Dante's Peak (1997) User Reviews

special effects that hold up today

[grnhair2001 · 7/10 · 10 May 2012]

There is a formula for disaster movies and books. An insightful scientist sees The Bad Thing is going to happen, various foils keep him from warning people (often with sillier motivation than in this film), we get to know a bunch of average Joe characters who survive or do not survive the disaster. Earthquake movies, movies about made-up natural disasters that cannot happen, asteroid movies, even some nuclear holocaust films (like The Day After, unique in how many survive). It's a hackneyed formula, but it also works, and nothing else really does work as well for disaster plots. It was followed here.

The special effects were terrific in the day, and they still hold up very very well in 2012.

For a Hollywood film, the science was pretty good. I actually cringed back at the shots of Hawaii type basalt floes (just...no), and the ashfall cleared up nicely whenever they wanted a wide shot, which anyone in Yakima could tell you it really doesn't do, and the boat and drive-over-lava scenes were silly, and if you paddle a boat (through acid or not) with one hand, it's not going to go straight, and our heroes didn't need to cover their mouths in ashfall (meaning, IRL, the ash would turn to concrete in their lungs and they'd suffocate). However, all that having been complained about, much else was very accurate: what gets tested for by volcanologists, what monitoring stations of the day looked like, what some of the warning signs of a coming eruption might be. Most Hollywood film reviews by me on science-based movies are nothing but a list of what they did wrong, with no "however" of accurate bits to follow that list, so kudos for doing it more than half right.

A pleasant diversion, very pretty to look at.

Good Effects Make It Fun To Watch

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 21 April 2006]

This "disaster film" had some of the best special effects of its day (almost 10 years ago). I have to say "of its day" because technology has made CGI become dated quickly these days.

This film is all about a volcano, a la Mt. St. Helen's, erupting and killing people and destroying a small town below it. Some of the scenes were just jaw- dropping and, at least for the first-time viewer, a lot of suspense over whether the main characters of the story will survive it.

Of course, there are some credibility gaps in here, things that just could not happen such as little boy drive van up a mountain (when his feet wouldn't reach the foot pedals!) but you just go along for the ride and enjoy the tension and special effects even if the story gets a little hokey.

It might not be the most intelligent film, but it's very entertaining 109 minutes, and that's the name of the business. It's good escapist fare, and that's all. It's worth two looks.

Dante's Peak deserves more than 5.9 rating

[sauravjoshi85 · 7/10 · 26 April 2020]

Dante's Peak is a disaster thriller movie directed by Roger Donaldson and stars Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, Charles Hallahan, Jeremy Foley and Jamie Renee Smith in the leads.

After seeing the movie I was surprised to such low rating of the movie on IMDb as the movie deserves much better rating.

The plot of the movie is predictable but execution is good. The best part of the movie is that it doesn't wastes much time in plot development.

Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton both are seasoned actors and it shows in their performance. Rest of the actors were also good.

The screenplay is good but the pace is uneven as either it gets fast or gets slow. Cinematography is good and specially the scenes of volcanic eruption is fascinating although some scenes looks dramatic.

The movie is not that bad as rated by few and is an enjoyable experience.

Great then, still great now!

[egg_egan · 30 December 2017]

First watched Dante's Peak when it was released in 1997 and as a kid thought it was brilliant. Just watched it again and I have to say, wow. It is a great film, full of entertainment and action. Yes it is cheesy at times and bits are a bit far fetched e.g. driving over lava, but putting that a side it is a fantastic film.

One of the best disaster movies of the late Nineties.

[filipemanuelneto · 6/10 · 15 August 2019]

Disaster movies can be a fun way to spend some time idle, although most are not particularly cinematically remarkable. This movie fits that description well. The action takes place in a small rural village that has just been considered a great place to live in the US, but lives in the shadow of a sleeping volcano. What no one knows is that this volcano appears to be in full swing and threatens to explode.

The movie quickly creates tension among the audience, and it serves well to grab our attention. I am not the best person to judge the script's ability to be true to the scientific facts underlying a volcanic eruption, I just accept what I saw tacitly, but I admit the possibility the film is not very true to science. The initial half is slower and the action is concentrated on the final half, which is basically a race to escape the volcano. There are some loose ends and inconsistent details, like that scene where a girl, who doesn't even reach the car's pedals, can drive off in a 4-4 jeep.

Pierce Brosnan was convincing in his starring role, while Linda Hamilton made an effort but is always in his shadow. Either way, they are the ones who leverage the movie. The volcano, as it happens in such cases, is almost a character in its own right. Technically, the film was entitled to the best sound and special effects that existed in 1997... but the quick advances in film make it look old-fashioned to many today. Personally, I liked what I saw.

It's not an excellent movie and it's far from being the life movie of anyone involved, it has a dubious script and unbelievable scenes where (as always happens in these movies) some characters escapes from death by a hair. But it's still one of the best disaster movies of the late 1990s, it's fun and entertains the public well.

Oh no! It's Mount St. Helens all over again!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 18 December 2021]

Back in 1997, when I was still a carefree and stressless teenager, there suddenly came two volcano movies in one year. I enjoyed them both at the time, but all the critics and movie-going audiences unanimously claimed this "Dante's Peak" was much better than "Volcano". They were right.

Now that I re-watched them both again, shortly after one another, "Dante's Peak" is definitely the superior achievement, mainly thanks to the better and far more plausible script, but also the special effects are more splendid. What I also didn't realize in 1997, because I was too young and because I am European, is that "Dante's Peak" bears a lot resemblance with the factual events of the Mount St. Helens eruption as they occurred between end of March and mid-May 1980.

Not only does director Roger Donaldson make use of the actual Mount St. Helens craters as filming locations, but there are also many parallels with the series of events as they took place in 1980. Similar to St. Helens, Dante's Peak is the name of a quiet and peaceful little town in Washington state, located at the bottom of a beautiful volcano that has been dormant for nearly 150 years, and believed to remain like that. One geologist/volcanologist also predicts the eruption and forewarns the local authorities, but hardly anybody takes him seriously. And, last but not least, here as well the human death toll unnecessarily increases because stubborn elderly people refuse to leave their mountaintop homes when the volcano erupts. By the way, if you enjoyed "Dante's Peak", I warmly recommend seeking out the obscure 1981 disaster-movie "St. Helens" directed by Ernest Pintoff.

This movie is a blast to watch!

[ironhorse_iv · 6/10 · 4 September 2014]

Rising from the ashes of the 1990s, comes a great underrated disaster movie call Dante's Peak. Directed by Roger Donaldson, Dante's Peak is a movie about a volcano set in the Pacific Northwest named, obviously, Dante's Peak that's ready to erupt. United States Geological Survey Vulcanologist Dr. Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) is sent to the area to check out the volcano; only to find that, the volcano will end up erupting sooner than later. With the Mayor Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton), he tries to send the town on alert, only to be shut down by his superior, because the town happens to be second place in the 'most desirable small town to live in the US' list, and they don't want any negative accusations to threaten the town economy. Like Harry predict, the volcano erupts, leaving everybody struggling to survive. Now Harry Dalton and Rachel must journey through ashes and lava to find their kids, and exit the town before it's become too late for them. In my opinion, this movie is a lot better than the similar movie that came out, the same year in Mick Jackson's Volcano. This movie didn't made ash of itself. A lot more realistic and scientifically accurate in tone, that makes this film even more frighten than the fake looking cartoony, Tommy Lee Jones's film. Although the makers of this film, did embellish a little on volcano type logic like having characters able to breath despite Volcanic ash falling on them and outrunning the 700 km/h pyroclastic flow for the sake of the action. You really have to suspension of disbelief to enjoy this movie. Others suspension of disbelief scenes, like the driving on hot lava-crossing sequence was really film with stunt men driving over real lava, based on the film commentary. Who knew, that was really possible! Some geologists say they enjoy this movie because they get to see volcanologists in the field and some factual science did go along with the explosions. The film still holds up, as the effects were fantastic at the time. You would think the movie had a lot of CGI, but it's only specifically used for the lava. Majority of the film's visual effects were done either practically, or with very large miniatures, such as the bridge sequence, the dam burst, and even the mountain was a model. The pyroclastic flow was particularly impressive. I love how they use real new footage of the erupting of Mount St. Helens of 1980, and use it for this film. The pacing in the film is great. Dante's had a ton of build up with the threat exposed in the last arc that never really felt like it paid off to me. I didn't like any of the characters from Dante's Peak, besides the Volcanologists crew and Pierce Brosnan. No town folks was worth caring about, not the greedy businessman, or the helicopter pilot as they did a lot of things that would win a Darwin award in stupidity. But the worst had to be Grandma Ruth (Elizabeth Hoffman) who does the most stupid things to get the plot going. Mostly, the whole Grandma heroic sacrifice and rescue was kinda was pointless when you think about it. Pierce Brosnan was great as the cliché main scientist protagonist. Still, it's hard not to think of him as James Bond in this film. He kinda plays it off that way in the action scenes. He's seem less like a scientist, and more like action star. I wish, maybe he could put more drive to separate himself from his James Bond counterpart. Linda Hamilton really get underplay as the person with the most lowbrow level of character development. Honestly, you could put anybody in this role. While, she was in the film, she doesn't stand out as the Mayor. For a mayor, she really doesn't have that much power in the film. She went from being a believable bad ass woman that beat all evil comers in 1991's Terminator 2 to near useless below par character that Pierce Brosnan's character has to save. It's so embarrassing. The children actors are alright. Yes, they can be annoying at times, but I didn't mind them as much as other children character in disaster movies. Overall: It's the best Volcano movie that I saw, so far, so I lava this movie! It's an explosive treat, worth the time watching!

Enjoy the fireworks.

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 7/10 · 16 July 2007]

The 'old-fashioned' disaster movie scenario enjoyed a brief resurgence in the latter half of the 90s. After the success of Twister and ID4, films like Hard Rain, Titanic, Armageddon and Deep Impact followed in its wake. Like the two competing asteroid movies, Dante's Peak was in competition with the imaginatively named Volcano as THE Lava flow of 1997. Which one is better? Well, comparing the two is like comparing an atomic blast to a popping pimple.

Pierce Brosnan is Harry Dalton, a Vulcanologist (or James Bond in disguise if you want) who predicts a major eruption in the quaint Pacific-Northwestern town of Dante's Peak. No one wants to listen to him since the town has just been named the 2nd most desirable place to live in America and is in the early stages of a thriving economy. It's the politics from Jaws all over again. Despite being shouted down by his superiors, Harry sticks around to keep his eye on the imposing mountain and woo Mayor Wando (Linda Hamilton), who is the only one who believes the 4000-year dormant volcano might blow its top.

If you've seen one disaster movie, you've seen 'em all in terms of character importance. Yes, it's bloody obvious who is going to die, some of these people might as well have a death clock counting down stuck on their foreheads. And the panicking idiot mobs don't deserve anything less firey. When will nameless extras learn that following the crowd isn't the best way? I guess this is the weakest part of Dante's Peak, it never really distances itself from that single, eternal cliché of disaster films.

But the film is really nothing but a showcase for special effects and it does them surprisingly well. Made before the extreme popularity of CGI, Dante's Peak has a lot of real-life destruction, in-camera effects and stunt-work. Yes, there is a fair bit of CGI and for a 10-year-old film they still hold up really well. All Volano (Zzzz...) had to offer was a very, very slight lava flow and an unintentionally hilarious scene with a melting man but with Dante's Peak we get earthquakes, boiled skinny dippers, lakes of acid, ash blizzards that create a unique atmosphere, thunder and lightning, red hot boulders raining down from the sky, mudslides, lava (of course), a massive pyroclastic cloud and lots of deep, deep bass sound effects.

It's not a life-changing film by any means, but as disaster movies go it's one of the best, has an occasionally spooky score and entertains really well despite Brosnan taking it all so seriously. I would have given it a higher rating if they killed the dog (more original) and deleted the annoying Grant Heslov's utterly pointless character.

It's OK As Disaster Movies Go - No More Than That

[sddavis63 · 5/10 · 16 April 2018]

What you get from "Dante's Peak" is a pretty typical disaster movie that adds little to that broad "genre." Dante's Peak is a little town in the state of Washington that's nestled against a mountain. It's celebrating the fact that it's been named the "Second Best Place to Live In The United States With A Population Under 20,000." They'll need a huge plaque for the town hall just to get all the words on it. Well, actually they won't. Because there's not going to be a town hall - or a town - for much longer. It turns out that the mountain is a volcano that's getting ready to blow its top.

The main characters are Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) - a geologist with the US Geological Survey who realizes that the mountains about to explode - and Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton) - the mayor of the town. The big question is whether to prepare the town for evacuation. There's just been a company that's made a huge investment, and evacuating because of a potential volcanic eruption won't look very good. Profits before safety, you know - kind of like "Jaws" and other movies. The movie pushes the typical buttons. Rachel has a couple of kids who do something stupid and have to be saved and an ornery mother in law who won't take advice and there's a cute dog too. I was actually more worried about poor Roughy than anyone else in this.

Special effects were OK. Performances were OK. Story was typical for a disaster film, although it seemed a little bit long. It's not better or worse than most of them. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to watch it, but it works if you have some time to kill. (5/10)

Pierce & Linda Gave a Great Performance

[whpratt1 · 6/10 · 8 January 2006]

Decided to view this picture only because Pierce Brosnan was starring in the film and greatly enjoyed his acting skills besides his appearing as James Bond. Pierce Brosnan,(Harry Dalton),"The Matador",'05, has a bad experience with the death of his wife during a volcano eruption and stayed in his profession as a geologist. Harry discovers from his charts that their could very well be another volcano problem effecting a small popular town. Linda Hamilton,(Rachel Wando),"The Kid & I ",'05 is the mayor and store owner of this town, who has a boy and a girl and is divorced. A romantic spark happens between Linda and Harry and the story develops into a monster of a tale. There is plenty of good action and it really keeps you on the edge of your seats. Pierce & Linda gave outstanding performances and the photography was great through out the entire picture. Very Entertaining

Disaster Film? Or Film Disaster?

[Lechuguilla · 3/10 · 9 January 2005]

Near a picturesque little town in the American West, an inactive volcano decides to become hyper active. And, as you would expect for a disaster movie, chaos ensues.

The film's first half acquaints viewers with the two main characters, played by Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton. We also get introduced to the town, and get a tour of its main attraction, the photogenic mountain that is about to wake up. The second half is the chaos.

For people who like action films, "Dante's Peak" is a fairly good choice. The visuals, the sound, and the special effects are reasonably engaging. There's lots of exciting drama, and the film's second half is fast paced.

But, if you are looking for a credible story, go elsewhere. The formulaic screenplay is bland and unimaginative; and, it is full of cinematic clichés. Of course, that is a problem with most films in the disaster genre. The stories and plot elements are basically the same, just different disaster: tornado, burning skyscraper, sinking ship, earthquake, or (in this case) volcano. I would not say "Dante's Peak" is a film disaster. But, its screenplay is so cookie-cutter as to be a virtual clone of every disaster film that has gone before it.

Volcano Plays Its Part Very Well

[MiguelM · 8/10 · 3 January 2006]

Yes, there are some cheesy, hollywoodish moments in this movie, but the actors bring enough charisma and presence to hold the story together. Pierce Brosnan makes a convincing scientist, whose passion and desire to protect the townspeople plays off nicely with Mayor Linda Hamilton's similar concerns.

But what I most want to say is that the volcano itself was both believable and accurate. So I want to commend the filmmakers for having enough integrity to make an entertaining film within the boundaries of scientific accuracy. And face it, you don't go to a movie like Dante's Peak to see insightful drama, or peer deep into the human psyche. The people and the volcano play off each other very nicely. It's not often you get a film with both chemistry and physics.

A Disaster Movie with Realism

[mjw2305 · 7/10 · 30 December 2006]

Dante's Peak spends much of the opening half of the film building the characters and setting the scene for disaster, and it definitely helps you identify and care about the characters involved. The story concentrates mainly on Linda Hamilton who is the mayoress of Dante's Peak, along with her family; and of course on Pierce Brosnan who is sent to investigate the seismic activity in this quaint little town.

The events build steadily in this movie, eventually reaching a fantastic climax that is very realistic to watch. Dante's Peak is very dramatic and has a mild dose of sentimentality that fits seamlessly into the story.

Make no mistake, this movie is really well made and is very enjoyable to watch, but be warned; if you like your disaster movies done gung-ho style it may disappoint you.

7/10

It has really nothing new to offer

[philip_vanderveken · 5/10 · 21 December 2004]

Dante's Peak is based on the magic formula that Hollywood has used already so many times before for this kind of disaster movies. Apparently the studio's in Hollywood believe that we all are nothing but simple minds who don't like to watch a movie that's at least a little bit challenging.

I have to admit that the graphics really look nice. The eruption of the volcano is really very well done. Even about the "scientific" facts and words used in the movie I will not complain, apart from some minor things like a car driving over lava without catching fire. Overall it all seems realistic and that's not always very evident in Hollywood. But the main problem that I have with the movie is that it has really nothing new to offer.

A scientist is send to a marvelous, almost perfect little village to investigate a neighboring volcano that has already been dormant for thousands of years. But of course the volcano is getting active again and our beloved scientist, who's falling in love with a local beauty (the local coffee shop owner and mayor of the village), warns the authorities that a disaster will be inevitable if they don't react immediately. Of course no-one believes him and the disaster happens.

We all know what happens, some people die, but our main characters will survive the horror. No, if you are looking for something new, you better switch to something else, because you'll not find it in this movie. I give it a 5,5/10, which isn't even too bad for a disaster movie.

Dude, you need to calm down...

[joelrq · 5 February 2004]

After reading this last guy's review, I'd like to stick up for this movie and offer a BALANCED review. In my opinion, Dante's Peak does a good job of developing the characters (Dalton, R. Wando, the volcano as a character, even the townsfolk), giving convincing backstory as to how volcanos behave compared to scientists' expectations, making us care about the characters, building tension through conflict between Dreyfus and Dalton, and using effects to ramp up the intensity of the action scenes.

Yes, there were things in the script and the story which seemed a little contrived and strained believability. The attitudes and behavior of the USGS team were a little too informal and "hip" to seem real. The driving-through-the-river and driving-through-the-lava scenes were really too far out to be believed. Ruth's selfishness and patent stubbornness were unbelievable but understandable. The scene where the pyroclastic cloud chases them into the mine is pure hollywood fluff but still livable, mainly because WE CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS. I found the character of Dr. Paul Dreyfuss to be right on. He explained the dilemma well during the city council meeting scene. All of the characters are believable at least, convincing at most.

I think the chemistry between Dalton and Wando is believable : Here you have a scientist who is analytical and professional, but who is still in touch with the lives of laypeople, and has a tender side. He has loved and lost before and he senses that this new volcanic threat is akin to the last one which "took" his love away. This re-enforces the precept that THIS TIME, HE WON'T LET THE VOLCANO HURT THE ONES HE LOVES. Wando is the warm, slightly ditsy mayor of Dante's Peak who displays the identifiable traits and values of a northwesterner. She feels slightly overwhelmed by her mayoral duties, raising her kids properly, and running her coffeeshop. She's had a previous marriage to a deadbeat who left her at a vulnerable point. The arrival of Dalton is very catalytic in her life. She's met the only man who has the right answer about the volcano, likes her kids, likes her, is intriguing, and is everything her ex wasn't. THIS IS THE MAKINGS OF A ROMANCE...DUH.

I'm really impressed that the filmmakers were able to pack this much character development, backstory, romance, suspense, personal conflict, with an intense end-sequence in under 1 1/2 hours! "Volcano" is a film with a similar premise that,IMHO, doesn't even come close to Dante's Peak. While this film is not deserving of an Oscar, IT IS A SOLID FILM, HAVING BEEN WELL-CONCEIVED, WELL-DIRECTED, FAIRLY WELL-ACTED, AND AS SUCH IS SUBSEQUENTLY WELL-DESERVING OF SOME CRITICAL ACCLAIM rather than getting a baseless pummeling from reviewers who obviously expect to see a 5-star gem everytime they go to the movies.

Not a bad disaster movie

[nev827 · 7/10 · 26 January 2006]

The first time I saw this movie I thought it quite good, especially the roller coaster ride of the last hour or so. I saw it again and thought it not very good at all and now having seen it recently, I not bad, but not great either. It's a well done disaster movie with one challenge after another to survive being thrown at the main characters. This roller coaster ride really pulled me in and even reminded me of the very well done remake of The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford. I'll admit some of the situations are a little hard to believe, but at least they keep the film from being boring.

The chemistry between Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton, while not incredible, is still there. Also enjoyable was how the film makes use of its small town setting, including in the casting characters you'd expect to find in a small town: the female gossip, the gruff, but dedicated sheriff, and the more business-minded don't-rock-the-boat councilman. Finally, Harry (Brosnan) and Paul Dreyfus's band of colleagues also prevent the movie from being flat, but are a little too reminiscent of the characters from Twister to really leave their own mark.

Also what impressed me was some of the camera work, which I think isn't given enough credit. There are a number of composite shots of the erupting volcano with the reflection (probably understood to be from a truck's window) of Rachel (Hamilton) looking back in horror that are quite well done. And the digital editing in of the volcano is also well done as well as some of the panoramas.

A smaller problem I had with the movie is the development of Harry and Rachel's relationship. Initially their flirtations and the initial "getting to know each other" are quite cute. But I can't help but think why Rachel, who has been a small-town girl her whole life would be interested in someone like Harry who clearly states a that his job isn't exactly conducive to settling down. Sure Harry is everything her ex-husband isn't and it's obvious that the both of them are lonely to a degree, but it doesn't seem to me that a woman as sensible and who feels as great a responsibility as Rachel (to her kids, to the town, to her business) would find that to be enough. Also, Harry seems to get over the touchy subject of his dear departed Marianne to start making passes at Rachel in her kitchen quite quickly.

My biggest problem with the movie is the writing, which is so bad in some places that it really brings down the parts in the movie where it is good. Harry's line about sex being like riding a bicycle because once you learn you never forget is laughable. Some of the Wando children's lines I found to be lacking in substance too and almost condescending to the viewer. But, as I said, not all the writing is bad: an example is the excellent delivery of a reference to Pompei by one of Harry and Paul's colleagues and another's excitement over Rachel's regular coffee deliveries.

In the end, when this movie is bad, it's bad, but in general it's good.

Not bad as far as natural disaster movies go

[tastyhotdogs · 7/10 · 31 March 2006]

Saw this a video sale this week for a $1. Wifey was stoked as her favourite movie genre is "natural disasters".

The movie revolves around volcano expert Harry (Brosnan), who decides to go and take a look at a volcano in a small US town where there seems to be some minimal activity. He is expecting this just to be a routine check, but once he starts taking some PH tests, things don't look so good. Then he finds some dead bodies in a hot spring and things look decidedly worse. He warns the town Mayor (Hamilton) the old volcano looks like she's gonna blow and she should look at evacuating the town ASAP. Just before this is about to happen, Harry's boss rocks into town, playing the time-old boss who doesn't take heed of the advice of someone smarter than him. Will the evacuation be too late? Will Harry and the Mayor get romantically involved? Will Harry again be tormented by a volcano? Will Nanna survive? Will the end be predictable? See it and find out.

Realistic yet nothing more than an f/x feast

[gcd70 · 7/10 · 14 July 2008]

One has to ask the question: Are special effects taking over action movies? "Dante's Peak" is most certainly full of very authentic, spectacular visuals.

The special effects go wild in the last twenty minutes of this edge of your seat volcano thriller. It is just a shame that it takes the entire time before this to build up to such an exciting crescendo.

The cast, though enjoyable, are really only there for the rocks to fall on. Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, Charles Hallahan, Jamie Renee Smith, Jeremy Foley, various other support cast and a smart effects team make you believe it is really happening.

Sunday, January 25, 1998 - Video

An explosively fun drama!

[That_Movie_Watcher · 7/10 · 1 January 2022]

I wasn't really expecting to like this film because I though it was going to be just another cheesy and over dramatic disaster movie, but I was proven wrong. I throughly enjoyed this movie and was honestly on the edge of my seat during certain scenes.

The characters were done pretty well and didn't feel all that poorly written/executed. There were some scenes that were funky or weird, but they didn't really harm the film much overall.

My favorite aspect about this film is the fact that most of the effects were done practically! I love to see movies use real props, destroy real sets, and interact with real environments! It makes everything that happens in the film feel real and emerges the audience into the film! I loved how Pierce Brosnan really did the stunt of being picked up by a helicopter dangling from a rope, and being flown over a real mountain! AWSOME!! I HATE how much newer movies rely on blue screens, CGI, and motion capture stuff because it just makes the movies feel fake and done lazily. I think this movie greatly benefited from using real props, sets, and effects. The lava was CG and didn't look great but everything else did!

The director being a geologist prior to directing this really showed in the film because you can tell he really put a lot of time and care into getting many of the geological aspects correct in this film!

It's not the best movie, it has its flaws, but I think it's a fun watch! Recommend to anyone who's a disaster movie buff!

jason kerr

[jkerr-56884 · 5/10 · 20 October 2015]

Dante's Peak is about a volcanic eruption that has happened in a village. Harry the main character is a volcanologist, a few years ago his girlfriend died in a volcanic eruption while trying to get away.

Harry works in the USGS with his boss Paul and the staff, Harry is sent into a nearby village to work on a volcano that they think might erupt. Harry goes with the major, Rachel, and her children to her mother in law, Ruth, for Harry to inspect the wild life around the volcano. Ruth offered to go swimming in the springs with the kids, when they get there they walk down the path and they spot squirrels and trees burnt down, later on they go for a swim and Harry notices the spring is boiling while the boy runs to jump in to the spring Harry jumps and catches the boy. When they go back to the village he tells the major to put the town on alert so they have a meeting to see what they should do, but Harry's boss comes and stops the commotion. The next day they go up the volcano and put a machine called a spider up for safety but the spider breaks and one of his colleagues go to try and fix it but when he was doing that an earth tremor breaks some rocks which fall on him and break his leg. A town meeting is announced and puts the town on alert, but when the meeting is still on an earthquake comes and everyone goes crazy. Harry and the major go and evacuate, but when they go to get the kids, they had already left to see her mother in law. When they get to the mother in laws house they try to escape but the road is blocked by lava so they drive through it. After they get through the lava they go on a boat across the lake to get away from the lava. When they were sailing the acid in the water burns the metal boat and the motor on the boat was also eaten away by the acid. So the mother in law gets out and pushes the boat to save them by getting them to the other side. As they walk through the ash, the mother in law stops and dies because of the wounds from the acid in the water. They find a car and drive back to the village and get a device called an elf, which is a transmitter. Harry runs back to the car and an ash cloud pushes towards them. They get into an abandoned mine shaft to get away from the ash cloud. As they walk deeper into the mine Harry goes back to get the elf as the elf is a transmitter which lets the USGS know they have survived. So they can be saved.

I found the movie Dante's Peak interesting. The characters where well played and my favourite was Harry. I would give it a 5/5

Yes!

[jpave2000 · 6/10 · 28 March 2018]

This is essentially the same plot as Jaws, but with a volcano standing in for the shark. Stupid town officials don't listen to the warnings of a scientist and boy will they regret it!

Nostalgia got me here

[abdulazizalsharieff · 5/10 · 4 July 2020]

Ive been feeling nostalgic to the 90's which got me to this perfect 90's movie Perfect in the sense it represents family 90's movies , a classic , kids who do something stupid , a stubborn nanny, a boss thats against the star of the film , and a very weird plot.

The thing i could noooot understand is why in the need of evacuating the town without panic , they decided it smart to hold a gathering of literally the entire town !!

Loved it in 97...Loved it in 2019

[adshiel · 8/10 · 16 May 2019]

I think in between those years i have watched it numerous times.

CGI has got better but to the point where it seems a little unreal, this doesn't.

Daft plot points (we still get plenty of them) but generally a really watchable disaster movie.

An Underrated Disaster Flick

[npdeo18 · 6/10 · 12 October 2019]

I was quite surprised to see the negative reviews for the film. In fact the reviews for this film is quite critical in comparison with Volcano. But the direction of the movie and certain technical aspects of the film are better than volcano. Certain scenes may have been quite unrealistic & predictable but it still was able to evoke enough thrills for a disaster film. Pierce Brosnan was perfectly cast for the role, in fact the producers must have encased on his popularity of being the Bond. But the chemistry between Brosnan and Hamilton was not encouraging in fact someone else could have been casted in the role of Linda Hamilton and the mid portion of the film could have been edited or showcased in a better manner. Overall the film can be ranked as one of the most under-rated disaster films of all time had it been for better editing and casting.

"The second most desirable place to live in the United States"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 23 September 2023]

Watching this film I felt like a child on a long car journey constantly mithering with "Are we there yet?" but in this case it was more, when is the volcano going to explode? The narrative leading up to Dante losing his peak was frankly rather dull, with a routine romantic relationship between leads Pierce Brosnan ( a scientist) and Linda Hamilton (a mayor and coffee shop assistant) and non-engaging characters in the town or the volcanologist team. My favourite character was the dog. When is that volcano going to explode? I kept thinking. Well when it does the scenes of panic and mayhem are staged well and the volcano special effects are mostly decent for their time so that was OK. On the whole not that exciting.