Disaster Zone: Volcano In New York: A passable rip-off of Volcano

I will never ride the subway in New York because of this movie...
We make another foray into disaster flicks this week with Disaster Zone: Volcano In New York. Right about now you should be thinking, 'Wait, wasn't there another movie not that long ago about a volcano erupting in a major U.S. city? And didn't it actually make it to the theaters, and even have respectable actors?'. Yes, of course there was. It was Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche and Don Cheadle. And because it enjoyed mild box office success, B-movie disaster movies are going to keep copying it.

This time we veer off to New York City. We see a fresh faced young lad show up for his first day of work as a unionized tunnel worker. We meet the main character, Matt, played with likable swagger by Costas Mandylor, who is in charge of the stereotypical smorgasbord of personalities who make a living prowling and digging through New York's underbelly. He's shocked at the inexperienced youth sent his way, and shocked again by yet another newcomer on his crew. This one's a young lady named Karen Barbarini, played with a god awful supposedly New York accent by Pascale Hutton. But the job must get done, so everyone heads down to meet up with various horrible fates.

Boiling hot acid bursts from several pipes, killing two men on the crew, and injuring another. While trying to disarm dynamite ready to blow, Matt sees magma flowing. When he tries to convince the powers that be what he saw, he's brushed off, and also put on leave while the deaths on his watch are investigated.

All sorts of government entities swarm to check this out, and one of the folks is naturally Matt's ex-wife, Susan, played by Alexandra Paul. Sparks fly and before we know it she's helping Matt uncover the mystery of what he knows he saw in those tunnels.

Meanwhile the root of the problem is a renegade scientist played by Michael Ironside. He's being funded by a politician, is inexplicably ill and downing pills like they were M & M Minis, and a wee bit nuts. Mr. Ironside is easily the strongest actor on the cast, but he's not given a ton of screen time. What he does have he makes good use of, and makes me totally believe he is a man unconcerned that one of his worker's skulls has been spewed from his man-made lava tube, to lay on the floor still burning. He's also unconcerned that his new device causes eruptions in suburbia. After all, some sacrifices have to be made when you're taking such strides in geo-thermal energy.

There are all sorts of problems with the plot, so I ended up highly distracted around the middle. When the lava starts really flowing and everyone is acknowledging that yes, indeed, this be a volcano, the action picked up a little bit. Sadly however, where Volcano was non-stop action and had engaging characters, Disaster Zone: Volcano In New York doesn't offer anything remotely in the ballpark. The characters are rather benign, even for the bad guys. There are a few points where the action picks up, but it falls back into sleep mode quickly. Characters are picked off in formulaic fashion, right down to when the gang of heroes splits into two groups, you know each team is going to lose one member.

Vague attempts at political intrigue, a mad scientist who just seems like he could use a hug, and old footage of underwater volcanoes just aren't enough to make me ever watch this movie again. It's a good time waster, easy on the brain, and gives a cheap laugh or two amidst the tragedies. Sadly for most of the actors, one of the tragedies will be that I won't remember them after this review is done.

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