Deep Impact
Deep Impact
Director:Mimi Leder
Screenplay:Edwin Balmer from the Novel by Arthur C. Clarke
Starring:Tea Leon�, Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood
John's Review
So let the disaster films part II commence. Last years entries included Dante's Peak and Volcano, both of which were absolutely terrible. This year we've got Deep Impact and the Bruckheimer/Bay Armegeddon. Much like last year the first of the block Dante's PEAK, Deep Impact goes for the more dramtaic approach, not to say that it is without action. Not by any means. But, unlike Dante, Imapact pulls it off with a more successful combination of actors, story line and direction.
The story begins in Richmond, VA. (I will touch on this later) where a High School class is out at night star gazing. One of the students (Wood) seems to have discovered a comet. His teacher seems to agree and send the data off to a professor at an observatory somewhere else. This professor then dies in a car accident, not only is this not the least bit surprising, but it does absolutely nothing for the story.
Story changes to a year later in Washington D.C. Enter a young news assistant (Leon�), who is about to discover what she thinks a major political scandal. Which of course turns out to be the fact that the government has known about this comet for a year now and has not told anyone. (Yawn) Now we enter the boring hour of the film. As my girlfriend put it, a lot of preperation and little event. Apparently the announcement gets made from the White House that only 800,00 (normal) Americans will be saved. With 200,000 being pre-selected. All the while the President (played very well by Freeman) states, "Life will go on." (Yawn) Now cut to our saviours, 6 astronauts who will fly to the comet and plant nuclear devices which will blow it up. Now, we know this won't work because we've all seen the previews with the towering tidal wave.
I guess the thriller part of it is will the (now 2 part comet) slam into the Earth killing everything living on the planet, or will only one strike and just maybe kill a few million? Normally this would concern the average viewer, but we don't really care because the characters are bland and one dimensional. By the time the comet does hit, we can't wait to see how much destruction it will actually do!
Leder's direction cannot be fully blamed for the film, the writing much like her previous theatrical work, Peacemaker was lacking. Also, being born, bred and raised in Richmond, I think that I can say without a doubt that there are no major mountain ranges within sixty miles. Although the movie would make you think that Richmond is sitting on top of the Appalachians. Also just where in the world are the Virginia Beaches that is so clearly marked as being 6 miles away from Richmond. There is a Virginia Beach, which is about 90 miles east of Richmond for those of you that are not familiar with Virginia geography. Oh, but I ramble. The film is not a bad film, it just could have been a lot better.
Grade: C+
