Review of Deep Impact (1998) by Jamey D — 09 Mar 2016

Disaster films tend to rely on the visual spectacle and that strange, possibly Sim City-bred feeling of satisfaction that comes from watching the world as we know it be destroyed. Not so in 1998's Deep Impact, which serves up more of an emotionally-charged character drama, while the impending doom spends 90% of the movie well....impending.

When a comet the size of New York City finds its way on a collision course with Earth, a team of astronauts must pilot a payload of nuclear warheads to its surface in the hopes of diverting its trajectory elsewhere. Should the attempt fail, the United States government has set up a selection process, which will allow one million individuals to live safely underground in a modern-day Noah's Ark until the "extinction level event" has subsided.

Among those selected is Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni), a Washington D.C. reporter struggling to forgive her father's divorce, and the original finder of the comet, Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood), an adolescent teen with romantic attachments to his astronomy classmate, Sarah.

As the meteor approaches, we're painted a clear picture of the constant state of fear and depression that would grip a society counting down the days until certain death. Marshall Law is instituted to control looting and rioting. Prices are frozen to prevent business owners from cashing in on people's desperation. Suicides among the elderly increase, as no one over 50 is selected for entry into the safe haven.

The sadness that would certainly become impossible to escape is on full display, but so is the sacrifice. Older people with and without families exchange their spots underground so that the children have a chance at life. Husbands willingly remain behind, choosing rather to die with their spouses than leave them to face the end alone.

Deep Impact will not deliver for those seeking graphic destruction on a prolonged scale. However, it still captures a very real sense of dread and grief, complete with a stoic, speech-giving Morgan Freeman as president and an ending that showcases the best that human beings have to offer.