History Film / DantesPeak

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dantes_peak.jpg
[[caption-width:300:Rising from the ashes...]]

Set in [[TheOtherRainforest the Pacific Northwest]], ''Dante's Peak'' is a movie about a volcano named, obviously, Dante's Peak. At its foot is a town, also named Dante's Peak.

* HellishCopter: The helicopter pilot attempts to take off in the middle of the ash storm, [[CassandraTruth despite being warned about what a bad idea this was]]. The ash is ingested into the turbines, the engines seize, and the chopper crashes to the ground.

* DisposableWoman: Harry's fiancee, Marianne a gung-ho geologist, refuses to leave until dragged bodily by Harry. She suffers death by volcanic projectile only moments into the film.

* DisposableWoman: Harry's fiancee, Marianne, dies barely five minutes into the movie.
* DoomedContrarian: To be fair, [[spoiler:Dr. Dreyfus was only trying to prevent Dr. Dalton from [[MyGreatestFailure repeating his mistake with Mammoth Mountain]]]] and had some good points. Also [[spoiler: Ruth]], who was just an irresponsible pain in the ass.

* HassleFreeHotwire: Brosnan's vulcanologist can hotwire a pickup in about two seconds.

* InfantImmortality: Oh like you ''really'' believed the kids or the dog would die. On the other hand, this movie did give [[spoiler: grandma]] third-degree burns...

* LaserGuidedKarma: The greedy helicopter pilot -- shown earlier in the film demanding extra pay for emergency services -- tries to air lift people out of town in exchange for an extortionate $15,000 fee when his engines become clogged by volcanic ash, killing him and his passengers in a fiery crash.

* PercussiveMaintenance: How the USGS team "fixes" the survey robot.

* SuitWithVestedInterests: Invoked -- see DoomedContrarian.

** You'd think a trained pilot would know better than to attempt to take off in the middle of an ash storm. Especially since he was specifically warned that the ashes would seize up his engines. There's a good reason civil aviation [[JustForPun grinds to a halt]] when there's a major volcanic eruption.

[[ChekhovsVolcano Surprising no one, it erupts]].

* TooDumbToLive: Rachel's two kids stealing her truck so they can drive up the mountain to rescue grandma. [[LampshadeHanging Even they realize it's a dumb idea]].

* TooDumbToLive: Rachel's two kids stealing her truck so they can drive up the mountain to rescue grandma. [[LampshadeHanging Even]] ''[[LampshadeHanging they]]'' [[LampshadeHanging realize it's a dumb idea]].

* OutrunTheFireball: More like outrunning the ''pyroclastic flow''. The movie practically {{Lampshades}} this by having Dr. Dalton glance in the side-mirror with the [[CloserThanTheyAppear "objects may be closer than they appear"]] label.

* LaserGuidedKarma: The helicopter pilot tries to "negotiate" his contract when one of the USGS crew needs an emergency airlift. Later, the helicopter pilot tries to fly off to save his own skin but crashes when the ash clogs his engines.
** Not just trying to save his own skin, he was taking a large payoff from some corporate big-shot to fly him out of there.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Ruth. She spends the whole movie hating on her daughter-in-law for driving away her son and abandoning her grandchildren. And then she pooh-poohs the danger of the volcano because the daughter-in-law is dating the geologist. But once things prove to be deadly, she performs a HeroicSacrifice and saves everyone, living only long enough to apologize.

** You'd think a trained pilot would know better than to attempt to take off in the middle of an ash storm. Especially since he was specifically warned that the ashes would seize up his engines. There's a good reason civil aviation grinds to a halt when there's a major volcanic eruption.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Now we know what RemingtonSteele and [[{{Terminator}} Sarah Connor]] like to do in their spare time...

* YouFailGeologyForever: It tried to get some research done, but they ultimately could not get it all right. Fluid lava is not known for being a sign of an explosive eruption. Likewise, [[OutrunTheFireball Outrunning the Pyroclastic Flow]] is impossible in RealLife if you are already in its path; the mine they held up in should have been rendered a DeathWorld by the hot gas and sheer temperature. And that far in the mine should have been wiped out the second the flow hit.

** And it's also possible to outrun pyroclastic flows. They only travel about 100 km/h or so. A decent car or motorbike could easily outrun them.
*** Wikipedia puts the speed at "up to 700 km/h", so...

Set in [[TheOtherRainforest the Pacific Northwest]], ''[=~Dante's Peak~=]'' is a movie about a volcano named, obviously, Dante's Peak. At its foot is a town, also named Dante's Peak.

** Not jsut trying to save his own skin, he was taking a large payoff from some corporate big-shot to fly him out of there.

* HellishCopter: The helicopter pilot attempts to take off in the middle of the ash storm, [[CassandraTruth despite being warned about what a bad idea this was]]. The ash is ingested into the turbines, the engines sieze, and the chopper crashes to the ground.

* DisposableWoman: Marianne dies barely five minutes into the movie.

** On the gripping hand, they aren't shown to be actually outrunning the pyroclastic flow: they traveled a much shorter distance than it did -- it was gaining on them the whole way, and people ''have'' survived pyroclastic flows by being underground at the time they passed over them. The most famous example is a prisoner in the St. Pierre jail on the island of Martinique, when Mount Pelee erupted in 1902.

Vulcanologist [[TheJorEl Dr. Harry Dalton]] (Pierce Brosnan) is sent to the area to check out the volcano; after a few incidents involving char-boiled skinny dippers and some flirtation with Mayor Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton), he tries to send the town on alert. Unfortunately, he is [[WeNeedToGetProof shut down by his superior]]. The town [[TemptingFate happens]] to be second place in the 'most desirable small town to live in the US' list, and they don't want any "crazy" accusations scaring away the tourists, which the town's economy depends on. Besides, there's [[MillionToOneChance a million to one chance]] that it could go off. [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong What could happen]]?

* TheJorEl: Dr. Dalton, although the movie does subvert how the trope is usually played - Dr. Dalton ''doesn't'' have enough conclusive evidence, and the economy of the town could be ruined if he was wrong. The second Dr. Dalton finds concrete proof, it's immediately taken seriously; the town was in the middle of a town meeting discussing the evacuation plan when the volcano started erupting.