DATE REVIEWED: 11/15/24
TITLE: Dante’s Peak
BOX OFFICE RATED: PG-13 (This is not suitable for GOD’s children.)
PRODUCTION YEAR: 1997 Universal Pictures / Pacific Western Productions
RATING [1 LEAST FAVORITE TO 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]: 1
REASON: This movie began with the massive eruption of a volcano in a Colombian town, where the citizens fled in terror and dodged fireballs. Harry Dalton a researcher and his research girlfriend Marianne tried to escape, but a fireball killed her. Four years later, Harry worked as a volcanologist for the USGS in Portland, Washington. The readings picked up seismic activity at Dante’s Peak in the Northern Cascades of Washington, so Harry’s boss Paul Dreyfus sent him to the small town during the Pioneer Days festival. Karen Narlington of Money magazine gave Mayor Rachel Wando an award for Dante’s Peak being the second-best place to live in the US with a population less than 20,000. Rachel and her young children (under 12 years old) Graham and Lauren lived in their house that was also the Blue Moon coffee shop that mayor Rachel owned. Graham never showed to the ceremony because he and his friends were in their hideout at the abandoned mine. Harry met with Rachel to investigate the volcano, and she tried to drop her kids off at their grandmother Ruth’s house but Ruth joined them to go swimming in the hot springs. Harry’s findings concerning the high levels of acidity in the water and the dead trees and squirrels in the area were troubling, but he didn’t let on. Graham almost jumped into the hot springs, but Harry grabbed the kid and stopped him when they discovered a dead couple from California floating naked after the water turned to acid and their bodies were boiled alive. Rachel held a city council meeting, and Harry explained that the volcano had been dormant for 7,000 years but the 7,400 residents of Dante’s Peak would have to be evacuated if it erupted and reached them within a minute. The council didn’t believe there was any danger and were worried that Elliot Blair from Blair Industries would take his $18 million investment and 800 jobs elsewhere. Paul and his team of USGS workers (Terry Furlong, Greg, Stan, and Nancy) arrived before the council could vote whether or not to put the town on evacuation alert. Paul announced that he had put out alerts for possible eruptions before, but they were false alarms so the USGS looked bad and Harry made a mistake by calling the meeting and putting everyone on edge. Harry didn’t agree with Paul’s decision to wait and monitor the volcano before considering an alert, but Paul took charge. They set up their operation in a motel room at Warren Cluster’s motel Cluster’s Last Stand, and they took readings of the volcano from a helicopter and it was idle. Rachel invited Harry to dinner to thank him for saving Graham’s life and being concerned about the town. Rachel’s husband, Brian, disappeared (deserted family) six years before, and his whereabouts were unknown so Ruth was now Rachel’s former mother-in-law. Harry and Terry took a NASA robot called Spider Legs onto the volcano to take readings and video footage. The robot was worth $450,000 and the said it ought to be able to fart the Star-Spangled Banner, but it malfunctioned. Terry went to fix it, but there was a landslide and Terry’s leg was trapped under the rocks and the rocks broke his leg. Paul and the rest of the team requested the emergency helicopter, and the pilot insisted on having a raise before he rescued Terry and Harry. He then carried Harry and Terry out of there after Paul told his assistant to agree to whatever the pilot asked for, and Terry then received medical attention. Harry again wanted to put the town on alert, but Paul dismissed the activity as microquakes. Paul and the team stayed for a week to monitor the volcano’s activity, but there was no change so they planned to return to Portland the following morning and continue their study from there even though Harry still had a feeling something was very wrong. Harry and Rachel returned to the house to have sex after Rachel paid the babysitter and the babysitter left the house. However, Lauren asked for water and interrupted them. The tap water was dirty and smelled, so Rachel took Harry to the town’s reservoir. They discovered that the town’s water was contaminated with sulfur dioxide which was a sure sign that the volcano would blow soon. The volcanic activity picked up, so Paul and the crew put the town on alert since the National Guard couldn’t arrive until the following day. The townspeople attended the meeting at the high school where Harry and Rachel explained about the evacuation. Everyone panicked and fled when there was an earthquake. Pandemonium ensued in the streets as the skies filled with ash, electrical wires fell, buildings collapsed, people were trampled exiting the high school and some threw each other through glass windows, the gas station went up in flames, one of the bridges collapsed and took cars down with it, and drivers rammed into each other in their rush to leave town. Harry and Rachel didn’t stay around but headed to the house to get Graham and Lauren because Rachel left the young kids home alone to pack and Rachel knew they were not happy about leaving town without Grandma. However, once at the Blue Moon coffee house, they discovered that the young children stole the truck and drove up the mountain toward danger to Ruth’s house on the mountainside since Grandma refused to leave her home. Harry drove off-road and waded through the river to get around the traffic on the bridge since the vehicle had a snorkel. The SUV became stuck, but they got free after they were struck when one of the other smaller cars that tried to follow them in the water hit their SUV, and the smaller car didn’t make it out. Some citizens paid the USGS helicopter pilot many of thousands in cash to fly them to safety. Paul tried to warn them that the helicopter would go down because of the ash, but the pilot wouldn’t listen and crashed with the millionaires on board and then it exploded after almost hitting Harry and Rachel’s vehicle on the way down. Harry’s coworkers warned him that he didn’t have enough time to rescue the kids, but he and Rachel went anyway to get Ruth and the kids. Grandma’s dog, Roughy, had disappeared out of Grandma’s house door when the kids arrived, and they couldn’t go back to town because a landslide had destroyed the road. They barely made it out of the house and fled into a motorboat onto Mirror Lake when molten lava flowed down the mountainside and engulfed the house. The volcanic eruption turned the water to acid, so the fish floated dead on the surface and the metal boat started melting. The kids were frightened, so the adults sang “Row Your Boat” to keep everyone calm and Graham gave Lauren his crystal to hold and they were told not to put their hands in the water. They lost their propeller and started sinking, so Harry tried to row the boat with his hand wrapped in his jacket but that wasn’t working so elderly Ruth jumped into the water and pulled them the rest of the way to the dock to safety. Ruth’s skin was severely burned by the acid, especially both legs, so Harry carried her until the pain was too much and she died so they left her on the mountain and continued their journey back to town. The National Guard arrived in town the next morning to evacuate people, and Paul and his crew left the motel with the Guard. The army vehicles made it across the bridge, but Paul’s van was stuck and he drowned when the acid water that broke through the dam washed the bridge away. Harry, Rachel, and the kids made it to the ranger station. Harry hotwired a truck. They drove across the dried lava and became stuck, but they got free just as lava started flowing. They found Roughy stuck on a rock along the way, and the four-legged family member jumped into the truck. Harry headed back to the motel to retrieve the ELF transmitter that Terry had removed from the NASA robot earlier to get it to work before he broke his leg. Harry hoped ELF could be used to transmit a signal to their location. A pyroclastic cloud then erupted from the volcano, and it topped over and destroyed everything (buildings, trees, roads, etc.) in its path. The truck just barely escaped into young Graham’s hideout playtime mine where he had it stocked with food and water. Harry went back to the truck that he had driven hard into the mine and caused bloody cuts on everyone in order to retrieve the NASA ELF. Before he left, he gave the kids hope that they would get out and he would take them and Rachel fishing in Florida. The mine crumbled down around Harry and broke his left arm, but he managed to crawl into the truck. The rocks collapsed on top of the truck and crushed the roof more. Harry was able to get the NASA ELF to work by kicking it multiple times. Thanks to NASA, the signal got through to the USGS team two days later. Harry, Rachel, Roughy and the kids were saved from the mine by fire and rescue. Harry and Rachel kissed, and everyone was helicoptered to safety as they planned their trip to Florida. This movie had a budget of $116 million and grossed over $178 million at the box office. The movie cover art listed, Michael Medved, New York Post, “Four stars. Unforgettable. The impact is truly awesome!”