Subject: Review: Deep Impact (1998)

From: "Choo Eng Aun, Jack" <[email-masked]>
Date: 25 Jul 1998 16:43:28 GMT

DEEP IMPACT (1998)

Directed by Mimi Leder
Starring :	Morgan Freeman		(President Beck)
		Tea Leoni		(Jenny Lerner)
		Elijah Wood		(Leo Beiderman)
		Robert Duvall		(Spurgeon Tanner)
		Vanessa Redgrave 	(Robin Lerner)
		Maximilian Schell	(Jason Lerner)
Written by Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael Tolkin
Running Time : 2hrs 10mins
A Paramount/Dreamworks SKG Release

Rating : ***1/2 out of *****

Reviewed by Jack Choo

METEOR THREAT SET TO BLOW AWAY ALL VOLCANOES & TWISTERS!

Summer is here again! This season could probably be the most ambitious season this decade with Hollywood churning out films like DEEP IMPACT, GODZILLA, THE X-FILES, ARMAGEDDON, THE TRUMAN SHOW, all of which has but one main aim, to rock the box office. Leading the pack this summer is DEEP IMPACT, one of the first few film releases from the Spielberg-Katzenberg-Geffen's Dreamworks production company. Following the rather dismal showing of their previous two releases; MOUSEHUNT and AMISTAD, DEEP IMPACT shines with elements which could just make it one of the biggest movies of the year.

DEEP IMPACT begins with the discovery of an Earth bound comet during a school astronomy outing by Leo Beiderman (Elijah Wood) which subsequently stirred up the political community of the world. Keeping the information under wraps to prevent widespread panic, President Beck (Morgan Freeman) took it upon himself and his subordinates to execute a highly secretive space project to destroy the comet before it hits earth. While pursuing a sex-scandal story amongst the presidential ranks, ambitious up and coming reporter, Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni) unfolds the wool that President Beck has pulled over the citizens of the world. As if the knowledge of the imminent annihilation of mankind is not enough, Jenny has to come to terms with her father (Maximillian Schell) leaving the mother for a younger woman. 

President Beck announces the discovery and preparations to destroy the comet exactly one-year later, with so much confidence that it left no trace of panic within the American community. Achieving fame from announcement of the comet Wolf-Beiderman en-route to Earth (the name of its discoverers), Leo Beiderman continues life in his small town as a young celebrity. A team of astronauts, led by the ageing veteran astronaut Spurgeon Tanner (Robert Duvall), was secretly trained to carry out the mission to land on the comet and create and explosion with a nuclear device, with the hope of blowing it out of its current path towards Earth. Despite him being the most experienced in the team, the younger generation of astronauts in the team doubts Tanner's ability due to his age. But these are just problems of individuals. Life on Earth goes on as any other day, confident that the comet will be destroyed.

When the attempt to avert Wolf-Beiderman's path failed and caused the comet to split into two: Comet Wolf and Comet Beiderman, the President unfolds his contingency plan to evacuate part of the population, leaving the rest to die. Citizens are randomly chosen to live underground for 2 years prior to impact, when the dust due to the impact around earth have settled, by then all life on the surface would have died. Jenny and Leo were picked but many of their loved ones were not, only a handful of Earth's population will be saved from destruction.  

DEEP IMPACT's moving moments occur in the least special-effect laced scenes. While the effects are fantastic, they only form a small part of the film, which indulges itself in the development of its main characters; Leo, Lerner and Tanner. Leo's struggle when he learns that his girlfriend is not part of the population to be saved, Lerner's dwindling relationship with her father and her pain for the mother's loneliness, Tanner's strive to gain the respect he deserves from his crew and his ultimate sacrifice, all form the backbone of DEEP IMPACT's moving moments. DEEP IMPACT smells suspiciously like the previous year release CONTACT despite vivid differences. I think its probably because they both delve in a story of global proportions and indulges in the premise of hope, faith and life itself. Both do not depend heavily on eye-candy in the form of CGI effects.  Director Mimi Leder (who won numerous awards directing television series, and made her debut with PEACEKEEPER last year) is definitely a director to watch. 

Despite this being the first of the two meteor movies this summer (the other being ARMAGEDDON), I think there will be stark differences in the approach to the subject matter. While the premise of both may be the same, execution and focus of the films will in fact show that DEEP IMPACT has more focus on human elements than ARMAGEDDON, which is done by the team which brought us BAD BOYS, CRIMSON TIDE and THE ROCK.  

DEEP IMPACT should be able to satisfy a variety of audiences; from the most action-craving to those who just want to immerse into its manipulative but nonetheless dramatic premise.