Deep Impact Movie Review 1998

Poor Morgan Freeman. He gets a chance to play the President of the United States only to have his term shortened by a dastardly comet the size of the Grand Canyon. Although his presidency would have been more interesting, the destruction's the star of this show, as well as the touchy-feely interaction of various two-dimensional characters. There's the astronauts (led by Duvall) sent into space to nuke the thing; ordinary teenager Leo (Wood) who initially discovered the rock; and career-conscious news anchor (Leoni), who first breaks the story. The all-star cast is underused, but lend the film a sense of gravity by their presence. The remaining stick figure characters evoke more yawns than tears. Good thing the comet comes along to, ironically, inject a little life into the flick. The special effects are the best in recent film history, and worth the long, laborious wait.

Distribution

Paramount Home Video, 5555 Melrose Ave., 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038, Phone: (323)956-5000, URL: http://www.paramount.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 120 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Top Grossing Films of 1998, Meteors, Asteroids, and Comets, Family Ties, Astronauts, Presidency, Front Page, Disaster Flicks, Mass Media, Star Gazing

Screenplay

Michael Tolkin, Bruce Joel Rubin

Cast

Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell, James Cromwell, Blair Underwood, Ron Eldard, Jon Favreau, Leelee Sobieski, Mary McCormack, Dougray Scott, Alexander Baluyev, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Schiff, Gary Werntz, Bruce Weitz, Betsy Brantley, O'Neal Compton, Rya Kihlstedt, Denise Crosby, Laura Innes

Cinematography

Dietrich Lohmann

Director

Mimi Leder

Music

James Horner

Producer

Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown, Dreamworks Pictures, Paramount Pictures