Subject: Review: Deep Impact (1998)

From: [email-masked] (Alex Fung)
Date: 29 Jun 1998 04:09:43 GMT

DEEP IMPACT (Paramount - 1998)
Starring Robert Duvall, Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave,
  Morgan Freeman, Maximilian Schell
Screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael Tolkin
Produced by Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown
Directed by Mimi Leder
Running time: 120 minutes

                    ** (out of four stars)
                     Alternate Rating: C

Note: Some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers.
      Be forewarned.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

   The act of self-sacrifice is one of the most affecting things that
   can be depicted in a film, and it's something that DEEP IMPACT
   incessantly attempts to exploit throughout its running time.
   Blatantly attempting to tug on the heartstrings of its audience, the
   film wallows in the selflessness of its characters' actions to such
   an extent that it ultimately chokes upon its own nobility.

   DEEP IMPACT is the first of 1998's aspiring major summer
   blockbusters, and a distinct one in that its focus is less on wanton
   destruction and more on characterization (no surprise when
   considering that its screenwriters are Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael
   Tolkin).  The film presents us with the scenario of a
   newly-discovered comet that's headed on a trajectory bringing it on a
   collision course with Earth, promising to destroy life as we know it,
   and then splinters off into three subplots: an enterprising young
   reporter, Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni), embittered by her father's
   (Maximilian Schell) divorce of her mother (Vanessa Redgrave, wasted)
   and subsequent remarriage to a much younger woman; Leo Biederman
   (Elijah Wood), a high-school amateur astronomer who's the first to
   discover the comet (which consequently bears, in part, his name), and
   his sweetheart romance with neighbour Sarah (Leelee Sobieski); and a
   joint American-Russian space mission to intercept and destroy the
   interstellar threat, manned by cagey veteran Spurgeon Tanner (Robert
   Duvall) and a team of fresh-faced, media-savvy astronauts.  Tying
   these threads together is U.S. President Beck (Morgan Freeman), who
   appears intermittently in order to make grave televised announcements
   to the public and recap what's happened in the film if you stepped
   out for popcorn.

   While it's somewhat odd to find an effects-friendly scenario
   primarily driven by character dramatics rather than visual eye-candy,
   none of the three major vignettes are particularly compelling, and
   the treacly uplifting effect clearly desired by director Mimi Leder
   isn't achieved.  The story arcs for each of the threads are
   laboriously familiar, and there are so many scenes which involve our
   characters ignoring instincts of self-preservation in order to do the
   right thing that scenes of poignancy become increasingly ineffective.

   The weakest of the subplots is that of MSNBC reporter Jenny Lerner,
   who inadvertently stumbles across the news of the comet while
   investigating another story; the whole ELE political intrigue angle
   of the film is misguided and plays as a desperate plot device to move
   the story ahead.  It doesn't help matters any that Ms. Leoni's
   performance is surprisingly lifeless -- she's perpetually
   shellshocked throughout the film, making her entire thread more
   distracting than engaging.  (A scene which calls upon her to
   drunkenly cackle at someone's innocuously oblivious comment that
   "life goes on" is wretched both in its conception and execution.)
   Hinging upon the audience's involvement with the tenuous relationship
   between Jenny and her estranged father in the face of impending
   catastrophe, this subplot falls well short.

   Similarly, there's much to be desired with Leo Biederman's story,
   which encapsulates the life-and-death drama of DEEP IMPACT.  While
   President Beck informs the American public that heroic astronauts
   have been sent to eradicate the comet threat, a backup plan is
   nearing completion.  A network of vast caves have been created to
   house one million Americans and ensure their survival for up to two
   years should the comet strike the planet; as well as a list of
   predesignated personnel, a national lottery, it is announced, will be
   held to select who will fill the shelters.  In reality, of course,
   this proclamation would wind up being tied up in the courts for years
   (the clause which deems those over 50 to be automatically excluded
   from the draw in particular is a real ageism stickler), but no matter
   -- this is the movies, where people are far more altruistic; those
   who fail to be picked and are essentially condemned to death mostly
   stand outside the cave base camps and look mildly irritated.

   Where DEEP IMPACT makes a bad step is when the young astronomer Leo,
   selected to go into the caves by virtue of his co-discovery of the
   comet, proposes to dreamgirl Sarah so that, as his wife, she'll also
   be given passage to the caves and be able to survive the impending
   disaster.  Backed by a gentle musical interlude, it's a scene that's
   clearly intended to be sweet and touching, but given her opposition
   to the idea, I thought it was surprisingly extortionistic, akin to
   declaring "Marry me or die."

   The film plays the Leo / Sarah subplot in hokey manner, wavering back
   and forth on whether or not she'll join him in the survival caves,
   and hits each note in predictable fashion; in a scene where Leo races
   around on motorcycle in desperate search of his beloved, there's one
   shot where he screeches his bike to a halt and tosses his head back
   to look over his shoulder as the music heroically crescendos which is
   such a familiar staple that it almost had me groaning aloud.

   Meanwhile, Spurgeon Tanner and the crew of spacecraft The Messiah are
   given some artificial conflict of their own to deal with in addition
   to disabling the lethal potential of the comet.  The young
   astronauts, led by Oren Monash (Ron Eldard), are resentful of
   Tanner's mere presence on the mission due to his age -- this is a
   young man's game, they believe.  It's a ridiculous plot angle used
   for no other discernable reason than to spice up the subplot -- is
   there *any* doubt that the wily veteran will win the respect of his
   crewmates? -- but Mr. Duvall and Mr. Eldard do what they can to give
   it a credible spin.  There's some obligatory space-bound suspense
   involving the astronauts navigating a dangerously-unstable comet
   surface, which is staged nicely but fails to surprise in its
   aftermath.

   The one performer which comes out best in the film (other than James
   Cromwell, whose participation is essentially that of a cameo) is Mr.
   Freeman.  The role is undemanding, but his sheer onscreen presence
   and the gravity with which he's able to convey his dialogue powers
   him through questionable material.  To a large degree, Mr. Freeman is
   effective because for the most part his character doesn't interact
   with any of the film's other characters at all, but directly
   addresses the audience; essentially isolated, it's as if he's in his
   own separate (and superior) film.

   While Ms. Leder depicts a world under siege, it's a shame that DEEP
   IMPACT chose to underplay the mass chaos and lawlessness that would
   legitimately accompany the advent of such a catastrophic event.  (The
   fact that the country has been placed under martial law is touched
   upon, but with the arrival of the end of the world, that would likely
   mean little.)  The film would be a much more visceral and provocative
   experience had it dared to show society coming apart at its seams, as
   in Steve De Jarnatt's MIRACLE MILE or in THE TWILIGHT ZONE's "The
   Shelter" episode.  There's also the questionable inclusion of a shot
   of the Capitol under reconstruction -- it's obviously intended to be
   uplifting and life-affirming, but it's an odd choice to make when one
   considers that the destruction of the White House was by far the most
   popular -- nay, the *centerpiece* -- visual effects shot for Roland
   Emmerich's blockbuster INDEPENDENCE DAY which left crowds cheering in
   glee.  Since audiences clearly enjoy seeing the landmarks of the
   American establishment being shredded, one wouldn't necessarily
   expect that their symbolic reconstruction would be a crowdpleaser.

   For some reason, the film includes an early sequence in which an
   astronomer is killed in an automobile accident while scrambling to
   get the word out on the approaching killer comet.  Since the impact
   of the incident is negligible -- the data ultimately does reach its
   intended parties -- and the character is never spoken of again, I'm
   left with the nagging suspicion that it was included primarily so
   that there'd be at least one explosion during the film's opening
   hour, but the scene laid the groundwork for something more
   potentially ironic; the world was left unprepared for the comet
   because the astronomer's mail server went down.  Yeah, I know that
   feeling.

   DEEP IMPACT is certainly more of a human drama than it is a disaster
   film (likely to the consternation of the audience drawn in by the
   promise of widespread destruction and mayhem) -- indeed, there's
   essentially only the single apocalyptic sequence which has been
   heavily featured in its promotional material -- and as a
   character-driven drama, it fails on that level.

          - Alex Fung
          email: [email-masked]
          web  : http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/

--
Alex Fung ([email-masked]) | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/
"Unlike you, I'm tolerant of weirdness."
     - Jennifer Jason Leigh, CROOKED HEARTS