Rating: 
Summary: Old stuff
Review: This movie and its illegimate twin, "Armageddon," are efforts to "do better"--through special effects--than a really good movie of several years ago on the same subject. It fails. I think the older movie was entitled "Asteroid" and it starred Sean Connery and Natalie Wood. The special effects in that one were adequate and the plot and action much better.
Rating: 
Summary: One up on Armageddon
Review: Deep impact is much more believable than Armageddon. With months of prep time America and Russia build a makeshift space craft and send out a group of Astronauts to stop the comet from destroying Earth. It is a shame that we had both Deep Impact and Armageddon come out so close together and the one that had more cash to promote there movie won out. I have seen this in the past, one of the best examples is Near Dark and The Lost Boys. Both good movies in there own right. However, Near Dark did not get the promotions that the Lost Boys did. and Near Dark just like Deep Impact was a 1000% better and more believable. The fact is the reason why Armageddon and The Lost Boy did better was mainly do to the fact of who played in each movie. Over all Deep Impact will make you look up in the sky and wonder who is watching, and if they find something will they tell us in time??
Rating:
Summary: Not For Everyone
Review: This is one of the most bizzare films I have ever seen. At first, I could barely stay awake. The story and subplots are all over the map, but there is still an almost intoxicating feel to it all. I never did see it in the theatre, so I really didn't know what to expect. It tries a little too hard, a la "Strange Days", but an incredible effort given the theme. A warning though: some of the final scenes are almost too believable and hard to watch. If you are open minded and have a good constitution, this is a fun ride. But even a hard core horror fan like myself was a little sleepless that night.
Rating:
Summary: Impact like Armageddon
Review: When I realized the plot of Deep Impact, another movie that came to my mind was Armageddon.The plots of these two movies are so alike that I would have thought one copied the other...However, I prefer Deep Impact; Armageddon has the authorities sending up a team of last-minute-trained oil-drillers as astronauts, to drill a hole deep into the asteroid and plant a nuclear bomb inside. I found that so unconvincing and unlikely. In Deep Impact, a proper team of astronauts was sent up, in a spaceship appropriately named "Messiah" to save the world from a comet heading for earth. Then there was the selection of people who can take refuge in the "Ark" caves in Missouri for 2 years while the rest of humanity is left to face the destruction by the comet. The selection process may be a necessary one as not all people can go into the caves, but that is a scary reminder of how people decide who deserves to be saved or left to die in the event of a crisis where not all can live... I have enjoyed watching both, in spite of some flaws highlighted by reviewers.
Rating: 
Summary: Oceans Rise. Cities Fall. Hope Survives. Whatever.
Review: With just three films under her belt, Mimi Leder has established herself as a legitimate contender for the title of the Worst Mainstream Director working today. What distinguishes Leder from other mediocre directors is that she seems to take her films so incredibly seriously. Exhibit one: Deep Impact. In a familiar plot, it is discovered that, in just a few short weeks, a gigantic meteor is going to wipe out all life on Earth. The film becomes about how the people of Earth prepare to meet their fate and in Leder's utopian vision, that fate is met with dignity. Never has dignity been quite as sickening and downright dull as in this film. In attempt to qualify as an "epic," the film follows four interconnected plotlines that are meant to illuminate the full reach of the human experience. Unfortunately, the film doesn't have enough imagination for one plotline and, in the end you get four subplots involving generic, uninteresting characters doing just what you'd expect them to. In the first plotline, we meet a crew of brave astronaughts who are sent to make a last ditch effort to save our planet. The crusty old timer is played by Robert Duvall. This plotline is actually halfway compelling. Natrually, Leder devotes the least amount of time to it. In our second plotline, Elijah Wood plays a high school science nerd who discovers the meteor that's going to kill everyone on the planet. Natrually, this makes him the most popular kid in school. He gets to speak at a school assembly where all of his soon-to-be-horribly-killed classmates applaud him and assure him that he's now going to have more sex than he knows what to do with. Hmmm...maybe this is the way Leder and the film's writers would like to think a bunch of high school kids would react to their impending doom. I have doubts that the nerdy kid who just told everyone they're going to die would then be reborn as some sort of apocalyptic sex symbol. But maybe I just need to go hang out in Hollywood a little bit more. In the most mundane plotline, Tea Leoni is cast as a newswoman who basically uncovers Wood's discovery and, despite the best efforts of the government, broadcasts this news to the world. To the abject horror of any viewer who hasn't been meditating for the past few years, Leoni's scenes are used to make big statements about life. Leoni is a wonderful comedic actress so natrually, she plays a totally humorless character here and looks bored to be doing it. Her rich, vaguely European parents are divorced and are played by Vanessa Redgrave and Maximellian Schell. Redgrave is a bit of a pain as she tells us that the knowledge of her impending death is probably the best thing that could have happened. Its freed her up to concentrate on living, she tells Leoni. It would be interesting to see how somebody who was neither rich nor old would react to that. I doubt that a guy in his early twenties who is working retail to pay for college would be as content to hear that he's now going to die before he can accomplish anything. But, we don't get to hear from any of those folks, perhaps because Leder hasn't ever met any in Hollywood. If this seems to be a petty complaint, its one that Leder opens herself up to by presenting Redgrave's silly comments as an important statement. Lastly, Morgan Freeman is the President. Freeman's one of the few actors out there who can convey the type of moral weight that the role calls for. But wouldn't the film have been much more interesting if, instead of some all-seeing, wise leader -- we'd instead had, say, Peter Sellers' President Merkin Muffley from Dr. Strangelove? It doesn't help that Freeman's plan to save humanity (all the important people hide out in underground caves for a few years while all the unimportant people die) is the exact same plan proposed in Dr. Strangelove. Of course, what's truly annoying is that once this plan is announced, its accepted by everyone with, of course, dignity. Sure, we get a few shots of an angry crowd trying to get into the caves but those crowds are made up of extras. The characters we've gotten to see all except their fate with a stoic acceptance that wouldn't be so offensive if not for that fact that Leder seems to be so convinced that this foolish display is somehow making an invaluable statement about the human condition. Couldn't we see just one character say, "Wait a minute -- I'm going to die and that little pipsqueak Wood gets to live just because he discovered the stupid meteor!?" But no, that just wouldn't fit into the film's artistic aspirations. Watching all of this, one is reminded that Ed Wood sincerely did mean for Plan 9 to be a touching anti-war statement. Leder's film -- with its thinly drawn characters and niavely smug attempts to be important -- may have made her feel like a better human being but that doesn't make it any less of a pain to sit through.
Rating:
Summary: This Topic is too Important for such a Schmaltzfest
Review: "Deep Impact" opens with a scene of a group of people, on a hill in the country, observing the stars with their own, inexpensive telescopes. They are guided in their viewing, by a man who appears to be a local science teacher. Elijah Wood, who was around 14 when this film was shot, sees something in the sky that is... new. The science teacher, and the girl next door (Leelee Sobieski) try to convince him that it's nothing unusual, but he sticks to his guns. He knows the sky (or at least that one constellation he's looking at) well enough to be fairly sure that what he sees is not listed in the "Peterson First Guide to Astronomy." (Incidentally, that's really saying something -- the Peterson Guide is fantastic.) The science teacher says "well, all righty then," sends the coordinates of the sighting to a national observatory in Tucson Arizona, and -- sure enough, it's Doomsday. The movie, after this point, shuttles back and forth between showing Elijah Wood and his family preparing at home; Morgan Freeman as the ideal, dignified, crisis-managing U.S. President (seriously, I'd vote for him in a heartbeat); Tea Leoni as the news reporter whose parents have just split up; and Robert Duvall as the elder astronaut leading a mission to nuke the bejiminy out of the incoming asteroid, out in space. The movie focuses very heavily on schmaltzy, emotional human drama, and only sporadically makes you think about the stark reality supposedly being portrayed here. This is the only reason I give this movie three stars. If I were one of the producers, I would have made sure to sieze the opportunity provided by this film to at least include a 5 minute documentary at the end, or an interview with Carl Sagan, stressing how real this threat is... Did you know that an event approximately like this is certain to happen someday? Ask any scientist. ***It may very well be THOUSANDS of years before it happens, thank God.*** But then again, it could happen... significantly sooner than that. We simply don't know. The next sizeable asteroid to hit us might not be a behemoth of an asteroid, like the one portrayed in this movie. As a matter of fact, we can say with total confidence that our planet will definitely be hit over and over and over, by asteroids of all shapes and sizes, for as long as our solar system exists. And even one that was "only" one tenth the size of the one in this film could do some serious damage... Think of how bad things could get if gigantic tsunamis simultaneously completely destroyed Washington D.C., New York, London, Boston, Rome, Jerusalem, Cairo, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Calcutta, Jakarta, Melbourne, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Miami, and coasts all over the world, all within a few hours. The real heroes in this movie are not the astronauts, not the hard-hitting reporters -- not even Morgan Freeman, as much as it hurts to admit it. No, the real heroes in this movie are the ordinary people in the scene right at the beginning, who gather together in informal amateur astronomy clubs, to help keep an eye on the ever-brooding heavens. I recommend seeing this movie... Anyway, there are a lot of fantastic dramatic performances in this movie, but it should have been a lot less schmaltzy. It's just inappropriate. This film happens to be science fiction today, thank God -- but it won't be that way forever. Science, and the laws of probability, unconditionally guarantee it. One thumb up.
Rating: 
Summary: Story & characters have more depth
Review: Contrary to its end-of-the-world contemporary film, Armageddon, Deep Impact is more realistic. In this film, no single individual emerges as a lead character or hero who saves the earth. All these great actors/actresses were given bits & pieces roles & they all have their own side stories. This set-up may not work in other films, but in this particular one, it was successful in enhancing each character & the role they play. It is also more serious, heartwarming & sensitive. & definitely, your eyes will not remain dry at the end of this film.
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: Exciting finalie, dull movie.
Review: Of the two asteroid disaster movies that were released, it is really hard to tell who is the winner. Armageadon had nonstop Yeah-right action, but also had a somewhat good charachters and story. Deep Impact, however, tries to convey a sense of doom and destruction rather then blown out action. It only succeds in the latter part. The movie starts out interestingly enough. A ameatur astronamer sees a really big rock heading for earth and the planet plunges into peril. For the rest of the movie, we witness society collpse, panic and more panic. Twords the end of the film, you really dont care what happens to the poor innocent people that will surley die. But the best part of the movie occours near the very end of the film. That is when the smaller asteroid hits earth and causes a huge tidal wave that wipes out 50% of the planet. The 4 minute tidal wave sequence is worth waiting through over an hour of boring story to witness. Its increadible to witness new york get engulfed in the tidal wave and several other cities. Overall, Deep Impact succeds at the short action sequences and not really in the people section.
The Good: The spectacular tidal wave sequence, all the panic is interesting to watch, mildly good "Were all going to die" Additude
The bad: Little action
And the ugly: gets boring after 15 minutes
Rating:
Summary: Better than ARMAGEDDON!
Review: I have to say that I enjoyed DEEP IMPACT a whole lot more than ARMAGEDDON, even though I loved that one, too. DEEP IMPACT, I think, is less-known because it was released like, right after ARMAGEDDON and that one was more hyped-over than DEEP IMPACT. But I think DEEP IMPACT had a better, more solid plot and more of a believable storyline with believable, talented actors. I don't say that there's anything wrong with Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, or Billy Bob Thortan (they are all great actors) but Robert DuVall, Tea Leoni, Morgan Freeman, Eljiah Wood, and Leelee Sobiski were better choices for this kind of film in some way. Anyway, DEEP IMPACT is about a teen astronomer, Leo (Elijah Wood) from an astronomy club at school, who discovers that a comet, large and powerful enough to destroy the world, is heading straight for earth. There is no stopping it. And now the government must try to find a way to save the people before everything is destroyed. One thing I liked about this film that I thought was more cleaver and intelligent than in ARMAGEDDON was the fact that in DEEP IMPACT, the comet actually hit the earth and everything was destroyed. In ARMAGEDDON, they save the world in the last few seconds. And I just thought the ending twist of DEEP IMPACT was more believable and cleaver. But anyway, both films are actually really good. The special effects (sound effects and visual effects) are absolutely stunning in DEEP IMPACT. This is a very original and underrated masterpiece. I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes good sci-fic and action films!
|
