Deep Impact
Rating: **
Date Seen: 1998-05-30
While "Deep Impact" is based on a potentially
fascenating concept, the movie gets bogged down in
clichéd subplots and predictable Hollywood
sentamentalism. The premise: A comet is heading
on a collision course toward Earth. We've got to
find a way to stop it, and failing that, we'll dig
a bunch of underground caves to hide in until the
calamity passes over.
The special effects were good, but not breathtaking.
Morgan Freeman, as always, did an excellent acting
job, despite his one-dimensional role as President
of the United States. Téa Leoni was competent in her
role as a reporter for MSNBC, whose company logo
became so prominent throughout the movie as an obvious
product placement that it led to distraction.
Except for the silver screen caliber special effects
budget, everything about "Deep Impact"
would have fit perfectly into a run-of-the-mill
television miniseries. The differences between
alienated family members becoming magically resolved
at the approach of an oncoming disaster, the
all to familiar guy-gets-separated-from-his-girlfriend-and-gets-reuinted-at-the-last-minute
routine, and finally the magic rescue just when
all hope has been lost.
That said, I still found the movie relatively
entertaining. The scene where the astronauts landed
on the comet was well done, and I enjoyed the tidal
wave special effects as well.
"Deep Impact"
is a typical example of warmhearted, shallow, glossy,
over-commercialized American family entertainment.
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