Rating: 
Summary: DEEP IMPACT Definitely Makes A Deep Impact
Review: ARMAGEDDON may have gotten most of the glory at the box office, but for me DEEP IMPACT was the better "space-rock" disaster film of 1998. It had more humanity, a sense of awe and fear, a far more realistic plot, and better acting.The space rock in this case is a seven mile-wide comet on a collision course with our planet. A joint US/Russian team, led by Robert Duvall, is given the unenviable task of drilling nuclear bombs into the comet to either destroy it or send it off course. Their attempt is only partly successful, and creates a new problem--two different pieces on the same course, one a mile and a half, the other five miles. Either one would strike with enough power to create an Extinction Level Event. Director Mimi Leder, who made her feature film debut with THE PEACEMAKER in 1997 and directed numerous episodes for the TV series "E.R.", keeps the focus on human issues, which makes the final destruction scenes truly awesome. Morgan Freeman makes for one of the better film presidents of recent times, and James Horner's score is extremely well done. Duvall, of course, is as fine in his role as any he has ever done; he is one of those actors that can often be relied upon in virtually anything. One of the best pure science fiction movies of the last ten years, DEEP IMPACT is more than a standard-issue disaster flick, and it is leaps and bounds ahead of ARMAGEDDON as a movie in general.
Rating: 
Summary: A monumental movie despite some flaws
Review: Here is a good and moving film, based on a significant amount of legitimate science, about the implications of an Earth impact of a large meteor or asteroid. Its best performances include those of Morgan Freeman as US President and Robert Duvall as leader of a crew of astronauts trying to destroy the giant meteor. The rest of his crew includes some impressive members as well. Minor detractions include something of an overdosing on the strong-headedness of a news reporter played by Tea Leoni. That overdosing gets grating at times, though her performance is not without its bright and moving moments as well. Her mother is palyed by Vanessa Redgrave, who seems to be a jinxed actress in recent years. For all her imressive array of worthy past performances, she's hasn't seemed able to land a worthy role for some time. It would have been nice if this movie could have broken that jinx for her, but it doesn't. Her character's ex-husband and father of the reporter is played by Maxmillian Schell, about the most bland of major characters, neither highly memorable nor particularly distracting. But the younger members of the cast are perhaps the biggest surprise. Elijah wood plays a young amateur astronomer who discovered the menacing meteor. He's as major a character as any others, and proves altogether up to task of playing a crucial role. His girlfriend is played by Leelee Sobieski (oh, that all her performances could be this grand). She's not even listed in most short enumerations of the cast, but her radiant performance is a show-stealing one.
Rating: 
Summary: More entertaining that Armageddon
Review: It is inevitable that these two movies be compared, and certainly the acting of Duvall, Freeman etc is superior in Deep Impact compared to Willis, et al, in Armageddon, but I feel Criterion has chosen the correct film to give it's special treatment to. The subplots are trivial in both, but they are just more entertaining in Armageddon. The "puppy love" story in DI could scarcely keep the interest of of anyone over age 20. The take on the "modern" astronauts having contempt for the space pioneer character of Duvall rings as false as anything in film. Current space explorers would react towards Shepherd/Armstrong/Glenn and company the way a young opera company would if Placido Domingo were suddenly assigned to their "team". Both films have essentially the same plot: go out to space and "nuke" a meteor before it annihilates humanity.... plan goes awry and self-less sacrifice at the last second saves the day. I just had more fun watching Armageddon, and movies should either entertain you or make you think. Since neither movie stimulated thought, I'll take Armageddon over DI.
Rating:
Summary: Great graphics, great cast, great storyline, great ending
Review: Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Tea Leoni and Elijah Woods provide their best preformance on how the astriod clashes with earth and how long it would be. This movie was so good it should've won an oscar for best picture, anyways, if you're looking for those great suspense action dramas with great storylines such as the world coming to an end, this movie is definitely for you. Great and Astonishing.
Rating:
Summary: Shallow "Impact"
Review: "Deep Impact" is the classic example of a movie that had everything going for it, and simply failed to gel. It has many excellent actors, good special effects, and a script that should have been better than it was. In its effort to give a more "human" approach to a worldwide disaster, it doesn't work. Astronomy schoolboy Leo Bierdman (Elijah Wood) spots an unusual speck in the sky; out of curiosity, he sends the information to a scientist, who meets a needlessly theatrical demise moments after finding out the horrible news. A year or so later, reporter Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni) begins snooping out a potential sex scandal: strange calls about a woman called "Ellie" have been circulating from the president's office. She discovers the truth only days before the president (Morgan Freeman) tells the public: It's E.L.E., not "Ellie," and stands for Extinction Level Event. An enormous chunk of rock is hurtling toward Earth, and if it hits, it will destroy all life on the planet. A spaceship called the Messiah is launched, in an effort to destroy the comet, with a mixed crew of minorities and non-Americans, lead by Spurgeon "Fish" Tanner (Robert Duvall). In case that doesn't work, a series of tunnels are being built in which selected humans, animals, plants and so forth will be sheltered if the comet were to hit. As the potential doomsday draws closer, Jenny tries to make peace with her fragmented family, Leo tries to save the people he cares about most, and the astronauts struggle to avert the diaster. Handled correctly, this film might have been a triumph of moviemaking. But the director's handling of this is melodramatic, often illogical, unrealistically noble, and chock full of cliches. Among the cliches is an older, more experienced astronaut among younger ones who consider him a dinosaur; the lead character fussing about her father divorcing her mother for a pretty young thing; the teen boy who risks it all for the girl he loves, and so forth. The lack of logic kicks in quite often: Why does Leo see the comet when every conservatory on the planet managed to miss? Why doesn't anyone freak out until scant days before the comet hits? How could a pair of teenagers on a very slow motorcycle outrun a tidal wave? What kind of teens, when faced with impending death, would applaud silly sex jokes? One of the biggest drawbacks in this movie is Tea Leoni, a sort of Katie Couric on tranquilizers, who expresses all the pain, angst, and turmoil of a breadboard. This woman simply cannot act. Over the course of the movie, Jenny mumbles in a soulless monotone, failing to display a single identifiable emotion, no matter what is going on around her. When Leoni does display some emotion, it resembles rambling drunkenness rather than mild hysteria. Morgan Freeman is excellent as the President of the United States; he manages dignity, poise, outward calm and inward unhappiness, and a sense of being larger than life. Robert Duvall is similarly convincing as the grizzled veteran astronaut. Elijah Wood is clearly trying hard to make Leo Biederman halfway sympathetic (I'm told that the script was altered substantially after he was signed on). Wood also had to bear, on his narrow then-teenage shoulders, the burden of the worst proposal scene ever committed to celluloid, in which Leo displays both arrogance and insensitivity. LeeLee Sobieski, as Leo's girlfriend/wife Sarah, acts well at the beginning of the movie, but apparently stops trying about halfway through. The scripting is on and off; sometimes it's dreadful, sometimes it's very good, especially when Leoni is a peripheral presence. Sometimes the camera shooting is a little too cheesy, such as the back-and-forth shots between Leo and Sarah's "young love" wedding, and the lonely primping of Jenny's divorced mom; on the other hand, I thought the scene where Duvall reads to a blind crewmate to be quite touching and sympathetic. The movie also raises some intriguing questions. How would humanity react if we faced extinction? Was it in the best interests of the people to keep it all a secret for a year? Who would be saved, and why? And is the "lottery" to choose the survivors a good idea, or a cold, soulless way of determining who deserves to live? This movie has some deep flaws, but is worth watching if you have some empty time, or if you are a fan of some of the actors in it.
Rating:
Summary: 'Deep Impact' makes its impact deeply felt
Review: What would you do if all life on Earth would inevitably be destroyed in a few weeks? By chance on a star-lit night in Arizona, a young astronomer, Leo Beidermann (Elijah Wood), makes the gut-wrenching discovery of an enormous comet on a path that would lead to a direct contact with the earth. Morgan Freeman is the President of the United States, whose responsibility is to address the nation with the heart-stopping E.L.E incident, an Extinction Level Event. Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni) is a reporter who adds to the large scale storyline of the countdown to doomsday as humanity fights for their chance to survive. Directed by Mimi Leder ('The Peacemaker') and accompanied by a highly talented cast also featuring Robert Duvall, Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell with music by James Horner, 'Deep Impact' explodes with an "eye-opening blast of a movie experience" (Jeff Craig, Sixty Second Preview). It is ultimately compelling, bursting with suspense, heartwarming, and unforgettable. Recommended for any audience over 14 years, it is a tale where although oceans rise and cities fall, hope will always survive, making 'Deep Impact' a must-see movie.
Rating:
Summary: SOOO Much Better than Armageddon
Review: Okay if you have to do a comparison between these two movies which one had the more unbelievable story? A bunch of drunken oil refiners going into space to drill an asteroid to save the world or, actual astranauts going into space to blow one up? Come on people. Overall this movie has most of what is needed to make a great movie. Fanstatic actors (Morgan Freeman is great as the president), great effects of the east coast being destroyed again (what movie doesnt destroy the east coast of the US in one way or another), Great feelings of humanity which is so badly lacking in most disaster flicks. I mean who cares if the world blows up if there are no characters to sympathise with? (Aka Independance day, Armageddon, The Night of the Comet... so many to list here). Dont be so harsh on this movie until you see the rest of the trash that is out there. By comparison, this movie shines and I do highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Emotionally gripping and intelligent thriller
Review: In 1998's infamous race for the ultimate outer space disaster flick, "Deep Impact" should be bestowed with the gold medal a thousandfold! Anyone who claims that this magnificent film as sentimental, nerd-ridden drivel when compared to appallingly lackluster job of "Armegeddon" must have seriously OD'ed on testosterone or is a complete mindless pion! If you fit this description, I truly pity you! It is also a sheer travesty that "Armegeddon" received all the Oscar nominations while "Deep Impact" was left out in the cold! As big of a movie buff that I am, I will forever revile the AMPAS and all of its red-tape politics (the 1999 awards crossed the line for the last time with me!) "Deep Impact" puts on the table a first-rate all-star cast, a superbly written script by Bruce Joel Rubin ("Ghost"), another terrific score from composer James Horner, and of course fanatstic CGI effects from Oscar-winning FX grandmaster ILM. Even without ILM's handiwork, the performances of Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood, Tea Leoni, and especially Morgan Freeman are all believably stirring with lucid emotion and authority. Freeman as the President would make me pass Clinton up with his wisdom and empathy for the American people as they face the threat of international annihilation from the heavens. His overlooked Oscar-worthy performance is another reason for me to despise the Academy (who the heck remembers Ed Harris or Geoffrey Rush's performances in "Truman Show" and the overpraised "Shakespeare in Love" respectively). Finally, one more reason why "Deep Impact" made its mark forever in heart: EXECUTIVE PRODUCER STEVEN SPIELBERG! Whether he's directing or producing, Spielberg never wavers as the all-time cinematic genius of magical fantasy and of the human spirit. "Deep Impact", coupled with "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Mask of Zorro", made 1998 a very great year for him. Well, if you want to squander your brains on a ludicrous 2 1/2 hour, loud-mouthed, mindless-explosions-every-2-seconds, he-man flick, don't let me stop you from gourging yourselves on "Armegeddon"! I tell you, if you've seen one Bruckheimer/Simpson film, you've basically seem 'em all ("Crimson Tide", "The Rock", "Con Air", "Beverly Hills Cop", and "Top Gun" (the only good one))! But if you're a sophisticated person who'd like to curl up with an equally-urbane significant other on a rainy weekend eve, "Deep Impact" is a masterpiece treat for you! It will give you hope that in this blase day & age, Hollywood can still (albeit rarely) create a film that touches your heart, mind, and soul while simultaneously keeping you on the edge of your seat.
Rating:
Summary: it's ok
Review: Deep Impact is a good disaster movie, it has a scene where
they pick those who would be save, Similar to the old
1951 movie (when Worlds Collide)they called the ark but there are remakes of some these old george pal movies like the
time machine,ok now I like to see them do a remake of the 1951
(when Worlds Collide).
Rating:
Summary: Made an Impact on me
Review: Many people tend to compare this movie to armageddon, as they are both about the idea of a celestial body (in this case a comet, in the case of armageddon an asteroid) on a collision course with the earth, and seeing as how they were released in very close proximatey to one another. I think this has a lot to do with some people's lack of love for Deep impact, but the reality is these were two very different movies. While "Armageddon" was a great movie in it's own rate, it was more of an action-romance movie that was meant to apeal to a braoder audience and satisfy movie-goers' typical demands of a major release. But with Deep Impact a much different aproach was taken, following in the way of the traditional Disaster Movie Genre. From the beginning we are introduced to one of the main Characters, an upstart reporter investigating your run of the mill political love affair scandal, but stumbles instead upon the biggest story of history, that there is a monstrous comet on a collision course with earth. And so unfold's the American government's plan to send an team of asteronauts to intercept the comet and plant enough nukes on it to deflect it off course. The movie handles the plot from a much more epic, and at the same time much more personal level than armageddon. The romance angle of the story is provided by the young boy who unwittingly discovered the comet and his girl neighbor. As counter measures fail, and plan B, C and D are called into action the terrible reality that only so many can be saved, and that it has to be decided who lives and dies sets in. A national lottery determines who will get passage to a special fallout shelter-like cave complex that was built in secret to house 1 million people. The rest are left to fend for themselves. I really found deep impact to be more emotional, though not as romantic as armageddon. Characters will die, babies will be deperated from parents, young people will be asked to carry burdens that they shouldnt have to deal with and cities are destroyed as part of the asteroid hits the atlantic and causes a massive tsunami. Watching all this really had a more realistic and more message-orientated feel to it than Armageddon. I liked that the movie seemed to follow closer to the science and horrow of what a comet impact could cause, and how that affected the characters and our society. This made the movie much more interesting to me in many ways, and much realer as well. The special effects are well done enough for the time period, and actually the tidal-wave scene where you watch a city massive wall of water inundate the city, hills and forests was quite ae inspiring. This is well done and will make your jaw drop when you see it. The only problems are some inconsistant acting, and the fact that this movie is a bit slow and might not appeal to some viewers as much as armageddon because it's not an action movie. All in all this was a great disaster movie and I thought it did a better job than armageddon in many ways of dealing with the actual plot scenario, though I like that movie as well just for different reasons. But if you're looking for a good sci-fi based disaster movie that will touches on many deeper levels than similar movies than this is your best bet. You're better off renting Deep Impact than you are going to the theater to see "The Day After Tomorrow".
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