Eruption (2009 TV Movie) User Reviews

Not your run of the mill disaster film

[rstef1 · 7/10 · 6 January 2018]

Eruption is a solid film from New Zealand detailing a scientist's attempts to warn the people of Auckland of an impending volcanic eruption within the city.

Don't go into this expecting a Hollywood style disaster flick or you'll be disappointed, as the titular eruption doesn't occur until close to the end of the movie. What is nice about it is that you get to meet and know the people who will be effected by the impending disaster and seeing how they handle the situation, some stupidly (as expected), and others wisely, but all believably.

The plot overall is not terribly dissimilar from Dante's Peak, but the script is well written and the acting is good. And there's a lot less "disaster". The stories of the people involved are interesting and you won't be able to figure out who lives or dies until the very end, and there are some surprises there. I enjoyed it as a small scale disaster/drama film, which rang true, as opposed to some of the ridiculously overblown ones that Hollywood churns out that have ludicrous scripts with absurd and unrealistic behavior by the characters. The special effects for the final eruption are quite good also.

Clive is 19th on the cast listing???

[hisnature · 7/10 · 13 March 2021]

Really? He's the movie! Who are the guys in spots number one and number two? Never heard of them.

A good drama with some adventure thrown in

[ReeseCormac · 6/10 · 22 August 2019]

Seismologist Clive Dereux (deh-ROO) lives in the New Zealand port city of Auckland with his wife Mere (MEH-ree) and Molly, his late-teens-to-twenty-something daughter from a previous marriage. Constantly monitoring the seismically active area, Clive notices increased magma movement under the harbor and follows its progress until he believes a volcano is about to erupt.

We eventually get to see the volcano erupting, and the special effects are excellent, but that is not what the movie is about. The film instead follows several people going about their lives before, during, and after the disaster.

We see a middle-aged woman having to deal with an impending mastectomy, leaving her two young sons to fend for themselves. We see a teenage couple from Hong Kong--a frightened girl and her rich, selfish boyfriend, who dumps her when she becomes pregnant. We see Clive's own dilemma, weighing the need to evacuate the city against the possibility that he might be wrong. When he appears on a popular radio program hosted by a pair of humorists famous for disparaging their guests, they dismiss Clive as yet another crackpot. Even his colleagues maintain their skepticism, citing his previous miscalculations and accusing him of once again crying wolf.

Clive's dedication to his discovery takes a toll on his personal life, too, especially on his relationship with his wife, an ambitious businesswoman whose job is to attract tourism to Auckland and who sees Clive's prediction as undermining her work, which by itself has made her an alcoholic.

Although not a disaster movie, "Eruption" is a fine production worth seeing. Americans may want to watch the film with subtitles, since the down-under accent is hard to understand at times.

A surprisingly good disaster movie.

[Lunaroseice · 8/10 · 18 July 2019]

To start with, I love disaster movies. I think Hollywood blockbusters have their place. I think some of the really bad ones that still entertain have their place. But I really love these well written, well acted, and more realistic films.

They take a premise that isn't likely but at the same time is not completely scientifically unsound as most Hollywood movies. They show a city that actually seems to have a plan for if they need to evacuate. People seem to be more reasonable about it. It isn't a case of people on one hand refusing to believe and everyone else in a complete and utter state of panic. It looks like someone really researched what a city like that might need to do in order to evacuate a significant portion. It shows real people dealing with their lives and suddenly having this added issue added to the issues they already have. Just enough drama to keep the story moving but this movie is really a combination of being plot and character driven rather than driven by special effects. It is low budget but despite that, I think the effect are surprising good for what they were trying to depict.

This movie is really worth watching and deserves a higher IMDB score than people have given it.

Profound

[separationcs · 10/10 · 16 November 2020]

Great movie with a rich story line. I love disaster movies and at first thought this was a documentary. The FX are very good and I agree that this should be much higher rated. Up there with The Wave and The Quake.

Mark Mitchinson and cast deliver a great ride

[pearsob · 10/10 · 16 January 2020]

I love disaster movies but rarely do they leave me actually caring what happens to the characters. Eruption is the exception and it's due to the great writing and cast. More than once I found myself emotionally drawn in. From the mother of 2 facing another cancer surgery, to teenage Molly confronting her step mother's alcoholism and her geophysicist father Clive's dedication to his science to the detriment of his family and ultimately leading to his own destruction, this movie offers a enjoyable ride full of twists and turns . These are people that we can invest in and root for in the midst of tragedy. Unlike many disaster movies the special effects aren't the star. The emerging volcano is the protagonist we know is looming and we fervently hope will spare our favorites. As in life, that doesn't happen and several of those we care about are caught in the blast as the long anticipated volcano rises and destroys the bayside of Auckland. If you want a great emotional ride, get your popcorn and settle down to enjoy Erruption.