Dante's Peak

Amazon.com

The first of 1997's volcano disaster movies (the second being Volcano) was arguably the better of the two, but both of them made for passable entertainment with some spectacular special effects to serve as icing on the stale cake. After all, Dante's Peak doesn't pretend to be anything more than an updated variation on a whole catalog of disaster movie clichés. Despite all that, it's reasonably enjoyable. It's an added bonus that the script is just smart enough to allow Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton to play their roles with straight faces, never condescending to the audience of the formulaic story. He's a volcano expert from the U.S. Geological Survey, and she's the mayor of a cozy Washington State town perched beneath a volcano that's about to blow. Telltale signs are everywhere, so evacuation must be carried out immediately. Of course, not everybody's eager to leave, and even some of Brosnan's colleagues think his alarm is premature. This sets the stage for massive ash clouds, rivers of raging mud and molten rock, flattened forests, and death-defying escapes by Brosnan, Hamilton, and some (but not all) of her family, friends, and townsfolk. So what if it's all pretty flaky... and can a four-wheel-drive vehicle travel over fire and molten lava without bursting its tires? Don't ask too many questions, and you'll find Dante's Peak to be (if you'll pardon the pun) a total blast. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Dante's Peak starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton.......2007-08-03

Was very pleased with the campy, family oriented feeling I got from this film. A small, pleasant town is suddenly rocked with the huge challenge of accepting the possibility that the nearby inactive Volcano could soon decimate the peaceful world around them. Brosnan is great but the actress who plays alongside him is even better. Linda Hamilton has always impressed me in the roles that she plays in and her role in this one is just as good.

A single mother of 2 and a leader in the community, Hamilton soon teams up with Brosnan as they begin to run across signs that show the area is in trouble. A small but sweet romantic spark seems to start between the two, but there is no time for love when the trouble begins.

Earth shaking scenes of carnage and lava flows devouring everything in their path suddenly put everyone in peril, and the scenes of escape and also of being trapped do add some suspenseful feelings as the second half of this film really rocks with scene after scene of the action, and the impending after effect of the lava. There are a lot of natural disaster style movies that came out during this time, but I happen to feel that Dante's peak was one of the better ones.

Explosive but Fun.......2007-07-13

I really enjoyed this movie. Thought it might fall into the 'running from a catastrophe' type movie, but found it to be very family oriented fun with characters that were pretty defined.

I did enjoy the explosive volcanic scenes very much but also loved the way mom/mayor Rachel Wando (played so well by Linda Hamilton), tried so hard to protect her kids. This made the movie action packed but great family fun.

Pierce Brosnan & Linda Hamilton had good chemistry as well.

Sheryl (shersim3)

Emotionally dead and unrealistic.......2007-07-09

This COULD have been an excellent movie, however, this movie lacks acting, emotion and realism.

Rachel (Linda Hamiltons character) dosen't seem to like her kids at all, actually, she just seem annoyed and irritated with the whole world. One of her quotes is "Fun? What is that? Oh right, that's when you don't have two kids, a shop and a town to run."
Lauren (Rachels Daughter) is a well-behaving, optimistic, caring little angel, you'd think that with all the attitude problems from Graham (Rachels Son), Rachel would be proud of and enjoy being with her daughter, but Rachel just seems irritated and angry all the time. Even when Lauren helps her with her speech and helps her find her jacket, she just gets ignored. Rachel just never seems to want to spend time with her kids.
Another emotion problem is when important characters die, their family and friends just don't care. For example, early in the movie Harry's (Pierce Brosnan) girlfriend dies instantly next to him in the car, getting hit by a volcanic meteor in the head. He leans her towards him, crying, but is more occupied with driving the car!
It's like "OK, you're dead, but I'll mourn you when I get out'a here."
It would have been better if he would have stopped the car and don't want to leave her, having his co-workers forcing him away.

Even though I'm facsinated by volcanos, I actually enjoy watching the movie before the volcano explodes. I thought the story flowed along together nicely, the characters (though lacking emotion) were really easy to read and understand right away, you didn't need might introductions to know their character.

When the Volcano explodes, this movie turns into a super-unrealistic action movie. Harry, Rachel and her kids survive ANYTHING. Rachel dosen't even seem to care that her kids could die within seconds, she just moans and sighs when they are near death.
Some of these unrealistic things includes driving through lava with a car, walking through an acid lake (which magically melts metal, but not Pierce Brosnans jacket) and driving away from a pyroclastic cloud.
Add the totally emotionally dead characters to the mix, if it wasn't for Lauren, you could never guess they were in real danger.

I've seen this movie over 40 times, I do not know WHY I watch it since it's so bad, but I guess it's because this is the "best" of the Volcano movies I've unfortunately seen.

A Decent Volcano Movie........2007-06-14

An interesting story with its moments. The build up to the eruption was great! All the little momments like the too hot hot springs! Though once the lava starts to roll, the script gets a bit unrealistic. I guess it builds suspense. All in all, a good volcano flick.

Volcanic delight.......2007-05-08

I've always been fascinated by volcanos, and have always like Pierce Brosnan doing his thing on screen also. Linda Hamilton is pretty good, though a little lost at times. The others, I hate to say, were just filler. They were never allowed to really fly, or even be more than scenery. Effects are solid, but overdone in some spots. The lead up to the actual blast is the best half. It's an ok film.

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