DESPITE FLAWS, `DANTE'S PEAK' QUITE A BLAST.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Deep in nature's primordial depths, a force of relentless, terrifying destruction waits to strike with little if any warning.

The question is, what's a great white shark doing in a volcano?

``Dante's Peak'' isn't exactly ``Jaws'' with lava, but it sure tries to be. Striking every plot point from the officials who can't agree on what to do to the tourists who pick the wrong time to go skinny dipping, the script by Leslie Bohem (``Daylight'') sticks to the tried-and-true, nature-on-a-rampage formula. For variety, we get the jabbering team of disaster specialists from ``Twister'' and the slow-motion blast and daring dog rescue from, well, ``Daylight.''

Devoted as they are to cliches, however, the makers of ``Dante's Peak'' do manage to turn this into more than just a race against burning rock. The ash storms, quakes, chemical releases and atmospheric disturbances that accompany a volcanic eruption are deployed at an expert pace, making for a one-darn-thing-after-another thrill show that's truly, unrelentingly exciting.

And for sheer destructive spectacle, a volcano does a lot more damage than even the greatest white shark ever could.

Pierce Brosnan is troubled volcanologist Harry Dalton, a really smart, nice guy who hasn't been quite right since his fiancee got brained by a flying boulder. Anyway, he's sent to the picturesque Cascades town of Dante's Peak - ``The Second Best Place to Live in the United States, Population Under 20,000,'' according to Money magazine - to check out some probably insignificant seismic activity at the town's dormant namesake.

Harry quickly convinces the hamlet's divorced mayor and espresso entrepreneur Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton) that they'd better evacuate the place pronto. But this would screw up civic celebrations and a big investor's development plans, and besides, Harry's boss (Charles Hallahan, playing a guy named Dreyfus - we'll call that homage) thinks more data is needed before anyone starts a panic.

``I'm better at figuring out volcanoes than people and politics,'' Harry grumbles. Of course, his gut feelings prove accurate. And when Rachel's mother-in-law and two kids pull incredibly dumb stunts just as the peak blows its top, Harry's statement proves even more prophetic.

Things are pretty tedious up to this point, but once ``Dante's Peak'' gears into Harry and the Wandos' harrowing escape down the angry mountain, it's breakneck breathtaking all the way.

Director Roger Donaldson (``Species,'' ``No Way Out''), who, according to the press notes, almost became a geologist, pulls together a truly Dantean vision of the inferno from thousands of different special effects elements. The film's consistently hellish look is even more impressive when you consider that much of the post-production work was rushed so ``Dante's'' could beat the rival ``Volcano'' movie into theaters.

Guess there wasn't much time to flesh out the characters or do something about those distracting ``Jaws'' riffs, either. And frankly, the thing could've used another lava gag or two. But ``Dante's Peak'' throws more than enough at us to make up for its shortcomings. This is no classic, but it's still quite a blast.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Dante's Peak'' (PG-13; intense situations, children in jeopardy, language).

The stars: Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Roger Donaldson. Written by Leslie Bohem. Produced by Gale Anne Hurd and Joseph M. Singer. Released by Universal Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 52 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Three Stars.