DANTE'S PEAK
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1997 Scott Renshaw
(Universal)
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, Charles Hallahan.
Screenplay: Leslie Bohem.
Producers: Gale Anne Hurd, Joseph M. Singer.
Director: Roger Donaldson.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (profanity, intense situations)
Running Time: 105 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
I have been anticipating the arrival of DANTE'S PEAK, the first of
1997's two volcano films, with a combination of dread and...well, still
more dread. The return of the disaster film has been about as welcome a
pop culture phenomenon as 70s nostalgia, both of them reincarnating
uncalculated vapidity as calculated vapidity. It only takes one TWISTER
to turn you off the genre; throw in INDEPENDENCE DAY and DAYLIGHT and any
critic could be excused for walking into DANTE'S PEAK with an attitude.
But if I have to sit through more disaster films, I only hope they can be
as thrilling as DANTE'S PEAK. Though just as plot- and character-impaired
as its genre cousins, DANTE'S PEAK delivers a solid hour of relentless
tension and excitement.
Our story begins in Colombia, where U.S. Geological Survey volcano
expert Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) suffers a tragic loss during a
volcanic eruption. Four years later, Harry is sent to the picturesque
town of Dante's Peak, Washington to investigate possible activity in the
town's long-dormant namesake volcano. Harry believes he sees enough
evidence of a threat to suggest an evacuation plan to mayor Rachel Wando
(Linda Hamilton), but Harry's boss Paul Dreyfus (Charles Hallahan) is
unwilling to cause unwarranted alarm. The evidence continues to build,
however, and when Dante's Peak finally blows the town erupts into chaos.
With little time to evacuate, Harry must help Rachel and her family escape
a force of nature with plenty of tricks up its crater.
DANTE'S PEAK is a strange kind of success, because it includes many
of the noteworthy flaws of TWISTER, and then some. We get the same
obligatory romantic pair thrown into danger with a minimalist back-story
tagged on, along with a team of quirky scientists to provide comic relief.
Brosnan is ruddy and somber for most of the film's running time, Hamilton
is frazzled and likeable, and both of them trudge dutifully through fifty
minutes of exposition as though any unnecessary acting might tire them out
before the big finish. Leslie Bohem (the scripter of record on DAYLIGHT,
apparently a specialist in films which end with traumatized people wrapped
in heavy blankets) also adds a dose of JAWS, but doesn't give us the
pleasure of an actual villain. Charles Hallahan provides the political
voice who ends up causing more damage, and there is a teasing sub-plot
about a potentially skittish business developer. Neither one offers
enough conflict, however, forcing the audience to sit and wait out the
plodding first half for the big show.
And what a show it turns out to be. The surprising thing about the
post-eruption second half of DANTE'S PEAK isn't necessarily that it is
effective, but that the reason for its effectiveness doesn't exist
entirely on a hard drive somewhere. There are certainly a few impressive
visual effects sequences, including a cloud packing the concussive force
of a small nuclear weapon, but director Roger Donaldson gets just as much
mileage out of the time-honored technique of jiggling the camera to
represent an earthquake. No, DANTE'S PEAK is an effective thriller
because the characters repeatedly find themselves in new and apparently
impossible situations, and the direction gives those sequences an
edge-of-the-seat tension. From a dizzying truck ride through town
destined for the Universal Studios Tour, to the crossing of a
flood-threatened bridge, to a mine shaft which threatens to turn Brosnan
into a sardine, DANTE'S PEAK provides the kind of relentless, well-crafted
action which is what movie-goers should be talking about when they talk
about certain films being like roller-coasters.
The biggest surprise of all may be that the man behind that action is
Donaldson, who has served up cinematic backwash like SPECIES, THE GETAWAY
and COCKTAIL. Nothing in any of those duds suggested the skill to create
the best scene in DANTE'S PEAK, where Harry, Rachel and Rachel's family
attempt to cross a lake which has been turned by volcanic gases into
sulfuric acid. As the lake begins bubbling through the bottom of their
metal motorboat, the occupants begin a quavering round of "Row Row Row
Your Boat." It is an eerie moment, and Donaldson manages to get you
itching for the fate of the characters even though they haven't been given
any personalities. More impressive still, he does it without assaulting
your senses. In many ways, DANTE'S PEAK is a very conventional disaster
thriller, even duplicating the Heroic Canine Leap to Safety which
INDEPENDENCE DAY turned into a moment in camp history. There is, however,
something rare in a film which can generate the kind of tension DANTE'S
PEAK generates. Maybe it is possible to present a disaster without being
one.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 peak performances: 7.
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Have I Seen This Movie: Yes
And What Did I Think?: In 1997, 2 volcano movies were on the big screen. This movie came first, then later in the summer "Volcano" came. Some people like the second one better, some like this one, some like neither. I prefered this movie over the other one because it had a much better story to it. A small town at the base of a volcano versus a volcano in the middle of Los Angeles. This script is a little bit more plausible then the other one. It was a little tough picturing Pierce Brosnan as a geologist but he and Linda Hamilton made a good team and seemed to have good chemistry together. There's great action in the film, but only in the second half after the volcano explodes. The film makers did a good job in destroying the town, and if you watch this on DVD, there is a great documentary on the making of this film there. While a lot of this film is great to watch, some of it is just rather hard to believe. For instance... they drive a pickup truck over lava, I cant understand why the pickup didnt instantly burst into flames after going on it. The same pickup truck also drove through a raging river, which happens to get stuck near the end of it. The way that they get freed is that a car who drives in afterwards bumps them off. They don't explain how a car got that far when the pickup got stuck, since it looked like the car was practically swimming. It's amazing that from all that ash coming down, you hardly ever see them cough from it. Also The family dog disappears by the grandmother's log cabin, and then magically appears by them probably about a mile or two away from them as they are driving over the lava. Well, this film suffers from typical plot errors in disaster films but still is fun to watch. From all the work that was put into making this movie, you almost feel obliged to like it after all.
I give Dante's Peak 3 out of 5 stars.
Review written February 14, 2000
