DANTE'S PEAK - HD DVD review

In between stints as the super suave James Bond, Pierce Brosnan took time out to star in the little volcano action film "Dante's Peak." In typical Hollywood fashion, competing projects were released in the summer of 1997 and "Dante's Peak" beat the Tommy Lee Jones film "Volcano" to the box office gates. The film did not receive strong critical acclaim and its estimated $100 million dollar budget was nowhere near recovered in ticket sales as "Dante's Peak" made just over $67 million. The film did receive some kind words from scientists for depicting many of the elements typically associated with volcanic eruptions, although it did feature a few notable flaws in its scientific representations. Regardless of its poor critical response and less than hoped ticket sales, "Dante's Peak" is a film that I've always found enjoyment in.

"Dante's Peak" begins with a volcanic eruption. Scientist Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) is rushing to escape the eruption along with his girlfriend Maryanne. During their attempted escape from the volcano's violent outburst, Maryanne is killed and Harry is sent spiraling into a surmised world of depression and suffering. Years later, Harry is asked to investigate a potential eruption in Washington State, at a little town called Dante's Peak. The town is a picture perfect representation of Americana life and has received attention for being a quality place to live. The volcano that shadows the town has never been a concern for the townsfolk and the town's mayor, Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton) is eager to work with Harry and determine if there is reason to panic. Rachel has two young children, Graham (Jeremy Foley) and Lauren (Jamie Renee Smith).

Rachel and Harry take the children and investigate a mountainous lake to determine if the water has become acidic due to an impending eruption. After collecting information pertaining to the water quality, they encounter horribly burned bodies near the volcano's hot springs. This is enough information for Harry to determine to meet with the town and place the town on alert in the face of an eruption. Unfortunately, Harry has previously placed towns under false alert and his superiors pull the warning and send in a team of experts to monitor the situation. Driven by an interest to keep any eye on the situation, Harry remains in Dante's Peak. This, of course, results in a romantic situation between the widowed scientist and the single mother mayor of the perfect paradise under a potentially disastrous volcano.

Of course, Harry was right and his superiors were wrong and the townsfolk are trapped in the typically peaceful Dante's Peak when the volcano erupts and spews its volcanic cloud and lava towards the town. Residents die in the wake of the horrible eruption and some escape. The film quickly sets its focus on the attempts of Harry to get Rachel and her children out of Dante's Peak. He doesn't want another romantic relationship to be ended by a volcanic eruption. They move across a highly acidic lake in a metal boat, they drive on volcanic spewage with rubber tires, Rachel's mother perishes and finally take refuge in a mine. Mines are typically not the safest place to seek safety during strong seismic events, but it protects them from the nuée ardente (volcanic cloud). I'll have you watch the movie to see what happens.

This film is mindless entertainment. It does throw out a good deal of technically correct terminology and science to try and make the film feel more intelligent than it is. Having taken a few geology courses in college, I can attest to the accurate nature of much of the science. I particularly enjoyed the pyroclastic cloud. However, "Dante's Peak" is a popcorn film at its core. The film suffers from a case of "Foreshadowing for Dummies" and so many plot devices are revealed to the audience before they occur. This is one of those movies that you can point to objects and things said and know exactly what will return later on and have far more importance. You always know the slightly long shot of an anchor sticking up on a boat will kill the villain. The same treatment is given to a tracking device here. Leave any expectations of a strong story and realism behind and just sit back and enjoy an old fashioned disaster film.

The lead actors are more than competent in handling their roles. Pierce Brosnan had "Goldeneye" under his belt when he filmed "Dante's Peak" and there aren't too many films that are more over-the-top than the James Bond pictures. Brosnan is a man who can portray sophistication and intelligence. He can pull off action. This is a good role for the actor. Linda Hamilton is best known for her involvement in the first two "Terminator" movies. She is a strong woman and can do action. Although a little suspension of reality had to be used to swallow her being a perfect town's mayor, it didn't take away from the film's action, which is the important part of this movie. The two young actors were okay, as well as Elizabeth Hoffman, who played Rachel's mother. There aren't any award winning performances in "Dante's Peak," but like I said, this is a movie I enjoy for the over-the-top disaster movie action. You don't watch a movie like "Disaster's Peak" with the expectation that the actors are going to score on Oscar night.

James Cameron's former wife and producing partner Gale Anne Hurd produced "Dante's Peak" and she does have a knack for delivering fun films that may be light on substance, but heavy on action. Director Roger Donaldson has not had many hits, or any great critical successes. With the Mel Gibson picture "The Bounty," the horrid "Cadillac Man," the poor remake of "The Getaway" and the sexy sci-fi horror film "Species," Donaldson has succeeded only with "Thirteen Days" and the barely seen "The World's Fastest Indian." If there was a weak spot in the production of "Dante's Peak," I would have to point a finger at Donaldson. I can image "Dante's Peak" would have had more depth and bang-for-the-buck had Cameron been the director. The film isn't directed badly, but the approach taken by Donaldson is simply action before anything else. I like action and I enjoy this film, but this is definitely a film where I can say I wouldn't mind if it were a little deeper in content. It is an escape from reality and you need to leave any expectations of reality behind to enjoy it.

Video:
Being one of the films I had originally used to show off DVD, "Dante's Peak" was a film that I had hoped would look great on HD-DVD. Thankfully, Universal has mostly delivered with this catalog title and I felt the film looked strong enough to rank this among Universal's better catalog titles. This film was among their earlier "Collector's Edition" releases when the older format was new and "Dante's Peak" was among one of the newer and better sounding titles to debut on the format. On HD-DVD, the film is now a ten year veteran and lacks the pure visual splendor of the most recent titles, but it was detailed and quite colorful. The film shows a lot of particle effects and contains a couple wonderful exterior shots that all look strongly detailed and colorful. Even when everything goes to hell in the wake of the volcanic eruption, "Dante's Peak" holds its own on HD-DVD. The movie is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and in typical Universal fashion, uses the VC-1 code for its digital mastering. Colors are saturated nicely and shows strong greens, oranges, blues and reds. Detail is strong and many details that I was unable to see on DVD are abundantly clear here. All-in-all, the film lacked the brilliance of the top-notch HD-DVD titles, but was a strong looking catalog title.

Sound:
One of the reasons I came to enjoy "Dante's Peak" and now consider it a guilty pleasure is because of its soundtrack. The film was one of the best sounding DVD titles when it was released and although films have become noisier, this is still a great sounding picture. The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack is vibrant and energetic. Once the volcano springs to life, the picture is aggressive and captivating to the ears. The .1 LFE channel rumbles deeply with the various seismic events and catastrophic collapses seen in the film. Rear surrounds carry a few effects very nicely to the rear and the hot springs bubble over nicely through the rears. Dialogue is clear and intelligible, through even the most aggressive moments. The film's musical score is sometimes a little too understated, but it is clear and nicely rendered by the transfer. I would never pit "Dante's Peak" in a head-to-head competition with the new films being released in HD-DVDs early days, but this early DVD release sounds pretty good on the new format.

Extras:
When this title was first released onto DVD, the singular documentary and commentary track were very nice features. They still hold up today, but their sheer number feels a bit light in the reign of HD-DVD. The Feature Commentary by Director Roger Donaldson and Production Designer Dennis Washington feels a bit dry and is very technical in nature. The two speak softly throughout their commentary track and leave a number of silent moments as they sit back and enjoy the film. The two did dive into some of the scientific aspects of the film and this was interesting, but I found the overall commentary track difficult to sit through again, even if the first sitting was a decade ago. The feature Getting Close to the Show: The Making of Dante's Peak (61:14) runs for over an hour and is both polished and entertaining. All aspects of the production are looked into during this lengthy documentary. Real-life volcanoes, the physical effects shots used and other quality segments were contained in this feature. After ten years, I was still fascinated with some of the effects shots and still think this is one of the better making of documentaries to hit DVD. Finally, a Theatrical Trailer is also included.

Closing Comments:
"Dante's Peak" ranks among my top guilty pleasures in cinema. I may not love this film with the same fervor that I do "Waterworld," but I do enjoy sitting down and watching this Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton movie. Part of the reason is my background in geology and my interest in volcanic explosions. They did justice to the science and made a film that is one of the more entertaining volcano movies. This was definitely better than "Volcano." The plot and story are as deep as a surface tremor, but it is written in a manner that entertains. The HD-DVD release of this Universal DVD classic features strong visuals and sound that are not as good as today's top titles, but do the film justice. The supplements from that early "Collector's Edition" make their way to HD-DVD and although the commentary felt overly dry, I loved the making of documentary. This is a fine catalog title that is as fun as the disaster films of the Seventies. It is a decent HD-DVD release as well, even if it is a rehash of the old DVD title.