Backyard astronomer Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood) discovers somthing new in the night sky. He sends this information along the proper channels and it is learned that a comet is on a collision course with Earth. The government keeps this under wraps until TV news reporter Jenny Lerner (Téa Leoni) unwittingly uncovers the story.
Lerner learns that Alan Rittenhouse (James Cromwell), a high ranking government offical, resigned over what she presumes is a mistress named Ele. President Beck (Morgan Freeman) meets with Lerner and urges her not to release the story. Lerner later finds out that Ele is really E.L.E or extinction level event, as in a comet colliding with us.
With his hand being forced President Beck announces the eminent danger the planet is in. In the year the government has known about the comet they have been building a spaceship capable of intercepting the comet in an attempt to destroy or at least divert it.
Spurgean "Fish" Turner (Robert Duvall), a space veteran is joined by a younger crew (Ron Ellard, Mary McCormack, Blair Underwood, Jon Favreau, and Alexander Baluev) as Earth's last chance for continuation. Unfortunately the mission fails but luckily the government planned ahead and made a bunch of caves in Missouri with enough space for one million people. But will that be enough for humankind to survive?
The first problem with Deep Impact is all the suspense was lessened for anyone who saw the trailer or TV commercial where Manhattan is crushed by a mammoth tidal wave. Golly, I wonder if the comet will hit the Earth? But I guess Deep Impact is more about humanity than the comet.
Speaking of people, could they be any less realistic? Most of the people in the movie acted like they were told it was going to rain a lot this year not that the world was coming to an end. Bravery in the face of danger is one thing but the way most of them acted was just plain stupid. The only exception and bright spot was Morgan Freeman as the President. His was the lone performance that showed any genuine concern and fear.
The middle portion of this film is so agonizingly slow it makes it even harder to wait for the ending you already know is coming. If they had shown some the chaos that should have been occuring the movie would have be much more interesting.
Why was it a manned mission sent to stop the comet? None of the real world solutions to this problem involve sending peolpe to destroy it. Just load the biggest rocket you can find with as many nukes as possibble and blow the threat to bits. By the way the comet looked almost as fake as the supposed people in space shots.
Deep Impact is a disaster flick that focuses on the people. The problem is, they act so absurdly that the movie is more of a comedy than a drama. If you are thinking of seeing this film just watch the commercial, it's all there and at a fraction of the time.
Image from Paramount Pictures