Review of Krakatoa

Krakatoa (2008 TV Movie)
7/10
So-So
17 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This is, for the uninitiated historians among us, the Disaster movie based off the giant volcanic eruption that rained destruction onto the world about 120 years ago.

The movie itself is played as a diary. Every occurrence on tape has been lived through by the story tellers and therefore you will see no mass slaughterings, albeit some notifications about how many victims were made by the merciless wrath of Mother Nature.

It runs, with its 87 minutes, fairly short, and it is also pretty predictable for someone with the some basic knowledge about volcanoes, or the super version of it, which the Krakatoa certainly was, and is becoming again. It lacks a few movie stereotypes like an ongoing relationship, but that is not a hazard. You will see the disobeying child, the smart dog and the loving father. But what could we do without? The special effects are fairly good, and the depiction of the mountain is done wonderfully, especially regarding the offshore adventure.

There are still some things that show off that this movie wasn't super high budget. Its pace on the survivors brings along that the worst of the eruption won't be brought to screen in its full glorious hell. Yet the scenes are entertaining enough and the before mentioned excellently pictured boat trip, along with the final avalanche which is nicely pictured. You will not see so many bird's view shots of the destruction, the special effects were apparently costly and the focus lies more on the survivors and what they had to go through onto the island. You will most probably be disappointed if you get an adrenaline boost seeing mass destruction by some sort of supervolcano, same goes for fans of the Supervolcano BBC film, which centers more around the massiveness of the cataclysm instead of focusing more on the characters as done in this movie.

Overall the picture is satisfying though if you demand too much you could get disappointed. It is informative, intriguing and well acted, despite the little lack of overview shots.
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