Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

Cat.no: UDR 90002

Cert: 12

Running time: 110 minutes

Year: 1997

Pressing: 1999

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 38 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround, Mono

Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, Spanish, Polish

Subtitles: English, French, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Greek

Widescreen: 2.35:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Biographies, Filmographies, Production Notes, Booklet

Director:

Roger Donaldson (The Bounty, Cadillac Man, Cocktail, The Getaway (1994), No Way Out, Species, White Sands)

Producers:

Gale Anne Hurd and Joseph M. Singer

Screenplay:

Leslie Bohem

Music:

James Newton Howard (Flatliners)

Cast:

Harry Dalton: Pierce Brosnan (Goldeneye, The Lawnmower Man, Live Wire, The Long Good Friday, Mars Attacks!, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Mrs Doubtfire, The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough)
Rachel Wando: Linda Hamilton (Children Of The Corn, Mr Destiny, Shadow Conspiracy, Terminator 1 & 2, TV: Beauty and the Beast)
Paul Dreyfus: Charles Hallahan (Body of Evidence, Dave, Executive Decision, The Fan, Fatal Beauty, Pale Rider, Silkwood, The Thing, Vision Quest, Warlock: The Armageddon)

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What follows is strictly plot-by-numbers which heads towards more of a drama than an action film, making this to Volcano what Deep Impact was to Armageddon. It also treads some of the more obvious and well-worn routes that can annoy you about a film such as the moment when they decide to go back for the old dear who can't bear to leave her home at the top of a hill. Inside the house they move out of the way just as molten lava pours through the window and later on when they're all boat-bound through a deadly lake, they can't quite make it to shore so granny decides to get out and give it a pull, burning her legs in the process. Everyone tries to help her afterwards as the pain gets worse but no, she decides to lay down and die - just like that without a hint of self-worth and it really irks me when characters just decide to call it a day when they could quite as easily carry on living.

Other scenes of annoyance of note comes when they think that the family dog is dead, but lo and behold he's later found and jumps into the car to safety when they find him, since you don't want the RSPCA on your back. At the end something actually happens as the volcano gives out, destroying everything in its path. Brosnan shouts "Don't look back!" and puts his foot to the floor, looking in his rear-view mirror as the CGI effects kick in. Alas, some of the standalone explosion shots look more like toy-town being blown up, Adam and Joe Show-style. Worse still, although the destruction makes mincemeat of everything, one wonders why, when Brosnan's car gets stuck in an underground tunnel, that the path of destruction stops right there and doesn't take the tunnel with it since it holds scant regard for everything else.

The picture looks rather grainy throughout the film but is fairly watchable from the usual viewing distance. The level of grain is consistent so I'm curious as to what exactly went wrong in the encoding process. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 and is anamorphically-enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions which provides 33% higher resolution - and the average bitrate is a very good 8.58Mb/s, regularly peaking over 9Mb/s.

The sound is excellent though as explosions come across very loud as they should be and the occasional rumble in the jungle proving very effective. The dialogue is available in eight languages, half of them in Dolby Digital 5.1.

Extras :

Chapters and Trailer :

Languages and Subtitles :

Filmographies and Biographies :

Menu :

Dante's Peak is one of the first Universal DVDs to be released under the Columbia TriStar label, but while it has top-quality sound and a wealth of language and subtitles options, the picture quality leaves a little to be desired. A director's commentary track, as featured on the Special Edition NTSC Laserdisc would also be a nice inclusion instead of a mono Polish dialogue track.

FILM	 		: **
PICTURE QUALITY		: ***
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: ***
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OVERALL			: ***

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.