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Makes an impact
by Stephen Wong
If you're expecting Deep Impact to be anything like July's Armageddon, then you're barking
up the wrong tree. This is not an action flick, nor is it really a disaster film (although the comet destruction
scene is quite spectacular). Instead, what we get here is a human drama with a 7-mile wide comet hurling
itself towards earth lined up as a supporting cast member. And contrary to what you might think about big
budget science fiction films, it makes Impact that much more powerful.
In the film, a comet is spotted by an aspiring young astronomer Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood), who later finds
out that "his comet" is speeding towards Earth. Meanwhile, MSNBC reporter Jenny Lerner (Téa Leoni) accidentally
stumbles upon the findings of what will become "the world's biggest story". What she, and the entire world
will find out, is that the United States and various other countries around the world have been secretly
developing plans to stop the "extinction level event" comet before it pierces our atmosphere. The U.S.
and Russia send out a crew (Robert Duvall, Mary McCormack, Ron Eldard, Jon Favreau, Blair Underwood)
to drill nuclear bombs within the comet, and knock the comet off a course towards Earth. However, just
in case the plan doesn't succeed as expected, an extensive network of caves has been built somewhere in
the Midwest that will contain the seeds for the continuation of life. Plants, animals, and 1 million U.S.
citizens (selected by lottery) will be able to live underground for two years until the nuclear winter brought
on by the comet's destruction has subsided.
Impact is by no means a perfect film. There are a few sequences, especially in the first 20 minutes,
where events surrounding the president move too fast and are left with little explanation. There's some
blatant and almost pathetic advertising of MSNBC throughout (Leoni's character actually queues up
www.msnbc.com on her computer to do some research). And there are also some very unrealistic sequences
as the comet enters Earth's atmosphere: People are shown just standing there watching the comet fly
overhead (you've probably seen the shot in trailers), when in fact the sonic boom alone would probably
kill them. Yet these are minor flaws considering what the film tries to accomplish in just 2 hours. The main cast
is superb. Leoni gives poignant weight to her role as fast rising reporter, Duvall is fabulous as the old
sagacious Captain Tanner of the space mission, and Morgan Freeman delivers on all accounts as the president
of the United States.
Director Mimi Leder (The Peacemaker) takes us into the heart
of the storm and forces us to stop and focus on the painful truth. There are no storybook heroes, yet we see
many heroes. There are no standout characters, yet what we get is a character-driven film. What Leder leaves
us with is the harsh realization of humanity bracing for the impact of the apocalypse. Impact is a chilling
reflection of our deepest fears, a rarity for a summer blockbuster. We see a society torn by chaos and despair,
but we also experience the painful separations and good-byes that ensue: parents desperately trying to save their
children, families and friends deciding who will go to the caves and who will stay, people embracing before the
destruction engulfs them. Leder compels us to reexamine what we really hold dear in our lives when the time
comes when we don't have much time left. And in a summer filled with giant lizards, TV shows, and aliens,
maybe that's just a little too much to handle.
Stephen Wong, 1998
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