Dante's Peak starring Pierce Brosnen and Linda Hamilton is on of the few geologic disaster films to actually get a few things right! First of all, Brosnen looks and acts a lot like your average geologist - tall, handsome, not to mention dedicated and witty. The story is loosely based on events surrounding the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and actually uses footage of that volcano in the recent dome building stage. A lot of care is taken to show the efforts of a scientific team investigating the mountain in the attempt to predict an eruption and avert a possible catastrophe in the local town. The models, aerial shots, and matte photography are all very good, and the pyrotechnic special effects are realistic - especially as they relate to the behavior of stratovolcanoes. A few scenes with relatively fluid basaltic-type lavas are out of place, and the required dog rescue was unnecessary (it was already done in "Volcano"), but the acting surpasses the cartoonish character of Tommy Lee Jones in that earlier, forgettable film. As usual in disaster films the special effects are primary, the human stories are secondary, and love is a long way behind. So Brosnan and Hamilton get to develop only a "plutonic" relationship.

A geology pick!