The first of two asteroid-themed movies released in the summer of 1998, this science-fiction
disaster film from director Mimi Leder was the less successful of the pair, but still
managed to gross a respectable $350 million against its $80 million dollar budget.
With a 7-mile-wide comet barreling towards Earth, only those allowed in specialized fallout
shelters will survive - unless of course, a team of American astronauts can destroy
the threat first.
Although scientifically plausible, the film is infused with melodramatic clichés and
cheesy dialogue.
The PG-13 rated story also features a bevy of B-listers, including Elijah Wood, James
Cromwell, Jon Favreau, Richard Schiff, Denise Crosby, Kurtwood Smith, Mike O'Malley, Blair
Underwood, Mary McCormack, and Robert Duvall.
This large ensemble is familiar and decently talented, but none have the screen presence
or recognition to really carry a blockbuster like this, least of all the movie's lead,
Téa Leoni.
Not only is she a bit too young for the news reporter character she's portraying, she scuttles
through the proceedings like she's constantly being caught-off guard.
In addition to being perpetually rattled, the rigid bowl-haircut isn't doing her any
favors either.
As the President Of The United States however, Morgan Freeman is easily the best actor here
by a longshot, anchoring the picture with much needed gravitas.
Defeated after the latest realization of bad news, he roles up his sleeves and addresses
the nation, "If the world does go on, it will not go on for everyone."
Duvall, meanwhile is badly utilized as a grumpy astronaut from the Apollo era, constantly
and awkwardly complaining about his irrelevance to his younger NASA collogues.
Portraying the nation's best and bravest explorers as petty jerks with a grudge against their
own idol is an absurd characterization.
But that's not their only thread that fails to ring true, later, when Duvall proposes
a solution that would result in certain death for all involved, the incredulity and surprise
from the other astronauts makes no sense whatsoever.
The entire planet is about to be vaporized, and they've spent the last six-months in a
tiny capsule outrunning a monster comet, and it never once occurred to them they might
die?
Sacrificing yourself to save all of mankind is not a decision anyone in NASA would need
more than a nanosecond to think about, let alone foolishly argue against.
Sure, the scene adds some faux-tension, but in a movie that strives for realism, these
kinds of missteps are inexcusable.
The two-hour feature opens with an unnecessary prologue rife with fabricated drama - a frazzled
astronomer dies in a massive car wreck while attempting to alert the world of impending
doom - which only serves to misdirect the audience into thinking his discovery will
remain a mystery.
The next twenty-minutes are then wasted on a sitcom-style plot where rookie reporter
Leoni mistakes the "Extension Level Event" acronym she overheard as an affair involving
high-level officials.
The dramatic irony of this isn't made clear, so at first it feels irrelevant, and later
just pointless.
The limited visual effects work here is handled surprisingly well, especially during the final
act when the fate of humanity reaches its climax.
James Horner's string and piano-laden score seems more befitting a serious bio-pic than
a disaster epic though.
Not as flashy or action-packed as its counterpart, "Armageddon" this film still has a few moments
of human drama as each individual begins to face their final moments.
It is however rather unrealistic that Taxi cabs would still be servicing downtown Washington
a week before the end of the world.
A memorable and rewatchable experience about the America's response to the worst case scenario,
"Deep Impact" may not be the most entertaining film, but it's an emotional examination of
how we deal with the inevitable.
Now, here's some of your thoughts from the YouTube comments.
Most agreed this film was missing enough action to really stand-out as a strong disaster film.
We both rated it a SEVEN out of ten.