Buy it... only if you seek a generic taste of the disappointingly average material that James Newton Howard and John Frizzell wrote for this equally mundane volcano thriller.

Avoid it... if you expect either Howard's thematic ideas or Frizzell's action music to stand apart from their peers, because Dante's Peak has few uniquely redeeming characteristics (especially on its woefully short commercial album).

Howard
Frizzell

Dante's Peak: (John Frizzell/James Newton Howard) With the arrival of the era of CGI special effects in the 1990's came a new generation of natural disaster films, two of which dealing with devastating volcanoes in 1997 alone. Neither Volcano nor Dante's Peak is high class entertainment, both implausible and exhibiting destruction ahead of common sense, but the latter was easily the cinematic disaster story. Humiliated in its showings to critics, Dante's Peak required its worldwide box office returns to cover its bloated budget. Featuring the awkward pairing of the newly anointed James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, and Terminator nemesis Linda Hamilton, Dante's Peak used Wallace, Idaho (a pretty town, but one oddly confined by the cliffs that surround it) as the quaint locale for annihilation by its neighboring volcano. Brosnan's usual quiet and confident self leads a team of government geologists sent in to monitor the volcano, but the mountain beats them to the punch, wiping out a town named in the story as "the second most desirable place to live in America." Gruesome deaths accompany the usual plotline of ignored warnings, mass panic, and entertaining property damage. The special effects for the production were good enough, however, to be licensed for subsequent use in documentaries about volcanic eruptions. His own whirlwind, composer James Newton Howard had a habit of being over-scheduled in the mid-1990's, committed to more productions than all of their changing schedules would allow. One such entry was Dante's Peak, for which Howard wrote some material before having to move on to a pair of other assignments. The composer later stated, "I was going to do the movie. Then the movie changed dates, and of course I had another commitment and I couldn't do it. I'd written not just the theme, but four or five cues." One of the composer's assistants and proteges at the time was John Frizzell, who was rather obscure but who was soon well on his way to becoming a regular horror composer in the industry. Dante's Peak was the second time Howard had written themes for a picture and then handed the remainder off to Frizzell, the prior being 1996's The Rich Man's Wife. For a long time, there have been discrepancies in regards to which of the two primary themes Howard wrote for Dante's Peak, though despite the singular "theme" officially credited to him, it's most likely that the composer is actually responsible for both. On the commercial album, the two tracks that can be attributed directly to him ("Main Title" and "On the Porch") introduce both themes.

	Learn about supporting Filmtracks

Regardless of who wrote what, Dante's Peak is ultimately an average score, though it should be noted that the 30-minute commercial album does leave off highlights from a score that runs over 80 minutes (and has been bootlegged a few times). The primary theme of the film is one of obvious dread, meant to function much like Alan Silvestri's similarly rendered ideas for Volcano. While "Main Titles (Dante's Peak)" affords the idea immediate, bombastic force (with choral backing), the most consistent conveyance of the idea exists on more palatable brass throughout "The Evacuation Begins." The other theme is aimed at the character interactions in the story, heard on tender piano in "On the Porch" and revisited in a redemptive, full ensemble variation in "The Rescue" that sounds significantly similar to the closing moments of Howard's The Fugitive. Both themes are effective, but their relative anonymity reduces their effectiveness on album. The emotional connection between the themes and the listener seems severed by a lack of passion by the session performers, a circumstance that occurred too often with Howard's scores at the time (perhaps pointing to orchestration issues). Not surprisingly, Frizzell's style did not sound much different from his mentor's at this time, and there is no disconnect between their contributions. Unfortunately, that also means that the same lack of interesting and unique ideas that plague Howard's music carry over to Frizzell's. His suspense and action sequences are about as effectively mundane as they could be, using predictable orchestral effects such as slurred brass and prickly piano to denote a twisted reality in the environment. Frizzell has made a career out of writing music such as this, technically adept and occasionally interesting, but never quite reaching his potential. Electronic percussive hits advance with the lava, and eerie dissonance created in part by the ensemble and in part seemingly by synth choir is a somewhat cheap effect. Some of the looped percussion sounds are mixed at obnoxious levels in the forefront. The only action cue that sustains your interest is "Main Titles (Dante's Peak)," and that's largely because it is peppered with the main theme. Even that cue, however, concludes with cheesy ensemble hits that were well past their time. Those who study orchestral compositions will find some value in the interesting trumpet techniques in Dante's Peak, among other nuggets, but the score lags behind its peers in sum. Again, these are all comments that apply mostly to the woefully short commercial album from Varèse Sarabande; there are other highlights in the score that, while brief, raise the score to a solid three-star rating. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.31 (in 53 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.16 (in 58,041 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.