Some of the various cockpit constructions in this fine film would make dear old Edward D, Wood Jr. proud. And like Sir Wood's oeuvre, Airplane vs. Volcano is hilariously terrible. Indeed, it is a rather one-sided fight from the get-go, and a very strange one. Plot-wise, an airplane flies into a ring of volcanoes that rise instantly, seemingly controlled by a Master 'Cano, and then charts how they will escape with only a light aircraft pilot at the stick! The film throws in a bunch of stock characters, such as the handy vulcanologist, an Airplane-style pilot, a plucky stewardess, a cute kid, a brave mechanic, a commanding officer who won't risk his men to save the stricken passengers, a communications trooper who will risk the brig to do the right thing, and a villain. Of the villain, his motives are totally bizarre and soon go from fear to pure selfish evil (motivated by his erroneous belief that an auto-pilot can do everything, even, presumably, safely landing the plane). Anyhoo, the airplane faces all kinds of flaming balls and fuel malarkey, and the film even manages to have a Star Wars-type finale with poorly rendered CGI (or even models on strings – Ed Wood lives, again!) taking on Mount Doom, and the visuals at the climax really are laughable (which of course just adds to the pleasure of the picture). However, Dean Cain takes it all very seriously, and so I shall end my mirth-filled observations here, in honour of his thespian commitment in bringing us Clark Kent vs. the Volcano.

I only watched this because I like Dean Cain. It started out pretty well, which surprised me since it is a SyFy movie. The scientific stuff is probably laughable but I don't know. Several stereotypes in this one. The colonel, the Arab who, while not a terrorist, tries to take over the plane with a broken booze bottle (aren't they all plastic now?) and attempts to throw Cain out of the plane, and the volcanologist who just happens to be on the plane on his way to join the monitoring team and is also a whiz at computers. The movie was okay until the last 30 minutes or so. Cain flies the airliner like it is a fighter for goodness sakes!! He uses a magma ball to knock off two damaged engines and avoids all sorts of debris, WRONG. I just can't go on with what else is so stupid about the end of this should have never in my opinion been made movie. Oh Dean WHY???

That is not to say Airplane vs. Volcano is great, because it isn't. It isn't particularly good either, but with the concept and the movie's title(any low-budget movie that has vs. in the title is often bad) I was expecting a disaster. Airplane vs. Volcano doesn't look too drab and it is shot and edited competently, while the direction shows signs of tautness. The music is a step above the sluggish-in-temp and generically orchestrated scores I'm used to hearing from an Asylum movie, while there are signs also of fun and tension that isn't present in most Asylum movies with the more scientific elements not completely out of whack this time. The acting is better than average too, well at least mostly. Best of all being Robin Givens, it's very rare to have an Asylum movie who has a beautiful woman who can act halfway convincingly, though Dean Cain is also a more than serviceable lead. However, Airplane vs. Volcano also isn't without questionable acting, David Vega in particular is saddled with a stereotypical and fairly insignificant antagonist role and overplays it so badly that it feels like pantomime. The effects do look cheap and rushed-looking, the best they actually get quality-wise is okay. The dialogue, though there are some snappy and thoughtful moments(something that you almost never hear me say about an Asylum movie),can feel ham-fisted- especially in the more dramatic parts- and for a straight-face movie there are some lines where it actually is difficult to keep a straight face. As has been said, there is some fun and tension but Airplane vs. Volcano takes a straight-faced approach and takes the story far too seriously. The dramatic parts really bog down the movie- the pacing is fairly tight and brisk everywhere else- and come across as too melodramatic and in a way that doesn't feel natural at all. The conflict is equally unconvincing, it feels very forced and it's not helped that the antagonists are so weakly written. Overall, has a lot of problems but considering the concept and title screaming of disaster Airplane vs. Volcano was surprisingly better than expected. 5/10 Bethany Cox