Joe Versus The Volcano

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan team up in their first of three movies together - an existential comedy

Along with The Burbs this is another showcase for what is steadily becoming known on internet message boards as "Vintage Tom".

From a time when The Hankster seemed like he was enjoying making his movies and before he went all Oscar-worthy, Joe Vs The Volcano is a quirky comedy with hidden depths.

On the surface it's a pretty screwball, knockabout farce. Meg Ryan hams it up with her three different roles, each more annoying than the previous one. Ignore her though and you have a truly uplifting, life-affirming movie.

Joe Banks (Hanks) works in a dingy office, surrounded by idiots, ploughing through the same routine day after day and constantly feeling ill. When a visit to the doctor diagnoses that Joe has a "brain cloud" Joe is given six months to live. Suddenly given a new lease of life, Joe quits his job and decides to make the most of his time. Joe Versus The Volcano - Tom Hanks

The next day he's visited by an eccentric millionaire who tells him that he can go out as a hero by jumping into a volcano as a sacrifice for a tribe on an island in the South Pacific. Deciding he has little else to do Joe takes up the task and proceeds to go on a spending spree before heading off on his fateful journey.

All this appears to be a little too wacky and you'd be forgiven for being turned off solely by Meg Ryan's three characters. On closer inspection it seems there's a lot more going on. The three women represent Joe's journey throughout the film, the first is the past he is escaping from, through to Ryan's third character - the promise of Joe's freedom and independence he has finally achieved.

Little touches like that resonate on a deeper level. Notice the scene where Joe looks up to the sky and sees luminous shapes glowing in the sky. He may be stranded in the ocean at this point but he has never been so alive.

Barry Goss on manifestlife.com has this to say about the movie..

Patricia looks up at the night sky and replies, "My father says that almost the whole world is asleep - everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and they live in a state of constant, total amazement." That's the missing link! But only a handful of people understand it enough to ever find it!

The commercial failure of Joe Versus The Volcano demonstrates why: Most people are "asleep" to themselves, and that's why the public and move critics completely missed the point. Read the reviews: They thought is was Spielberg's attempt at making a comedy motion picture. Some even called it silly.

Are you ready to "jump into the volcano" and wake up from the thoughts, beliefs and state of consciousness that holds you back? For Joe Banks, it took the threat of death to wake up. But you don't have to wait for such a severe shock to begin living the kind of life you seek.

So you see, in the self-help, spiritual community the movie has a deep resonance that was probably lost on modern audiences. Take the time to dig this movie out (if you can find it) and enjoy old-school Hanks going through some profound changes!