Volcanoes erupt. They provide little warning and there is not much you can do to prevent this devastating natural disaster. This is portrayed perfectly in our top movie about volcanoes, Dante’s Peak. This 1997 film featuring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Charles Hallahan is entertaining with great character development, romance, and suspense.

The movie begins with a volcanic eruption in Columbia during which volcanologist Dr. Harry Daltons’ fiancée is killed. The story then moves four years into the future to a little town called Dante’s Peak. The town is situated on a dormant volcano, but Daltons is there investigating some unusual activity. After some investigation, Daltons decides the town should be alerted, but his boss doesn’t think the danger is high enough to warrant the cost of an evacuation. Daltons goes directly to the mayor, Rachel Wando, to convince her of the danger.

Just in case there is someone out there who has still not seen this movie, we won’t reveal any spoilers, but it is worth the hour and half viewing time. I will warn you, this is not a feel good movie. They actually stayed pretty true to what would happen if an eruption occurred.

What do you think? Did you like the movie? Is there another volcano disaster movie that should have been our favorite?