Dante's Peak.

A scientist (Pierce Brosnan) and a mayor (Linda Hamilton) have a very big problem...

Release Date: Feb. 7, 1997. Running Time: 108 minutes. Screenplay: Leslie Bohem. Producer: Gale Anne Hurd, Joseph Singer. Director: Roger Donaldson.


THE PLOT:

It is a good year for the small Washington town of Dante's Peak. Nestled comfortably beneath a long-dormant volcano that fuels the local hot springs, the community has been named the second best place to live in the United States (for populations 20,000 and under). There's even a bigshot developer is exploring potential investment in the community.

Volcanologist Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan), of the U. S. Geological Survey, is just performing a routine check of the volcano. He doesn't expect to find anything, and there are indications that his boss. Paul (Charles Hallahan), may have sent him here to force a vacation. Harry finds it pleasant enough, particularly when he meets Rachel (Linda Hamilton), the town's divorced mayor - who, once she confirms that Harry gets along with her two kids, seems very interested in him as well.

But Harry starts to find warning signs: Heightened acidity in the water, dead trees, a few dead squirrels. After he and Rachel discover a young couple boiled alive in the hot springs, he wants to put the town on alert. But Paul arrives with his team, insisting that they need to know more before inflicting permanent economic damage on the town. But by the time it becomes clear that the volcano is about to erupt, it may already be too late to save the townspeople...

Harry tries to convince his skeptical boss (Charles Hallahan) that the volcano is about to erupt.

CHARACTERS:

Harry Dalton: This is a film that believes in directly telling us who the characters are to avoid wasting time. As a result, one of the earliest scenes in the movie sees Harry's co-workers mocking him for refusing to take a vacation and for being unable to stop working - just to make absolutely certain that we understand he is a workaholic. Fortunately, Pierce Brosnan makes up for this sort of ham-handed dialogue with one of his better 1990s performances. We can physically see Harry moving from wariness to alarm as he investigates. He's also genuinely charming with Rachel's children, which makes potentially cloying scenes fairly enjoyable.

Rachel Wando: The script makes sure Rachel is a relatable character, doing her best to raise two generally likable children on her own while also acting as the town's mayor. When Harry raises his concerns about the volcano, it doesn't take her long to realize the economic implications, but she remains supportive of his efforts. She tells him that she hopes he's wrong - but that if he ends up being right, she's glad he's there.

Paul Dreyfus: I will credit the film with this: Most movies of this type would make Harry's obstructionist boss out to be a stupid, insufferable jackass. Paul is none of these things. He obstructs Paul, but mainly because he doesn't want to destroy a town over a false alarm - something he has seen happen in the past. He takes Harry's worries seriously enough to keep the team in town, directly monitoring the volcano, for a full week.  When actual proof is delivered to him, he acts. This being a movie, of course, his delays are disastrous - but in real life, Paul would probably be the ideal person to have in charge of this situation.

The Team: Dante's Peak was made in the wake of 1996's enormously successful Twister - a film that people enjoyed for many reasons, not least of which was the quirky team backing up the leads. That team is basically recycled wholesale, giving Harry backup whose role seems to be the care and manufacture of wisecracks. Twister did it better.  This generic team is composed of: a cynical Asian man, a cranky engineer, a coffee nut, and a girl. None of their characters have any depth beyond those descriptors, and I honestly couldn't tell you a single of their names without looking it up.

You will believe a truck can drive through lava! Wait, no.  No, you won't.

THOUGHTS:

The first of two volcano-themed disaster films in 1997, Dante's Peak beat Volcano to theaters by about two months and, at least in part because of that, managed to squeak out better box office. Which isn't to overstate the accomplishment - grossing $178 million against a $116 million budget, this was far from a megahit. Still, it would become comfortably profitable on home video, and it remains a better-remembered film than its rival.

I'll wait until re-watching and reviewing Volcano before declaring my thoughts on that. I will say that Dante's Peak is thoroughly professionally made in all respects. There isn't a single original beat in the script, but the movie knows its job and completes it with efficiency. Everything that plays into the second half is introduced in the first half, from the mountain home of Rachel's mother-in-law (Elizabeth Hoffman) to the presence of a NASA transmitter. Admittedly, you can sometimes feel the pieces being placed on the board ("there's a mine shaft - I wonder if that will play in later"), but it's still something of a relief to see a blockbuster whose script, however hackneyed, actually follows basic structural rules.

Like many disaster movies, it is a slow starter. The first thirty minutes is more than a little dull, not helped by dialogue that swings from functional to actively leaden. Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton give individually good performances, but they lack screen chemistry; Harry and Rachel aren't a disastrous movie couple by any means, but they don't really set off any sparks. One could be forgiven for thinking the two characters simply saw someone age-appropriate, likabe, and attractive and thought, "OK, good enough."

Once the disaster hits, at very nearly the film's exact midpoint, we are treated to some well-mounted scenes of destruction. Panicked drivers rush across a bridge to get out of town - only for the earth to shift so that the bridge separates from the other side, leading the cars directly into the earth. A mercenary helicopter pilot decides to fly in to rescue townspeople (at $15,000 per head), only for ash to get sucked into his engine and consign him and his passengers to a fiery doom. Later, the town is covered with ash, looking for all the world like a postcard from after the Apocalypse.

There are also some bits of pure nonsense. The last Act centers around Harry's rescue of Rachel of her children. At one point, he literally drives his truck across lava. A quick Google search reveals that lava reaches temperatures of more than 1000 degrees. Celsius. Brosnan, Hamilton, and the moppets should be as thoroughly cooked inside their truck as any shellfish. The filmmakers are apparently aware of how silly the scene is, because the family manages to rescue their lost dog at the same time.

Rachel tries to comfort her daughter (Jamie Renee Smith).

OVERALL:

Dante's Peak is not a particularly good movie, but it is a well-made and entertaining one. The first half follows the Jaws  formula of a hero meeting economically-motivated resistance in his attempts to warn people of impending disaster. The second half turns into a survival story, with the leads simply trying to stay alive until the disaster passes. The script is hackneyed, but it's still thoroughly professional in its structure.

If I sound less than excited... Well, it's because I'm not. This is certainly not a bad movie, but it's also not a particularly good one.  Still, with solid performances and good special effects, it is highly watchable. And at only a little over an hour forty (not counting end credits), it doesn't overstay its welcome.


Overall Rating: 5/10.



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