Dante’s Peak
BBB.5
(out of 5)
Pure Hollywood fluff, this disaster film about a volcano erupting in a town that has been declared by the President as the ‘Second Best Place to Live in America’ is genius when compared to the similarly-themed Volcano starring Tommy Lee Jones. Linda Hamilton is the Mayor (and General Store Owner, how quaint can you get) of the aforementioned town who refuses to believe it when geologist sexpot Pierce Brosnan arrives and tells her that the giant mothra of a mountain that provides a beautiful backdrop to her house is actually getting ready to wipe the entire local population off the face of the earth. Naturally, it happens before anyone’s ready to leave, so there’s lots of deliciously frightened extras getting crushed under telephone poles, and if you find that entertaining, this is your film! Others might cry foul when they see a twelve year-old successfully navigate a 4×4 truck up an ash-soaked, quaking mountain. Either laughing at it or with it, though, you’ll enjoy yourself.
USA, 1997
Directed by Roger Donaldson
Screenplay by Leslie Bohem
Cinematography by Andrzej Bartkowiak
Produced by Gale Anne Hurd, Joseph Singer
Music by John Frizzell
Production Design by J. Dennis Washington
Costume Design by Isis Mussenden
Film Editing by Conrad Buff IV, Tina Hirsch, Howard E. Smith
Cast Tags: Arabella Field, Bill Bolender, Brian Reddy, Carole Androsky, Charles Hallahan, Christopher Murray, David Lipper, Donna Deshon, Ed Stone, Elizabeth Hoffman, Grant Heslov,Hansford Rowe, Heather Stephens, Jamie Renée Smith, Jeffrey L. Ward, Jeremy Foley, Justin Williams, Kirk Trutner, Lee Garlington, Linda Hamilton, Marilyn Leubner, Peter Jason, Pierce Brosnan, R.J. Burns, Susie Spear Purcell, Tammy L. Smith, Tim Haldeman, Tom Magnuson, Tzi Ma, Walker Brandt
