Deep Impact Review
by Rev. Mama Lani (lani AT lava DOT net)May 11th, 1998
DEEP IMPACT
===========
Produced by: Zanuck/Brown Productions, DreamWorks SKG, and
Paramount Pictures
Directed by: Mimi Leder
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for disaster theme and some violence
Running time: 115 min.
Released: May 15, 1998 (US)
Major cast: Alexander Baluyev, James Cromwell, Robert Duvall,
Ron Eldard, Jon Favreau, Morgan Freeman, Tea Leoni,
Mary McCormack, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell,
Dougray Scott, Leelee Sobieski, Blair Underwood,
Elijah Wood.
Basic plot: Overabundance of "main characters" tries to resolve
their relationships while an Earth-bound comet the
size of Manhattan threatens global extinction.
As disaster movies go, this made-for TV movie wasn't bad at all.
There is one minor problem however: Someone decided to release this
film in movie theaters.
The film starts with young Leo Biederman (Wood) discovering an
unknown object in the sky during an astronomy club outing. A year
later, up-and-coming MSNBC reporter Jenny Lerner (Leoni) thinks she unearths a big sexual scandal in the White House involving cabinet
member Alan Rittenhouse (played all-too-briefly by Cromwell), who
resigns abruptly over what Lerner believes is a woman named "Ellie."
Lerner soon learns the story is bigger than a mere affair when she
is whisked off by the men in black to meet with the president. In an amusing scene, Lerner and President Beck (Freeman) conduct a tango
of words as Lerner realizes "ELE" (Extinction-Level Event) is no sex
scandal.
The president agrees to hold a press conference to inform the public
about a Manhattan-sized comet zooming toward Earth. Everything after
that involves every cast member having a teary-eyed moment as they
say good-bye to their loved ones, although I suppose I would be
cutting this review short if I didn't give you a bit more
information.
The US and Russian governments have crafted in a record-breaking
eight months "Messiah," a built-in-outer-space ship that takes six
NASA astronauts, including Duvall's Spurgeon "Fish" Tanner (who the
rest of the crew thinks was brought on by the Powers That Be for PR purposes) to the comet to detonate nuclear bombs under its surface
and render it into small pieces and thus harmless.
However you guess correctly that this plan does not quite work or
else you wouldn't get to see the World Trade Center tsunamied as you
saw in the movie trailer.
This film tries to be _Titanic_ and _the Love Boat_ together, and it
simply can't do it in its limited running time. Three-hour-long
_Titanic_ was a "disaster movie" that had enough time to go through
the disaster AND allow audiences to sympathize with its two main
characters.
In _Deep Impact_, a similar attempt is made instead with no less
than *three* relationship subplots, and it is simply not possible.
Leder attempts to manipulate the audience into tears through the straightforward technique of showing close-ups of loved ones hugging
and crying with each other, which doesn't work because the
characters are given so little time or opportunity to develop.
The bottom line in a disaster movie however, is the actual disaster. Unfortunately even with the creative special effects of ILM
(Industrial Light and Magic), there is very little impact on the
audience. In fact, you see a third of the disaster's special effects
in the movie trailer.
Had the movie focused on one relationship and shown realistic scenes
of mobbing, looting, panicking and mass violence, _and_ delivered
with massive special effects (that last more than five minutes),
this would have turned out to be theatrically satisfying. As it is,
even with the president declaring martial law using the US Armed
Forces, not one soldier fires his M16; not one civilian is shown
taking advantage of his Fourth Amendment rights; not one person is
shown committing a crime. In fact, there are no "bad guys" in this
movie at all.
Probably saddest of all is the utter underutilization of some
excellent actors. Both Duvall and Freeman do well acting their
stereotypes as they have some decent air time. However it is truly unfortunate that Schell, Redgrave and Cromwell are little more than walk-ons when we know they could really shine in their own
spotlights.
Worth seeing as a TV mini-series or with a discounted matinee ticket
only, I suggest you stay home until the next big disaster movie (_Godzilla_) is out in theaters in a few weeks. At least that movie
seems to be more focused on the disaster itself and not on the
mediocre, underdeveloped character relationships.
--
-=*=-=*=--=*=-=*=--=*=-=*=--=*=-=*=--=*=-=*=--=*=-=*=--=*=-=*=--=*=-=*=-=*=- Rev. Mama Lani (ULC), [email protected] \O/ Learn how to travel with just one URL: <http://www.lava.net/~lani> |D carry-on - Visit my Travelite FAQ Co-moderator, soc.culture.hawaii /< at <http://welcome.to/travelite>!
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