Dante's Peak (109 minutes)

"Thank you, NASA!"

Welcome back to The 90-Minute Movie! The film club for people who appreciate editing, punchy storytelling, and efficiency. The community continues to grow here, and I am so thankful for everyone taking the time to read my writing. It is such a joy for me to combine my two great loves - writing and movies. If you’re new here, welcome! My catalog of short, punchy movies is getting pretty deep, so please check out my archives and don’t forget to subscribe. (I gotta say it!)

A reminder to all that my runtime limit remains at 110 minutes and below. I know this bothers some people, but the crazy thing is… I created this, and I can do whatever I want! In all seriousness, I do work to stick around the sweet spot. But every once in a while, there is a gem that deserves my attention and falls within the confines of my self-regulated standards. I think you will all agree that this week’s movie deserves the leniency.

Dante’s Peak (1997, 109 minutes) stars Pierce Brosnan as hunky Harry Dalton, a geologist volcanologist called off vacation by his boss Paul (Charles Hallahan) to investigate strange readings at Dante’s Peak, a supposed dormant volcano. Of course, Harry is so smart that he determines almost right away, and almost using just his intuition, that Dante’s Peak is actually going to blow. He must work with the town’s Mayor, Lauren Wando (Linda Hamilton), to convince people of the truth before it’s too late.

Spoiler alert: It becomes too late.

I am forever grateful for the 1990s renaissance of disaster movies. These movies shaped my childhood (and probably damaged me) in more ways than I can count and likely more than I’ll ever know. While Dante’s Peak never hit icon status with the likes of Armageddon, Twister, and Titanic, it held a level of importance with Blockbuster kids and their parents. It also beat out its box office rival, Volcano, by $50 million. I wrote about Volcano a couple of years ago, noting that what made this time in film so special is that kids were experiencing disaster movies for the first time while their parents were enjoying a revival of what was popular when they were young. Great bonding material! What I know now that I didn’t know when I wrote that piece, though, is that the timing of these releases wasn’t mere coincidence but an epic battle between studios with Universal pulling a date change stunt that put Dante’s Peak ahead of Volcano and stunned Fox executives.¹ When we’re having fun talking about movies, we cannot forget it’s a business.

The debate over which movie is best still stands today. During this last rewatch, I determined that Dante’s Peak is likely to be the better movie, but Volcano is more fun. (And that is perhaps the reasoning for its high Rotten Tomatoes rating.) At the end of the day, neither of these is a perfect movie, but we love them anyway. Perhaps what Dante’s does best is its use of practical effects. I am not a VFX expert, so I hopped on over to the Corridor Crew’s YouTube page to better understand what I was seeing and what I liked about it so much. Summed up, production opted to use miniatures for many of its “big” set pieces: the landslide that wipes out the town and the trucks attempting to cross a bridge above rapid waters, for example. They also make a lot of use out of practical effects like filming actual ash clouds (that they pumped into the sky). This is what makes Dante’s Peak feel so visceral. Of course, many people argue that Dante’s doesn’t have enough lava-- I guess to satiate their bloodthirst or whatever. Volcano has that in droves. The lack of lava has never bothered me that much, I find the other elements of a volcano exploding to be just as, if not more, scary. Being crushed under a landslide? BURIED in a mine? Scary.

Dante’s does flounder with its shortened runtime. It doesn’t manage to achieve what the greats do in terms of character and relationship development. Even with 109 minutes to do the work, nearly 70 of those spent before the volcano so much as wiggles, the relationships are rushed and lack any depth. Somehow, Harry and Lauren manage to fall for each other over one beer, a trip to her ex-mother-in-law’s house, and a town council meeting. (HOT.) I mean, I guess she does know his coffee order by the end. The only relationship that has remotely any growth is that between Harry and his boss, Paul. They at least have their ups and downs. Paul dies on the bridge, unable to escape his truck before it’s washed away. The actor, Charles Hallahan, has a better death in The Thing, but this is the kind of fact I’d reserve for your film friends.

Perhaps the strangest choice for a character relationship is the one between Lauren and her ex-mother-in-law (Elizabeth Hoffman). They don’t like each other. I determined that she only exists to get everyone back up the mountain (because why else would you drive toward a volcano if your kids didn’t go up there first, thinking they could save their grandmother?) Grandma does have her hero’s death, one that is burned into the minds of 90’s kids everywhere, pulling their boat to safety across an acid lake while her legs sizzle. I have to be honest here, this death is nothing compared to that of Stan in Volcano. Grandma doesn’t really earn this arc the same way Stan does. And if I am being frank, jumping into lava with your melting Nikes to hurl someone to safety is cooler than walking through some acid water. I don’t make the rules.

Despite the lack of human connection that our characters have to one another, the movie does achieve a slow burn with a decent enough pay-off. Even though no one believes Harry and he comes off as traumatized rather than skilled, there is a real fear building for us as an audience. Of course, the movie is relying on us to recall the trailers, so maybe this isn’t so much a positive as it is a net neutral. It doesn’t amplify anything, but it doesn’t do any damage either. Similarly, there aren’t any lessons learned other than -- listen to Pierce Brosnan when he’s talking to you. Volcano, at least, has an environmental angle to it. We also learn that NASA technology is quite helpful in a crisis, “Thank you, NASA!” (This is a weird verbal stim of mine. Don’t know why.)

Oh, and the dog lives.

I think as a film community, we may never agree on what the best movie is. But I know what we will agree on is the absolute joy that was brought to us in 1997, at the height of the disaster movie revival. When the studios fought over releasing movies that they wouldn’t even think to fund these days. What a time to be alive, truly.

So, tell me. Are you Team Dante’s Peak or Team Volcano, and why? Let’s get this debate as hot as some practically made lava. And send this to your friends who like to argue.

1. https://filmstories.co.uk/features/1997-and-the-tactical-release-date-battle-between-dantes-peak-and-volcano/