This is such an underrated film, so many cool things about it. My fave is the opening scene which is an epic nod to Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). When the camera widens to show us the whole factory, we see it bears a striking resemblance to the open-mouthed machine "Moloch" (@1:20)

Joe Versus the Volcano Opening

But what's interesting is how the skyline of New York is blended into the picture like it's part of the machine. Implying: the entire urban world is the machine. And that's definitely the theme of the entire film; the goal is to get "far away from the things of man" (repeated twice in the movie).

Toward the end of the clip above we see Joe & the employees loaded into a livestock elevator just like in the Metropolis descent. And unfortunately the youtube clip cuts it off, but when Joe gets to the warehouse, there's a cool fakeout where we see a literal city of skyscrapers just like the underground city in Metropolis, until the camera backs off and shows us these are merely boxes stacked on top of each other. What a great opening, sets the tone, illustrates the problem and the theme of the movie, and references a classic masterpiece, all before a single line of dialogue is spoken.

PS. For classic rock fans, the opening song is by Eric Burdon of the Animals ("House of the Rising Sun") 😎