Dante's Peak (1997) 4K Review

Back in 1997, two movies premiered in theaters within six weeks of one another, both about volcanoes. The first, which debuted in February, was called Dante's Peak and starred Pierce Brosnan (The World Is Not Enough) and Linda Hamilton (the Terminator franchise). While both movies focused on the devastation that is caused when a volcano unexpectedly erupts, Dante's Peak showed how it impacted the people in the town and all the wildlife for miles around. Almost 30 years later, Kino Lorber once again has woven its magic and released the film on 4K. Available for purchase now, the movie has never looked better.

In the small town of Dante's Peak, Washington, USGS Volcanologist Harry Dalton (Brosnan) is studying seismic activity at the nearby stratovolcano. While he and Dante's Peak Mayor, Rachel Wando (Hamilton), are exploring the area, they find dead wildlife, trees, and 2 dead tourists who boiled to death in a hot spring. Concerned, Dalton wants to warn the town, but his boss refuses. As the team packs up to leave, Dalton and Wando discover the town's water supply has been contaminated by the sulfur dioxide emitted from the volcano. After warning the residents to leave, Dalton, Wando, and her children end up trapped as the volcano explodes and sends toxic lava spewing everywhere.

Brosnan and Hamilton do the best they can in the movie despite a less-than-stellar script. The dialogue is hokey at times and somewhat cringeworthy, and the rest of the cast, while serviceable, don't offer up any spectacular performances. Director Roger Donaldson (Species) doesn't create any spectacular scenes or camera angles to draw the audience, and while the special effects were good for the time period, they don't hold up all that well almost 30 years later.

Kino Lorber always does a terrific job with their releases of older titles, and Dante's Peak is no exception. The 4K restoration of the original camera negative is excellent, with incredible color saturation and clean detailing throughout. There is no graininess as far as I could see, making this reproduction very well done. The special effects may suffer some as the upgraded technology shows their blemishes more than previous releases, but that is to be expected somewhat and certainly isn't a reflection of Kino Lorber's transfer.

The 4K disc also includes the Dolby Atmos audio track that is just as strong as the video presentation. In fact, sometimes it may seem somewhat overpowering, but I feel as if that may have been deliberately done to play up the intensity of a volcanic explosion and the destruction that would cause. The dialogue is clean and crisp, and the ambient noises and special effect sounds are layered and robust.

The combo pack comes with the 4K disc, the Blu-ray Disc, and the digital download. The extras are neither abundant nor incredibly interesting. On the 4K disc, there are two extras: commentary, and Isolated Score & Effects, while on the Blu-ray Disc, there are three: Commentary (the same one that is on the 4K disc), Getting Close to the Show, and the original Trailer.

Natural disaster films are always in a category by themselves since they tend to be over the top with graphics and effects. However, Kino Lorber has done a wonderful job with a movie that wasn't a huge box office hit when it was first released in theaters. I feel it has garnered a little bit of a following 30 years later that it didn't have originally, which is why it is a perfect pick for the Kino Lorber treatment.

Out in stores now, this is a decent film that got a great upgrade.

Grade: C+