“Dante’s Peak” (1997) is more well-liked than “Volcano” from the same year, and — while it’s six of one pile of molten-rock fireballs, and half dozen of the other – it’s probably because of Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton. If we’re going against a volcano, we want James Bond and Sarah Connor in our corner (although, admittedly, neither resembles their famous characters here).
A romance film interrupted by disaster, “Dante’s Peak” gives us sweeping vistas in a small town tucked against the base of a dormant volcano in southern Washington state. It’s laid-back and countrified until it packs in all the tension and spectacle you’ve paid admission for.
Writer Leslie Bohem (“Nightmare on Elm Street 5”) and director Roger Donaldson (“Species”) use the “Jaws” plot. The town of Dante’s Peak, chosen by a magazine as the country’s second-best place to live (population under 20,000), is about to land a big jobs contract. An evacuation could scare the employer off.
“Dante’s Peak” (1997)
Director: Roger Donaldson
Writer: Leslie Bohem
Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, Jamie Renée Smith
We know the good guy is Brosnan’s seismologist Harry Dalton and the bad guy is his boss Paul (Charles Hallahan), because Harry advises an evacuation order and Paul overrules him. We have the advantage of knowing this is a movie wherein Dante’s Peak will erupt. There are also hints that Paul is brushing off some data he should take seriously. But to be fair, he’s not a hard-liner like the mayor from “Jaws,” and he does stick around to closely watch the data.
The mayor (and coffee-shop owner) here is actually Hamilton’s Rachel. She doesn’t know what to do, and doesn’t take action, but she takes in what Paul and Harry have to say. She’s neutral and inoffensive, like Sarah Connor in waitress mode; indeed, she’s waiting.
Nature doesn’t have feelings
In my opinion, the correct approach is somewhere in the middle, like officials do for hurricanes: Keep the public informed with the latest data. The problem is that volcanos are much less predictable, which is why they are ominous villains for disaster movies. Indeed, “Dante’s Peak” has a great lava jump scare.
It also has all the other cliches, but to the film’s credit, these cliches will have viewers yelling at their screen rather than walking out. Grandma Ruth (Elizabeth Hoffman) is a textbook example of a Disaster Movie Character You Hate; she won’t evacuate because she believes the mountain won’t hurt her. Note to people in real life: Evacuate in emergencies not for your own sake, but for the sake of rescuers you might be putting in danger. Ruth does get a pretty awesome redemption moment, though.
Once the special effects start, “Dante’s Peak” takes the Spielbergian approach wherein we’re overwhelmed with feelings and spectacle and don’t have time to think about logic. The volcano’s wrath – starting with earthquakes – is insane. The protagonists – including Rachel’s two young kids and a dog — escape about 100 situations where they should’ve died, and SUVs and trucks do impossible things. (To the film’s credit, there’s no blunt product placement.)
Common sense is constantly on the verge of eruption. I’m surprised the buildings and bridges crumble like matchsticks so fast. Suddenly there’s a massively overflowing river that wasn’t mentioned before. The movie almost overplays its destructive hand. But it peppers in moments of real science like the danger of a helicopter’s engines being choked with ash.
“Dante’s Peak” isn’t the peak of originality, especially with its straight “Jaws” lift, and I assume it’s not the place to go for budding volcanologists if they’ve misplaced their textbook. But it knows people want likeable heroes and theater-shaking action. On these points, it succeeds.