Joe Versus the Volcano

Most People Miss the Point
The first time I watched this movie, shortly after its release, when I was a small lad, something struck me as "different" about this movie. The direction was good, the plot was VERY simple, and the acting was wonderful, with plenty of comedic and ironic elements.

However after watching it again during my high school years, I remember picking out dozens of metaphorical and symbolic items from the plot. Every evil or destructive force in Joe's life is symbolized by the company logo that the film features at the beginning, right down to the lightning bolt featured prominently later in the film. The fact that every woman important to Joe is the same girl, the lovely Meg Ryan, carries the theme of recurrence quite well.

To sum it up, Joe is an individual who has died, if not in reality, in spirit, stuck in a dead-end job after personal crises drove him to hypochondria. He discovers he is terminally ill, then is confronted by an eccentric millionare who wants Joe...

Misunderstood, Poetic Fantasy
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan will be best know for "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail" but this is really their best work. Tom Hanks has seemingly gone through three stages as an actor. Inane, teen-oriented buffoon ("Bachelor Party", "Volunteers") to quirky, but lovable ("Big", "Joe Versus the Volcano") to serious ("Philadelphia", "Saving Private Ryan"). "Joe Versus the Volcano" represents the best of his middle career and in my opinion, his best period. In playing Joe Banks, he captures the best of silliness and seriousness in one role. He shows a much greater range of acting ability than he has in any other film. Meg Ryan is equally amazing, playing three very different roles convincingly. This is a movie I have to view over and over because each time I do, I pick something up I hadn't previously. There is a hidden story underneath the surface and its up to the viewer to discover it. This movie is a veritable tapestry of symbolism and hidden messages. Listen...

Delightful Sleeper
Tom Hanks gives one of his best comedic performances here as Joe, a hypochondriac who's led to believe he's dying from a "Brain Cloud." So he strikes a bargain in which he gives up his humdrum existence working for an artificial prosthesis factory with loud, buzzing flourescent lighting, to live a life of luxury for several weeks until he is forced to become a human sacrifice by hurling himself into a volcano to appease the gods of an island populated by orange soda drinking natives of a bizarrely comical multi-ethnicity. Somehow it all pulls together.

Meg Ryan - whom I normally cannot tolerate - here is charming in three different roles.

The great Ossie Davis has a small role as a chauffeur, and, charmer that he is, nearly walks off with the entire movie.

A delightful sleeper that passed under most people's raider. Worth a second look.

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