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“Dante’s Peak” was done well for a disaster movie. There were parts that seemed appealing to me. But isn’t this genre old news by now? Once you know the premise (bees, tornadoes, or volcanoes), you can easily guess the plot. Starting with the volcano, we know there will be doom’s day portents.
A foreboding and ordinary day with people being boiled alive in a hot springs, few dead trees in the middle of summer, and alarming seismic activity. While People going on with their routine chores. Dante’s Peak Pioneer Day Festival where the mayor (Linda Hamilton) of the town receives award from Money magazine on being called the second best place to live in America. Arrival of scientists including (a) hero scientist played by Pierce Brosnan and pooh-pooh scientist Charles Hallahan who only job is to ignore all the concerns of the hero scientist and tell everyone that they do not need to panic.
A big corporation is considering pouring millions into the area, but they might withdraw their investment once it is known that Dante’s Peak is ready to blow.
A friendship that grows into romantic relationship between the scientist hero and the town’s mayor who comes with a complete set of disaster movie props: kids, a dog, and her stubborn elderly mother-in-law who has no plans of leaving her cabin on the mountain side.
Still more elaborate special effects sequences of the citizens rushing out of the town and the remotely located mountain roaring, fire raining down from the sky, rivers angry from melted snow flooding uncontrollably, the dam getting destroyed, bridges crumbling, shock waves beating down forests and so on and so forth.
A gripping, sentimental plot surrounding the scientist hero, the town mayor, kids, the dog and granny, and a breathtaking chase scene involving a whodunit show and painted characters on four wheel cars, a bicycle, a boat, and good old-fashioned legs. Desperate plans to escape the volcanic obliteration one second too late. (Can a utility vehicle drive through a river with the entire engine submerged?) –Only to top it off with getting what they rightfully deserve.
Ebert’s Little Movie Glossary has defined “the Obligatory Unrelated Opening Crisis”, and I quote, “In an action film, the jaw dropping title opening that never tends to relate with the rest of the movie.” Unrelated Opening Crisis is subtitled as The Australian Renewed Taste For Volcanoes. For this section, a hero is placed in a specific movie set at Mt. Erebus in Australia, with a brief backstory outline being he was subjected to emotional trauma a quarter of a century back.
“Dante’s Peak” directed by Roger Donaldson and produced by Leslie Bohem, has a story flow that any viewer can guess within the first couple minutes of the movie. The film is another testament to the skill of the filmmakers. Roger Donaldson (“Species”) is a good director, and even in a machines fiction like “Dante’s Peak,” he manages to incorporate human elements. The producer Gale Anne Hurd is also a master of fiction action movies, best known for “Aliens” “Alien Nation” “The Abyss,” “Tremors,” “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”. Brosnan and Hamilton are actors who do mostly not go overboard when performing and believe in the concept of realism and the best part, they do not scream even when lava sets their truck tires ablaze. The score is quite effective as well.
Is it the case that, for me, the movie Dante’s Peak is an old movie dressed in modern clothing because I know it too well? For this type of film to be effective, not only should the plot and characters be captivating, but one should also feel immersed in the film’s universe. Unfortunately, every time another cliche element came forth (the weak-willed investors, the doubters, the pet), I was yanked back to reality.
I have one point where I was not let down. In my column, I tried answering the ridiculous question of whether a person can sprint away from a bursting fireball, and my audience had interesting perspectives to add. It appears that while it is nigh impossible in real life, it’s reasonable to believe that it could happen in the cinemas. However, one of my readers told me an anecdote about a certain Jaguar that managed to escape the shockwave of Mt. St. Helens while a poor SUV ended up getting torched. This led to much discussion (how far away were the two vehicles? etc).
In “Dante’s Peak”, Pierce Brosman portrays a character that warns Linda Hamilton that, “If the mountain blows, the blast would get here in less than a minute.” And indeed, the mountain blows. The shock wave not only flattens zillions of pine trees, it utterly obliterates homes and office buildings. Following that scene, we see the shockwave taking over the main street of the town and the heroes desperately trying to escape it in a truck. I guess my guess of the distance of the mountain to the town stands at 10 miles. The explosion can travel one mile in six seconds and destroy everything in one village block but never mind. I would rather think of other more convincing moments in the movie, like when a volcanologist analyzes the mountains ominous portents through his computer and says, “She’s just clearing her throat. She hasn’t even begun to sing.”
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