Dante's Peak (1997)

The 'old-fashioned' disaster movie scenario enjoyed a brief resurgence in the latter half of the 90s. After the success of Twister and ID4, films like Hard Rain, Titanic, Armageddon and Deep Impact followed in its wake. Like the two competing asteroid movies, Dante's Peak was in competition with the imaginatively named Volcano as THE Lava flow of 1997. Which one is better? Well, comparing the two is like comparing an atomic blast to a popping pimple.

Pierce Brosnan is Harry Dalton, a Vulcanologist (or James Bond in disguise if you want) who predicts a major eruption in the quaint Pacific-Northwestern town of Dante's Peak. No one wants to listen to him since the town has just been named the 2nd most desirable place to live in America and is in the early stages of a thriving economy. It's the politics from Jaws all over again. Despite being shouted down by his superiors, Harry sticks around to keep his eye on the imposing mountain and woo Mayor Wando (Linda Hamilton), who is the only one who believes the 4000-year dormant volcano might blow its top.

If you've seen one disaster movie, you've seen 'em all in terms of character importance. Yes, it's bloody obvious who is going to die, some of these people might as well have a death clock counting down stuck on their foreheads. And the panicking idiot mobs don't deserve anything less firey. When will nameless extras learn that following the crowd isn't the best way? I guess this is the weakest part of Dante's Peak, it never really distances itself from that single, eternal cliché of disaster films.

But the film is really nothing but a showcase for special effects and it does them surprisingly well. Made before the extreme popularity of CGI, Dante's Peak has a lot of real-life destruction, in-camera effects and stunt-work. Yes, there is a fair bit of CGI and for a 10-year-old film they still hold up really well. All Volano (Zzzz...) had to offer was a very, very slight lava flow and an unintentionally hilarious scene with a melting man but with Dante's Peak we get earthquakes, boiled skinny dippers, lakes of acid, ash blizzards that create a unique atmosphere, thunder and lightning, red hot boulders raining down from the sky, mudslides, lava (of course), a massive pyroclastic cloud and lots of deep, deep bass sound effects.

It's not a life-changing film by any means, but as disaster movies go it's one of the best, has an occasionally spooky score and entertains really well despite Brosnan taking it all so seriously. I would have given it a higher rating if they killed the dog (more original) and deleted the annoying Grant Heslov's utterly pointless character.

The Blu Ray presents the film is gorgeous 1080p 2.35:1 with a brilliant DTS HD-MA sound design. The best of the extras from the SD-DVD are ported over, but why the horrible new cover?

Dante's Peak seems like the ideal place to live... the serenity of the mountainous landscape and the friendly atmosphere seems to wipe out the fact that the town is nestled at the base of a dormant volcano. However, when the U.S.G.S. begins to pick up signals from the volcano that indicate a possible eruption, they send Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) to investigate. While there, he befriends town mayor Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton) and informs her of the risks. When he begins to get the city council into an uproar, his advisor shows up to cool things down and wards off any ideas of an eruption. But the symptoms begin to grow, and soon, ash and rock are flying in the sky as the mountain explodes upon the small township. It's a race for survival for Dalton and Wando, as they must search for Wando's children and get them out before the impending final showdown with the volcano. Digital Domain's special effects contribute so much to the story, making it real and placing its characters in real peril. Suspense, action, romance and a terrific cast make this disaster movie a winner. The DTS version is remarkable, and it is recommended that this be the version you buy.

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In 1997 there were two eagerly anticipated volcano movies released. Dante's Peak was more of a blockbuster hit, with more entertainment value, but not very accurate from a geologist's standpoint.

Had it been based on reality instead of Hollywood, they all would have died early in the movie. You can't drive through lava. Since it can get up to 2000 degrees, the vehicle would have perished immediately. I also don't know many metal objects like a small boat that can survive direct contact with acid elements and remain floating indefinitely.

With all that said it was a good entertaining movie. Pierce Brosnan is always a must see!

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"Dante's Peak" is one of the disaster movies that really brings the genre to a super peak, with a realistic and thrilling earth-shaking (in this case literally) catastrophe, high octane action, glorious cinematography capturing great natural beauty, and high-quality characters and relationships. It is, of course, about a volcano, one of the most powerful forces in nature, and it successfully captures the grandeur and terror of such an event. I've always found volcanoes fascinating they're terrifically destructive, and of course tragic for the havoc they wreak, both when they're near human habitation and when they're in the 'isolated' wilderness where the other creatures are the sole recipients of their explosive force. And yet they're undeniably beautiful, like a sunset or a howling snowstorm, and they're in fact an essential part of the inner workings of the earth. Also, although there is often a lot of death associated with volcanoes as acre after acre gets burnt up or covered with ash, they're also, paradoxically, major bringers of life. Even extremely barren, infertile lands with usually burst forth with new life within a few years of a volcano, because they bring forth such rich new nutrients in their lava.

"Dante's Peak" is smart by not having the disaster hit five minutes after the opening credits have finished rolling; there have been some movies of this nature over the years that have made just that mistake. This one though is perfectly paced throughout. There is plently of tight build-up and a couple of tragic harbingers of the bigger calamity to come. The action in the latter parts of the movie is explosive and exhilirating, among the best. It's interesting that "Dante's Peak" has managed to position itself as one of the greatest action movies without any real bad guys. There are some unlikable characters short-sighted, arrogant, condescending but that's all. They're jerks, but they're not characters who are going to go out and kill somebody. So in this tremendous action movie there's no one shooting at each other, no swordplay, no high-impact kick battles. Don't get me wrong I love the kind of movies represented by "Lethal Weapon", "Timebomb", "True Lies", "Out Of Time", all that; and I generally even more love the more fantastical, really grand movies like "Superman Returns", "Star Wars", "Lord Of The Rings", "Spider-Man", all that stuff. But it's neat that a movie missing so many of the great staples of action fare has also brought itself up into the cream of the crop.

The visuals of "Dante's Peak" are awesome. The volcanic effects are extremely realistic, and just the natural splendor is great. As mentioned, the cinematography is incredible, although there is admittedly one wonderful shot that was promising to be truly spectacular but gets hampered a bit by the camera being in the wrong angle to capture it all. A very minor quibble. It would also be an extremely minor quibble if one was to spend too much time focusing on the improbably high number of razor-thin escapes by some of the characters. Movie makers Are allowed some artistic licences even in realistic scenarios after all, and besides, in a case where two outcomes are possible but one quite a bit more likely, you don't have to go with the most likely one Every time. You shouldn't also go with the most unlikely every time either or it loses its believability and tension, and "Dante's Peak" doesn't do that. It stays on just the right tip of the balancing scale.

Excellent stuff; for more disaster-oriented greats I also recommend "Deep Impact" and "Titanic".

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WOW!!! This video transfer is the best HD-DVD video transfer I think I have had the pleasure of viewing. It is absolutely brilliant, it may not be everyones "cup of tea" as far as storylines go but you cannot fault the transfers they are fantastic.

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