"Life goes on."
DEEP IMPACT (PG-13) 
Reviewed May 9, 1998 - Check out the Deep Impact web site.
It's cheesy, it's cliche, it's badly written!! Hey, it's Deep Impact, and it's crashing into a theater new you! Starring Tea Leoni, Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Maximilian Schell, Vanessa Redgrave, and many others, Deep Impact is about the discovery of a giant comet that's heading straight for Earth. Anticipating the comet's destructive impact, the US and Russian governments build a spacecraft (The Messiah) designed to intercept and destroy it. When this plan doesn't work as designed, the government reveals the development of an underground cave system (The Ark) designed to hold about one million people. 200,000 individuals have been pre-selected to help rebuild the planet after the comet's impact; the other 800,000 are to be picked via a lottery system, with anyone over 55 ineligible for the lottery. In the meantime, people are dealing with "the end of the world" in various ways, their stories sprinkled in between scenes at The Messiah (with Robert Duvall as a co-pilot), the White House (with Morgan Freeman as the President), and in the newsroom at MSNBC (with Tea Leoni as an up-and-coming reporter).
Yup, there's a lot going on in Deep Impact, and in all fairness certain parts of it are entertaining. Specifically, the special effects work with the comet is top notch, and several of the film's sequences have a light, campy feel that successfully gets a few laughs. Unfortunately, almost everything else in Deep Impact suffers from below average execution. Tea Leoni's performance as reporter Jenny Lerner is tentative at best, the zero-gravity scenes on The Messiah are completely unconvincing, and none of the characters are ever allowed to develop any semblance of depth. Teary-eyed farewells, joyous reunions, heroic sacrifices...little of it has the emotional impact you would expect, and in the end Deep Impact feels like nothing more than a b-grade sci-fi flick with a few impressive special effects and lots of overused cliches. Oh well, life goes on...
Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!
gilligans_isle_411@yahoo.com
gives this movie stars: "I
gave this 3 1/2 stars because it was not a boring movie, yet was not a
sit on the edge of your chair thriller either. And the fact that Armmegedon
came out at approximately the same time didn't help. The script needed
a lot more work and the stars were not that convincing. Although I am a
big fan of Elijha Wood's, I do not think think that this movie helped his
career in any way. " (7/24/01)
rach gives this movie stars: "i
give this 5 stars only because elijha wood is in it" (1/29/01)
nicole14300@cs.com
gives this movie stars: "I
liked that movie alot i think that Elijha wood is so hott and he did a
really good job!i would have gave them a better higher rate but he married
that girl so i had to lower it.you know it should have been me,you all
know that im way better than her no offence well anyways that my opinion
later dudes bye." (7/4/00)
David Rogers gives this movie stars: "Still
waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than that thing we know only as Armageddon!" (5/9/00)
jessfroggy@prodigy.net
gives this movie stars: "This
movie was really good a whole lot better than armagedon. It did have alot
of corny stuff in it but the wave was killer and the part with the reporter
and her dad was cool" (8/18/99)
Susan gives this movie stars: "Its
not that predictable like Armageddon...I love that movie too but this one
has a plot that keeps changing...and actors and actresses were really good
too." (6/20/99)
dannymacneil@hotmail.com
gives this movie stars: "this
was the best movie that robert duvall was in (my opinion)" (6/8/99)
amar@gofree.co.uk
gives this movie star: "This
film is alright if you dont watch armageddon before, however if u have
already seen armageddon before or after, it is TOTAL SH**, and there is
no fit chix, but in armageddon there is Liv Tyler, that horny pilot and
a f***ing excellent soundtrack" (6/4/99)
chronoro@online.no
gives this movie stars: "I
like this movie, but it's just like armagedon." (6/2/99)
magical_mists@hotmail.com
gives this movie stars: "i
would like to say that this movie is my all time fav. i enjoyed it alot
because it was realistic and more than one person died like in Armaggedon(this
movie sucks compared to deep impact). i thougth that it was realistic because
people were having panic attacks and we actually worried about the rock
hitting earth. i would also like to comment on every actor and actresse's
on a job well done, i think that this movie should have gotten more credit
than it did. thanks for a great movie! =) " (5/25/99)
markuskorpela@hotmail.com
gives this movie stars: "I
expect more from this movie. Well, it's OK! But no so good than Armageddon." (5/23/99)
evellin@caddman.co.za
gives this movie stars: "Sent
shivers down my spine....Great Movie" (5/21/99)
DHall2332@aol.com
gives this movie stars: "Please
settle a disagreement between my neighbor and myself. What dates did this
movie air on Pay For View. I say I saw the movie around Christmas on Pay
for View or one of the premium channels and my neighbor says thats impossible
because it just came out on video. Please tell me who is right." (5/4/99)
jansam@nl.packerdbell.org
gives this movie stars: "I
think the film SUCKS!" (4/24/99)
Cody King gives this movie stars: "I
thought this movie was great. It really was realistic. When the comets
hit the earth, that could really happen, what with the waves and everything.
I mean, a 1000 wave coming at 1100 MPH? I really like this movie. It made
u feel as if you were really sitting there. It kept me on the edge of my
seat." (12/28/98)
evanwar@hotmail.com
gives this movie stars: "I
thaut this movie rocked because of the special efects when disaster struck
Elijha Wood was great in this big hit of the summer Ithink every character
was great this movie is actuelly biger than that tittle wave about 10 thousand
feet biger." (11/15/98)
Maria Habourna gives this movie stars: "I
love this movie but the only thing I don't like is :Why it's only the American
president, people who can save the world????????" (11/15/98)
Nick Black gives this movie stars: "This
Movie tottally sucked! The Movie is so gay. Its just 2 hrs. of people running
around like chickens with their head cut off. I'll say it a million times,
IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!" (10/31/98)
eapoe@cistron.nl
gives this movie stars:
"Don't go alone... somebody has to wake you up for the final scene.
The only thing that was not as bad as the rest of the movie. The impact
was okay... but the ocean flooding into the mountains...hahaha.. a joke" (10/29/98)
Miriam Pulido gives this movie stars.
(8/30/98)
doug@gate-way.net
gives this movie star: "I
didn't like this movie, the plot was stupid, it was put together poorly.
I sat through about 2 hours of people running around getting ready for
the comet to hit and the actual comet hitting was only about 5 minutes.
It was a major disapointment!" (8/25/98)
moniques8@hotmail.com
gives this movie star: "It
sucked. Compared to Armaggedon, it sucked." (7/31/98)
David gives this movie stars: "If
you watch the ad, you would say it is your typical action 'save the earth'
type movie. But it's not. Deep Impact provides a more Drama genre with
the excellent portrayal of lives saying goodbye to their families and friends.
The film brings a tear in your eye with this. The hope and love conquered
my views rather than the comet/tidal wave, due to the excellent acting
bye Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall and the girl
Elijah married ( I forgot her name ! ). Some scenes reminded me of Titanic,
because of the great emotions and romance. The music was good too - James
Horner ( Titanic ) used a lot of the same type of music for Titanic, because
of the huge relation between the two. The movie never really had one main
character but used a variety of characters with equal roles to send the
message across. But still nothing takes away the brilliant special effects.
Firstly and foremostly, the tidal wave was brilliantly done. The wave had
everything a real wave has and the destruction it left was well brought
out to the viewer too. The comet and space scenes were action- packed and
still the drama side hung over it aswell. This movie is a certain must
see, due to the great love and drama, and the great special effects. This
movie is as big as the tidal wave !!!" (7/14/98)
pandora@cam.org gives
this movie stars.
(7/5/98)
cus55@yahoo.com gives
this movie stars: "Deep
Impact is unlike other disaster movies: it actually has a story worth telling.
It is a drama, and not an action-packed blockbuster. The film is humble
in its attempts at portraying the lives of people affected by the reality
that they are going to die. I loved the way the characters were used, and
no character stood out from the others -- they were all equal. Each presented
the viewer of the film with an insight into what they would do if the world
was going to be destroyed and life was going to be wiped out. It was a
real tear-jerker, and a treat for the emotionally weak. The special effects
were used rather sparingly, enabling the character development to shine
for the most part of the film. The special effects, however, were superb
when they did come. " (7/1/98)
nickblaskowski@hotmail.com
gives this movie stars: "Elijah
Wood was the only bad thing in this movie.Everything else ruled!And something
else that might of helped make it 3 stars was that sarah and leo got married.That
was dumb!Everything else was all right.This movie still was a flop,though!" (5/21/98)
