Deep Impact (1999, VHS)

Have you ever heard of those feminine tales of woe, where the eager young teen, Betty Lou goes to the big dance/party/rave/whatever in her painstakingly chosen outfit, finely calculated to make her the centre of attention, only to discover that Molly Sue from down the road has tragically chosen exactly the same ensemble? The horror which poor Betty experiences, must surely have been similar to that the production crew of Deep Impact must have felt when it was realised that the release of their film would coincide with the rather more hyped Bruce Willis blockbuster, Armageddon

Not since Drop Dead Fred and Freddy's Dead were both released the week Queen frontman Freddie Mercury passed away has the cinema world found itself in such a bizarrely unfortunate situation. As a result of two films where the plot is based upon the idea of a huge asteroid threatening all life on Earth, coupled with the overall "It's been done before" feeling around at the time, both films were panned rather heavily and unfairly by the critics. Armageddon did well at the box office, but poor old Deep Impact didn't fare so well, and strangely in what must be a first things actually turned out for the best.

You see, Deep Impact, while not deserving the poor reception it received, somehow manages to fail to capture much of the magic of Armageddon which it will inevitably be compared to for the rest of eternity. Armageddon, while being primarily an action vehicle for Bruce Willis, somehow manages to be rather powerful and moving at the same time, where Deep Impact feels remarkably wooden and soulless.

In Deep Impact, we find Tea Leoni, who is blessed with incredible glistening eyes, but not a lot of acting clout, starring as a reporter who believes she has uncovered a political sex scandal, but eventually discovers a far more disturbing cover up than she had anticipated when it is revealed that the US Government has been concealing the fact that a giant comet is on a collision course with the Earth and threatens to end Human life as we know it. The first 30 minutes of the movie deals with Leoni first bumbling and then sleuthing her way to the truth, but it is hard to get too surprised and tense about it all yourself, because if you have even glanced at the box of the video, you have a fair idea about what is going to come.

Morgan Freeman, puts in his usual brand solid sort of performance as the President of the United States, in the not too distant future, but other than delivering the grim news to the people of the world and giving regular updates about the different efforts to relieve the pending disaster, he is given little to do and the rest of the cast simply go through the motions of their parts.

Ok, so once we know the comet/asteroid/whatever is on the way, we go along for the ride on the space mission to blow up the big bogey. This part of the film plays out like a low, budget version of Armageddon and it looks more like the crew of the ship are inside a mixing booth in a recording studio than in a futuristic space-vessel. Once this section of the film is over, the real strength of Deep Impact begins.

In scenes reminiscent of the mini-series of Steven King's The Stand, we see the breakdown of basic social order and the various ways people deal, or more often fail to deal with their impending doom. The futility of it all is quite disturbing and morbidly entertaining, but once again the weak performances by the supporting cast let things slip a little and fail to quite capitalise on the power of this segment.

The climax of Deep Impact is both spectacular and anticlimactic at the same time. The final salvation for the Earth is both maudlin and manipulative and quite unbelievable, especially considering earlier parts of the film. In the closing minutes, we are treated to a special effects extravaganza where a smaller chunk blasted from the main asteroid plunges into the ocean (of course near the USA) and we get to see the effects of a 1000+ foot tidal wave. It is just a shame we had to see a ludicrous flight of one of the supporting cast from the monster wave on a motorcycle.

All in all, Deep Impact is a moderately enjoyable film, which tries, but just fails to bring a bit of thoughtfulness into the disaster genre. Better character development would have served the film well, such as some sort of explanation about the rift between Tea Leoni's character and her father. Ok, he has left her mother and married a young-thing, but it is all just thrown in your face and it is impossible to care about them, or feel very moved in their final moments of reconciliation, because in a nutshell, you just don't know who they are. The same goes for just about every other character in the film. Deep Impact, should not really be compared to Armageddon as it is a different film entirely, but unfortunately, while the latter film is emotional, thrilling, moving and tense without really trying, Deep Impact, which strives with every fibre of it's being to elevate itself onto some sort of plateau of profoundness, is left floundering by comparison and remains nothing more than an average sort of movie, fit for TV viewing and little else.