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Dante's Peak Customer Reviews (19 - 21 of 35 Reviews)

Believable love story with volcanic diversions
Brief outline of plot: USGS finds evidence that a volcano in Washington State might be about to wake up, so sends in 007 (whoops, sorry, volcanologist Harry Dalton played by Pierce Brosnan) to investigate. He finds a nice little town and heightened activity in the form of gas emissions and acidity in the freshwater lake: also a couple of parboiled bodies in a hot spring. On the strength of this he predicts an imminent major eruption. He also starts to fall in love with the interesting lady mayor (single mum, successful cafe owner), and she with him. His boss arrives, calms things down, takes some more readings and concludes there won't be an eruption, at least not immediately. Boss is about to leave when Harry D notices something funny in the water (sulphur!), an observation which unfortunately interrupts a promising stayover with the mayor. So it's a true bill after all. Volcano erupts using quite gripping special effects, Harry D shepherds new love and her family through the ensuing chaos, finally ending up sheltering from a pyroclastic flow of Armageddon proportions (the best of the special effects and very thrilling) in a disused mine. Harry and family rescued so all ends happily ever after (at least for them, though one wonders about the rest of the inhabitants...)
Contrary to many reviewers, I find the relationship between Hugh Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) and Mayor Wando (Linda Hamilton) to be the most interesting thing about this film - it's almost a shame the volcano interrupts them. Interesting because the characters come across as natural and everyday (despite the male lead's glamorous occupation): if you watch you might come away thinking that, well, 'romance could happen to me just like this', even if not under these precise circumstances of course. The children are good also, as is the slightly tiresome mother-in-law: you get the real feel of a decent, ordinary family sustained by a hardworking breadwinner. (As the mayor says in reply to Dalton's wondering if she ever relaxes: 'Fun. What's that, fun? Oh, I know, it's when you don't have a business, a town and a family to run...'). I find it wholesome in the best (ie not holier-than-thou, priggish or preachy) sense of that word. As for the special effects, they are good and do get the pulse racing: however having seen a number of real volcanoes(albeit not erupting on this scale!), I find that even good special effects pale beside witnessing the real thing. So I find I tend to note them and then pass on to other things in the film.
I give 'Dante's Peak' 4 stars rather than 5 partly because I think there are missed opportunities and partly because some of it is rather implausible. I think it highly unlikely that anyone could predict an eruption with confidence having made the number of observations 'Harry Dalton' did early on in the film. Some reviewers found Harry's boss curmudgeonly: I think myself he was being very properly cautious when you consider the amount of harm a false alarm can cause. Also, the timescale building up to a major catastrophe is usually far longer than the fortnight or so allowed by 'Dante's Peak'. Mount St Helens for instance woke up in March 1980 with the cataclysm not coming till May. Krakatau (1883) woke up in May and exploded at the end of August, about nine weeks later. Finally, could not more have been made of the potential rivalry between the business investor (Elliot Blair of 'Blair Industries') and the volcanologist for the hand of the feisty lady mayor? Blair was clearly interested in her, and a conflict between him and the relatively impecunious but more glamorous volcanologist might have made for a lot more interest. I also don't think a truck (even 4WD) could have survived that long on top of semi-molten lava at probably 900+ or even 1100 Centigrade - he might just have got away with it if he'd not stalled, but not otherwise: his fuel tank would surely have blown up!
It's not profound or art-house cinema (grounds on which some of my acquaintances would criticise it), but then it doesn't pretend to be. If you want some pleasant relaxation including a highly plausible love story and spectacular special effects then buy this film, and give it a go after a hard day at the workplace.

Underrated if formula laden disaster movie
Pierce Brosnan is the main reason for recommending this movie, (although the whole movie does have a polished feel) as a battle hardened Vulcanologist sent to investigate some unusual readings in peaceful upper Washington State. Soon after his arrival he becomes alarmed at what he discovers, and dutifully informs the authorities of impending disaster who choose (of course) to ignore him, in time honored fashion. Although you know pretty much what is going to happen thereafter, this movie is pretty gripping, and was arguably better than "Volcano" with Tommy Lee Jones, which was released around the same time. Yes, it's riddled with cliches, and has an essential mixture of characters you might find in any disaster based story, but it has a certain something that gives it a more dramatic feel. Linda Hamilton of Terminator fame is the love interest/only person sensible enough to believe Mr Brosnan, and around the mid way point the story changes (reliably almost) into an escape flick. One or two scenes of intense peril, make this unsuitable for smaller children, but otherwise it's fairly tame. Considering the year of production the special effects are pretty amazing, and the acting all round adds more than credibility to the storyline. Although others will I'm sure disagree, this is a far better picture than say, the more recent Day After Tomorrow for not relying solely on good visuals, and is testament to the fact that a good story, makes for a good movie. Worth a revisit even if you've seen it before, and a decent amount of extra's on the DVD make it worth a purchase. Enjoy.

What a blast
Dante's Peak is a good movie, not the best, but good.

The plot: Harry Dalton, volcano expert extroidinaire (Brosnan) comes to a town to investigate an "extinct" volcano, and tries to convince the town that the thing WILL BLOW at any moment before it's too late. I don't want to go too far into this, but that's pretty much it. There's also an underlying story of a relationship between Harry and Mayor Wando (Hamilton).

The good: The special effects are mind blowing. It's oh-so-realistic, and you've just gotta see it to believe it! The parts were believable and the acting was done very well (including the actors that played the mayor's kids, I don't know their names, but they had to have been young). The theme is even educational; I once aced a science test about volcanoes after watching this. Most of the scenes are incredibly innovative and unique, such as when they must cross the deadly, acid-filled lake before their boat dissolves (whew! suspense!). Even the score is good!

The bad: SOME parts of this movie are completely unrealistic. For instance, you cannot drive a car over a molten bed of lava, it's impossible for hot springs to heat up fast enough to instantly roast humans on the spot(the heating is over a few days; temps can't just skyrocket), and if a volcano expert tells you to stay in the boat to avoid contact with acid lake water, you stay in the *beep* boat!

Suspend reality and don't ask too many questions, and you'll enjoy this natural-disaster wonder.

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