Professor Clive de Roo is either a seismologist or volcanologist, wasn’t too sure which, who is detecting increasing seismic activity beneath his home city of Auckland, and that activity is gradually getting shallower. Clive, who listens to the rocks, warns his colleagues that an eruption could be imminent in New Zealand’s commercial capital, and the city should start to be evacuated before things go Dante’s Peak. Naturally, the other three people working on his advisory board are somewhat sceptical as Clive had previously miss called Mount Ruapehu as being in the process of eruption, but guess who is right? As things start to get shaky, and there are clear signs of magma rising to the surface the city goes into panic mode, and it’s a last dash effort to save the JAFA population. Hey its Clive versus the Volcano, or at least Clive loving the Volcano, buckle in kids, things are about to get hot.

Initially I thought this tele-movie, yes this one made for the idiot box, was a documentary, it has that sort of feel to things before the movie quickly resolves into a narrative. Loved the approach, ground things in reality, and then unleash hell on the viewer. So I was digging the concept, and in particular was enjoying the three groups of people the movie focuses on as things go from bad to worse. The actual eruption doesn’t happen until late in the movie, is that a spoiler – never mind, but tension is ramped up as we get to know each group of people. I would say family, but hey dysfunction is the order of the day here folks.

So we have Clive, who is in a relationship with Mere, who is promoting the city, and has a drinking problem. Clive is obsessed with what is happening under the city and doesn’t pay enough attention to Mere, which leads to some problems on the home front that Clive seems blissfully unaware of. Also in the household is the level headed teen Molly, who tries to keep things on the straight and narrow. It’s through Clive that we are kept up to date with volcanic developments.

We also focus on Ana, who is off to the hospital for an emergency mastectomy, leaving her two young sons home alone, and they are keen on rushing down to the harbour to check out the emergent volcano. Hey Aucklanders right, not the brightest tools in the shed yo. And finally we have a young Chinese couple and their land lady, who are all about exploitation and Chinese family values. I was digging the various viewpoints, and reckon it adds to the movie’s impact.

Now just so you think the makers of this flick are going to let you off lightly, in some bizarre Hallmark fashion, not all these people are going to make it to the final credits. And even better, the survivors are not necessarily going to be who you expect, unfortunately all deaths are off screen. Darn no one is getting over run by magma or anything.

The movie follows its central characters, giving us multi viewpoints, and not everyone is up to date with current happenings in Auckland. Great approach, the movie is more a character study than straight out disaster, and besides ignorance of current affairs, we also get naivety, and of course fear from those that know. It’s great watching things unravel as people try to firstly do the daily grind, before trying to get out of Dodge as things explode, literally!

The pacing in this movie might be a tad slow for some viewers, but I was digging how things went down as the countdown is on from almost the start of the flick. Remember more character focus and less action orientation. But if you have to have bangs for your bucks every five minutes, loud noises announcing a scare scene, or pyrotechnics then you are in the wrong place. But for those able to sit back, get drawn into a movie, then lap it up folks, this one kind of creeps up on you.

For those confused by the background to this movie I guess I should explain things Kiwi for a moment. New Zealand is on two protesting tectonic plates, hence a lot of mountains and naturally a bunch of volcanos ready to make their presence known at any stage. Actually New Zealand has a super volcano ready to break the back of the country in Lake Taupo, sorry to disturb locals unaware, but yeap you are living in the crater of an active hotspot, and the clock is ticking. Sorry to the local tourist board, but you know the reality has to be spoken. Anyways Auckland is New Zealand’s largest City, with about a third of the country's population in residence, and naturally its build on an active volcanic field that is for ever in motion. There are forty-nine extinct or dormant volcanos dotted around the city, guess Rangitoto Island being the youngest, and expectations are not whether number fifty is going to happen but when it is going to happen. The movie shows the new volcano erupting in Auckland Harbour, but current thinking amongst the informed is it will happen in South Auckland. So anyways the background is, this is kind of a mockumentary that could foreshadow an actual disaster waiting to happen.

Okay to the pyrotechnics, and boy does the SFX department deliver for us on the CGI front. There is the odd shot that really did need a bit of a touch up, but hey overall I was believing I was seeing a volcano going angry in Auckland harbour. We get a massive debris cloud, then magma exploding upward, followed by lava bombs raining on Auckland city, and final a pyroclastic flow that is really going to do some damage. I’m pretty fine with this folks, Auckland looking more damaged than it does on a Saturday morning after a particularly good Warriors win the night before. Actually if anyone visits Auckland, check out the museum they have a very similar installation that puts you in a lounge room during an eruption in the harbour. Hey doing my best for Kiwi tourism here y’all.

For a television movie Eruption is particular good as it rocks the foundations. The Actors are good, the movie puts you right in modern Auckland, and the dialogue and plot is well thought out. If you can catch a viewing take time out of your busy schedule to see how a disaster movie should be done. Actually the movie is currently streaming free on Tubi so there’s no reason not to lock and load. Well recommended, you could do a lot worse with your holiday viewing, and hell who doesn’t want to see Auckland going up in flames from time to time. Quick question, do we have polls on this site? – which City would you like to see destroyed more Auckland, Los Angeles, New York, or some Euro location? Slight meandering there, back on the straight and narrow, I rocked out to Eruption and believe you will as well, can almost guarantee it. The only question I’m left with is why no one has thought to make a movie centred on Lake Taupo erupting, I would pay good money to see that, but in the meantime we have ample coverage in the movie under discussion. To hell with it, am going to go watch it again.