercam is only to be used when using anything else wouldn't be practical or for trying to give a quick and temporary intimate "you are there" feeling. Wa-a-ay too much use of shouldercam here when a tripod-mounted one should have been used instead. Sometimes the too-much jiggly camera work made me start feeling seasick.<br /><br />This movie did have one of my pet movie peeves. The characters were wasting precious moments futzing around when moments were too precious to waste. Apparently thrown in for "dramatic impact" when in real life, you know the characters would be hopped up on adrenalin and moving their butts like greased lightning.<br /><br />Is this movie actually worth watching? Well, if you're a volcano movie aficionado like i am, you KNOW you're going to watch it anyway no matter how much it reeks of hydrogen sulphide. This movie is more dumb than bad, but it will be essential to have your Dramamine ready in case of seasickness caused by the jiggly camera work.