Joe Versus The Volcano Briefly Reviewed
Before he was Forrest Gump, before Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks was primarily a comedy star. If you watched Bosom Buddies, you knew that Hanks showed a lot of promise. He may not be considered one of the best actors out there, but he’s always cited as one of the most charming and instantly likable. His early comedies, Turner and Hooch and Big, showcased his talent for making you laugh and his likability, but Joe Vs. The Volcano is one of the all time must movie download.
So what makes this one so special? Well for starters, while Big and Turner and Hooch both did an excellent job showcasing Hanks’ abilities as a comic actor, Joe Vs. The Volcano is a little more demanding of the actor. Here, he’s asked not simply to provide a few funny moments, but to be cast in the shoes of the everyman. At the beginning of the movie, Joe is seen in a situation most of us will find familiar: selling his life away for “three hundred dollars a week”.
We start off in a dismal state of affairs, with Joe experiencing an existential crisis, having no idea why he was put on earth. This is driven home by the excellent production design of Beetlejuice’s set designer Bo Welch. The factory where Joe works, sitting in the middle of a vast expanse of muddy terrain, is simply disgusting and soul crushing.
Joe, a serious hypochondriac, takes a trip to the doctor’s office where he learns that he has a “Brain Cloud”. A fatal condition. From here he meets the industrialist played by Lloyd Bridges, who offers him a chance to live like a king for several months, in exchange for his suicide by jumping into a volcano.
The industrialist uses an island, the Waponi Woo, for mining, and in order to keep the people happy, he must sacrifice someone to their volcano God, lest he get mad and blow the whole island up. The chief of these people would rather someone from his own tribe do the deed, but they all seem a bit too cowardly. Joe is more than happy to give his life and die like a man, since it’s that or waste away on a hospital sickbed.
Joe is made to fully appreciate what a gift life is. By accepting his death, by having nothing to lose, Joe is able to do anything he wants in life, including jumping into a volcano. This is where the movie’s philosophy lies, this is the meaning of life: Enjoy it for what it is. Don’t worry about the afterlife, don’t worry about mortality or bills or rent, don’t let the troubles of the world get you down, just appreciate every moment for what it is.
This belief is reflected in the look and feel of the film. It’s not just another comedy, it takes place in a world all its own. As Roger Ebert said of the film: So many films you’ve seen before, but you’ve never seen this movie before.
Spoiler Alert: The original draft of the script for this film had the industrialist and the doctor getting their comeuppance in the finale. Honestly, it’s better that they don’t. While they were scamming Joe, the fact is that they gave him his life back. Whether or not this is with intent, the doctor and the industrialist serve in the story as both the villain, and as Joe’s savior.
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