Dante's Peak

The first of 1997's two volcano movies acquits itself well in the spectacle department, but its colourless characters, dwarfed from the outset by a computer-generated peak, finally get lost among the deadly emissions. There's a familiar feel to the film's Jaws-like set-up, with Brosnan's intuitive volcanologist predicting imminent catastrophe while local councillors insist there's no need for panic. As an exercise in disaster-movie logistics, this is on a par with Twister, although the jaw-dropping SFX are far more varied and genuinely terrifying.