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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Dante's Peak (John Frizzell/James Newton Howard)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the longer album presentation if you seek a
well-rounded taste of the occasionally engaging but disappointingly
generic material that James Newton Howard and John Frizzell wrote for
this equally mundane volcano thriller.
Avoid it... if you expect either Howard's stoic thematic ideas or Frizzell's sometimes cheap action music to stand apart from their peers, because Dante's Peak has few uniquely redeeming characteristics.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
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 eye-rolling 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, fictional 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 the 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
largely non-digital 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 due to the
production's rush to beat Volcano to the theatres. By some
accounts, Howard coined the score's thematic material only, but 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." Some records
do attribute sole composing credit to Howard for a least four major
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 composer in the horror genre of 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 were 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, both the primary identity for the movie and the secondary love theme were his work. On the initial commercial album, the two tracks that could be attributed directly to him, "Main Title" and "On the Porch," summarize these themes with suite-like efficiency. The primary theme of the film is one of obvious dread, meant to function much like Alan Silvestri's similarly rendered, growling ideas for Volcano. While "Main Titles (Dante's Peak)" affords the idea immediate, bombastic force with choral backing, the most consistent conveyance of its progressions exists on more palatable brass throughout "The Evacuation Begins." Frizzell does a commendable job of interpolating the theme throughout all facets of the story, from the suspense cues prior to the action through the somber drama of "Devastation" and the starkly resolute final moments of the action. Its applications are frequent and intelligent, though the theme isn't one of Howard's most memorable, in part because of its deliberate pacing and frequent expression in sinister, menacing tones. Given the idea's diminished presence at the end, the theme most likely represents the volcano itself. The other theme in Dante's Peak 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. The theme extends from early romantic connotations in "Porch Talk" to the stoic horn-led lament of "Ruth Dies." The flute solo in the former cue, reprised in "Magnificent Explosion," is a melodic highlight of the work, reminiscent of the tender parts of Waterworld. Sadly, these themes suffer from a relative anonymity that reduces their effectiveness aside from the base functionality of their orchestration and performance inflection. 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 or conducting issues. Not surprisingly, Frizzell's style did not sound much different from his mentor's during these years, and there is little disconnect between their contributions. Unfortunately, that also means that the same lack of interesting and unique ideas that plagued Howard's music carry over to Frizzell's. His suspense and action sequences are about as effectively nondescript as they could be, using predictable orchestral effects such as slurred brass and prickly piano to denote a twisted reality in the environment. Frizzell 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 synthetic choir is a somewhat cheap effect. Some of the drum pad-like percussion sounds are mixed at obnoxious levels in the forefront. The only suspense or action cue that sustains your interest is "Main Titles (Dante's Peak)," and that's largely because it is dominated by the main theme. Even that cue, however, concludes with cheesy ensemble hits that were well past their prime. 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. Ultimately, it's an average score, though it should be noted that the initial 30-minute album from Varèse Sarabande did leave off highlights from a recording that runs over 80 minutes and was later bootlegged a few times. A limited 2-CD set from Varèse in 2021 offers that longer presentation officially, adding both vital music to the first and final thirds of the score and some noteworthy alternates, including a more impressively subdued closing in "The Rescue." On the other hand, more of Frizzell's annoying percussive accents in the middle portions are also revealed. Still, the expanded set is a superb treatment of this otherwise proficiently mundane action score.
TRACK LISTINGS:
1997 Varèse Sarabande Album:
Total Time: 30:22
2021 Varèse Sarabande Album: Total Time: 123:09
* Composed by James Newton Howard ** Composed by John Frizzell and James Newton Howard *** Composed by John Frizzell, James Newton Howard, and Jeff Atmajian # Composed by John Frizzell and John Van Tongeren ## Composed by John Frizzell, Steve Porcaro, and Brad Dechter
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1997 album includes no extra information about the
score or film. That of the 2021 album contains notes about both.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Dante's Peak are Copyright © 1997, 2021, Varèse Sarabande, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 7/22/10 and last updated 9/26/21. |
