Leofwine_draca
I seem to be dredging the bottom of the barrel with these SyFy Channel TV disaster movies. I thought things couldn't get any worse than the horrible JET STREAM, and now I've watched Miami MAGMA (aka SWAMP VOLCANO) and I discover that yes, it's just as poor and almost entirely without merit. It says something when the best thing about a movie is its title.First off, for viewers hoping to see Florida getting destroyed by an erupting volcano, you'll be disappointed: the disaster stuff is kept off-screen for the most part here. There are a few scenes of smoke clouds and flowing lava, but when I say few I mean it: they're few and far between and skipped over in favour of the usual, cheap, big-company-conspiracy plot as some oil drillers chase after a whistleblower threatening to reveal the truth about their dark dealings.The characters are one-dimensional and the acting not much better; the only familiar face they could get on board here was Brad Dourif, playing a suited bigwig who has a handful of scenes. Add in the usual bad dialogue and poor effects and you have a complete waste of time.
mcguin71
Miami Magma, or whichever of the apparently numerous titles this film goes by, isn't a particularly bad movie in itself however it has flaws that simply can't be overlooked.OK so it's a somewhat generic low budget disaster movie but that should really only be an excuse for few or ineffectual special effects. In contrast it certainly doesn't mean you can automatically get away with poor scripts and acting, both of which are in abundant supply here.The movie starts with the loss of an Oil Rig off the Florida coast. Now in reality this would cause great consternation to all involved and a major and long running intervention by local, state and government departments (and probably a good deal of international attention too)? Apparently not though and apart from a few questions at a press conference it is quickly excused and forgotten. This isn't twisting reality for the sake of the movie, rather its ignoring it completely as it would just slow things down and complicate the writing task.So all is clear for the Evil Corporation to bulldoze their plans through and hit trouble - and disaster. No problem in theory, however the bad guys are simply wooden and ridiculous, and Imo this is down to both poor writing and bad acting. I point much of the blame on Cleavant 'Sliders' Derricks who is simply awful, and Wallace Merck, and...well all the baddies!!! In contrast the good guys are a fairly decent overall, although I am getting somewhat tired of the lead roles being both Intelligent & Supermodel material...but maybe that's just what Hollywoodesque scientists are nowadays. But putting this one gripe aside they are at least far from cringe worthy, and maybe even fair to say above average for the SyFy movie universe. However one cannot balance the other entirely and so overall its a thumbs down on the casting account too.The story as a whole follows a somewhat predictable routine once you've gotten past the shoddy beginning. There a definite lack of the big Volcano effects one would usually expect, and for some odd reason even the low tech, low budget magma and lava is kept to an absolute minimum. For a disaster movie it sure does seem to minimise the actual disasters!So how do I rate the movie??? I initially wanted to add a few points because or the decent good guys, however immediately these and more were knocked off by the terrible baddies who ruined any scene they were in. And the SFX...well there really weren't many to speak of so that doesn't help either. What finally made the difference as to which aside of average the score would fall was the apparent apathy of the authorities from beginning to end (The Major and a few National Guard is all they could muster!?!). If they don't care why should I?4/10...lazy writing, lazy (bad guy) actingPs. If you want a similar film bit done not only with bigger budget but also better writing, standards and definitely better all round acting then stick to Volcano or Dantes Peak, neither of which are classics but still offer a better experience without the bad-bad guys making you throwing your popcorn at the screen!
Cleavant Derricks
I have to wonder, did you people rating this movie even bother watching it first? This movie has EVERYTHING! It has absolutely EVERYTHING that a movie needs to be successful. Volcano, check. Super volcano, check. Super volcano hidden under a major city, check. Evil business mogul who demands to drill for oil directly into the super volcano underneath the major city, check. Gigantic disaster, check. Hero fighting the good fight against evil businessman and super-lava (Cleavant Derricks in one of his finest roles), check.Some people just aren't satisfied by a movie no matter how good it is... I sincerely feel sorry for you!
dwr246
Since we've had volcanoes destroy LA (Volcano) and NYC (Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York), someone decided to let Miami in on the action. The original title, Miami Magma, had both alliteration and assonance, and was really quite clever. Unfortunately, SyFy decided to change it to Swamp Volcano, which is merely confusing, since swamps do not evoke Miami and vice versa, and only a very small portion of the movie actually takes place in a swamp. And unfortunately, the rest of the movie is on equally unsolid ground.This cautionary tale about oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico starts off with an explosion on an oil rig owned by Holter Energy. The explosion occurs when they drill into magma instead of oil. Unfortunately, the CEO (Brad Dourif) and head of PR (Cleavant Derrick) seem to be more concerned about misleading the public, and hiding an illegal, although very lucrative, drilling operation in downtown Miami. Geology professor, Antoinette Vitrini (Rachel Hunter) becomes concerned when her ex-husband, Brad (J.D. Evermore) informs her that Holter's drilling activities seem to parallel her unpublished research. She has even more to be concerned about when she learns that her assistant, Brandon (Griff Furst), on whom her much younger sister, Emily (Melissa Ordway) has a crush, has sold her research to Holter. When she confronts Holter, she only manages to convince them that they need to kill her to keep her silent. Unfortunately, by this time, volcanic activity has started cropping up around Miami, so Antoinette must race against time, and potential assassins to save not herself and her sister, but all of Miami. Can she and Brandon do it? I'll give the writers credit for some plausibility in suggesting that the Gulf of Mexico could be the caldera of a supervolcano, even though it's pretty widely accepted that the gulf is the result of continental drift. However, apparently they don't know geography terribly well, since Miami is on the Atlantic side of Florida, and therefore highly unlikely to be affected by vulcanism in the Gulf of Mexico. They really should have set the movie in Tampa. Equally hard to buy was the whole concept of a "steam tsunami" generated by an underwater eruption. Volcanoes erupt underwater all the time. They have to be pretty close to the surface in order to generate any kind of steam plume that could be threatening, and steam plumes don't behave the way they did in this movie. The "steam tsunami" really behaved more like a pyroclastic flow, which might have worked better. And I'm not sure I buy that liquid nitrogen could be used to redirect the flow of lava from an eruption. All in all, not very credible science.The rest of the writing wasn't terribly credible, either. Antoinette and Emily appear to be very far apart in age, almost too far apart to be sisters, and it might have worked better if they were written as mother and daughter. It's also hard to buy that Antoinette, who is supposedly an experienced professor, wouldn't take better care to make sure that all of her students were accounted for before leaving one behind to get boiled in the swamp. Emily starts off as rather immature, and there's really nothing to indicate the kind of growth her character experiences throughout the movie. Brandon's motives both for selling Antoinette's research, and for his altruism at the end of the movie aren't really clear. And just about everyone involved with Holter seems to be motivated solely by greed, which just makes all of them seem one dimensional.Oddly, in spite of the bad writing, I actually found the acting to be quite enjoyable. I expected to have a hard time buying Rachel Hunter as an academic, but she turns in a credible performance, and I enjoyed watching her. Likewise, Melissa Ordway does a good job of making her character likable, in spite of her early flightiness. Griff Furst does an excellent job of playing the hunky nerd. J.D. Evermore is quite likable as Antoinette's ex, so much so that you wonder why she treats him with such hostility at first. Cleavant Derricks does manage to make his character a little more complex, although the complexity rapidly disappears as greed takes over. And Brad Dourif use his intensity well to show a man who is so driven that he allows his greed to overtake his sensibility.The effects are rather cheesy, and the movie could have used some scenes of destructions of familiar landmarks (I mean, there must be some in Miami). Likewise, the scenes of those who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time could have been better done. The steam tsunami scene was hard to buy into. And one would assume that the tennis players might have noticed that the ground was getting hot before it opened and spewed forth lava, turning a tennis ball into a deadly hot object (I'll give them points for good CGI showing the hole in the coach's chest, as well originality in the writing of that scene).All in all, it was about what I would expect from a SyFy original film, which sets the bar pretty low. However, if you're in the right the mood, don't expect too much, and don't take it too seriously, it can be an enjoyable film.
