Steve Rhodes Reviews:
Deep Impact
-1/2
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Steve Rhodes' reviews are presented online as a service to our readers. They remain the property of Steve Rhodes and are not substantially edited by this publication nor do they necessarily represent the views of its publisher, editor or other staff members.

Okay moviegoers, dust off your old balance scales as you try to decide whether DEEP IMPACT is worth recommending. (DEEP IMPACT is the first of this year's big-rock-hits-earth movies. The Bruce Willis one won't hit until July.)

On the plus side of the scales, you will probably want to include the marvelous acting by veterans like Morgan Freeman and Robert Duvall as well as younger star Tea Leoni from FLIRTING WITH DISASTER. Also on the plus side are some remarkable special effects in the third act—the first has some cheap-looking ones straight out of an old Buck Rogers movie. Finally, the outline of the story, as opposed to the details of the script, is fascinating, so you'll want to put that on the positive side.

On the negative side, Mimi Leder's direction and the script by Michael Tolkin and Bruce Joel Rubin is so confusing and riddled with holes that you'll spend the hour after the movie discussing all of its problems with your date and friends. The large array of needless subplots and unnecessary characters goes on this side. The biggest weight on the negative side of the scale is the long second act in which the movie loses all momentum and tries to turn from a big budget action adventure to a maudlin soap opera.

Of course, you may want to balance the scales differently.

The story has three distinct acts and a short prologue. The prologue about a government cover-up of a comet on a collision course with earth, which has great potential, is given needlessly short shrift. The first act is a fascinating science fiction story with astronaut Spurgeon Tanner (Duvall) and Company attempting to nuke the comet off course. The second act is an excruciatingly long and slow weeper full of lugubrious mini-dramas about people lamenting the end of civilization as we know it. The final act tries to pick the action back up with the comet approaching and people heading for shelter.

So we have a sleep-inducing action picture—now there's an oxymoron—that is bracketed with some great scenes. (When the tidal wave washes over the top of the World Trade Center, for example, the visuals are tremendous.)

Tea Leoni plays a young CNBC reporter named Jenny Lerner, who breaks the biggest story in this millenium. "I know you're just a reporter, but you used to be a person, right?" Secretary Alan Rittenhouse (James Cromwell) complains when she first confronts him about the cover-up. With some great scenes reminiscent of BROADCAST NEWS, we go into the inner workings of a television newsroom. Jenny has a pair of divorced parents, played by Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell, and every time they come on the scene the movie loses all momentum. Elimination of both of their characters would be a huge improvement. If their characters belong in a movie, it's not this one.

Morgan Freeman plays the wise President Beck. He's the sort of president you can trust even if he did hide the comet's existence for a year. And he's honest. Name any president that would have the guts to go on national television and tell the nation that now is the time to panic.

If you can see only one earth-in-peril movie this year, this is not the one to choose. There's no guarantee that Bruce's will be any better, but hope springs eternal in the land of popcorn and candy.

DEEP IMPACT runs 1:55. It is rated PG-13 for intense disaster-related elements and a little profanity. The picture has the potential for scaring the living daylights out of impressionable kids, but in general it should be fine for kids around 10 and up.

Go to: | Nanty Glo Home Page | Silicon Valley Today home page

© 1998 Steve Rhodes