It's appropriate Skyfire was directed by Simon West, who made his name in the late 1990s and early 2000s helming perfectly dunderheaded movies like Con Air and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Skyfire, which is China's first Hollywood-level big-budget natural disaster adventure, recalls many of the biggest hits from that bygone era, most notably the dual disaster films Dante's Peak and Volcano. It's an unabashedly silly movie fueled by dodgy visual effects and formulaic plotting, but also a fun one that is genuinely charming in the way it unironically recycles cliches.
Skyfire takes place on Tianhuo Island, a lush paradise located in the "Ring of Fire," a region near the Pacific Rim prone to volcanic eruptions. It's also where businessman Jack Harris (Jason Isaacs) has recklessly chosen to construct the world's only volcano resort and theme park, on the assurance the island's still-active volcano isn't due to erupt again for another 150 years. And if the idea of someone building a volcano resort sounds as foolish, if sadly believable, as people rebuilding Jurassic Park, it's not the only way Skyfire brings that sci-fi franchise to mind. There's also a woman in a white business suit running around for much of the film, along with an action scene involving glass transports that's somehow both more exhilarating and absurd than Jurassic World's giant hamster ball chase.
Overall, however, Jack is little more than a footnote in Skyfire. The bulk of the movie revolves around Li Xiao Meng (Hannah Quinlivan), a young scientist whose mother was tragically killed when Tianhuo Island's volcano erupted 20 years earlier. Xiao Meng has since invented a cutting-edge volcano warning system, the "Zhuque" system, that she and her team use to monitor the island's volcano, much to the concern of her estranged father Wentao (Wang Xueqi). Needless to say, Xiao Meng's attempts to warn Jack the island's volcano is showing unusual signs of activity go unheeded and it's not long before the volcano blows its top again, forcing everyone to run for their lives.
Behind the camera, West keeps Skyfire moving at a lively pace that never lets up even between the film's set pieces and action sequences. Despite some wobbly CGI and green-screen backdrops, the movie delivers its fair share of slick spectacle thanks to West's knack for staging practical explosions and crafting sturdy chase scenes, particularly an underwater one set in a cave rapidly filling up with lava. These moments are invigorated by Captain Marvel composer Pinar Toprak's score, which makes everything in the movie feel bolder and more awe-inspiring. That said, Skyfire never fully rises above the feeling that it's a Chinese imitation of a Hollywood tentpole, but that's part of its appeal.
Things take a turn for the more dramatic in Skyfire's second half, as the film shifts its focus to the death and destruction caused by the volcano's eruption. Admittedly, subplots like Xiao Meng and Wentao's gradual reconciliation and a story thread involving two lovers who get pulled along for the ride struggle to have much of an emotional impact, largely because the characters are all so thinly sketched there's not much reason for audiences to become invested in their well-being. That goes double for Skyfire's themes about the dangers of capitalism or how Jack pays the price for prioritizing money over family, despite some unexpectedly strong acting from Isaacs later on in the film.
In general, Skyfire maintains a poker face and rarely, if ever, winks at the audience or suggests it's aware of its own inherent outlandishness. This also proves to be the movie's saving grace; had it played things more tongue in cheek, its predicable story beats might've grown tedious, yet its earnestness is almost refreshing in a time where too many Hollywood tentpoles are guilty of thinking they're more subversive than they really are. For the same reason, Skyfire feels less regressive in its gender politics than certain recent franchise movies, allowing Xiao Meng to be a smart and capable hero without breaking its arm patting itself on the back for featuring a woman as its protagonist.
After wrapping up its plot in a little under 90 minutes, Skyfire ends with a melodramatic music video, featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the film's production, playing over the credits. It's more or less the perfect capstone to an enjoyably goofy natural disaster genre movie throwback that manages to be truly ridiculous and often generic, yet utterly sincere, making for an otherwise tasty -- if not, per se, nutritious -- slice of blockbuster ham.
Directed by Simon West and written by Wei Bu and Sidney King, Skyfire stars Hannah Quinlivan, Wang Xueqi, Jason Isaacs, Shawn Dou, An Bai, Lingchen Ji and Liang Shi. The film releases On Demand on Jan. 12.