Movie Review – Deep Impact (1998)

In honor of the massive Russian meteor that impacted near the city of Chelyabinsk, today we’re reviewing the 1998 natural disaster film, Deep Impact.

Released in 1998, Deep Impact is a film that showcases several lives as a doomsday comet is on an impact course with planet Earth.  Astronauts try to disable the comet, but their efforts merely split the giant asteroid into two large pieces.  The larger of the two pieces is several miles wide and capable of eliminating all live on Earth.  There’s little that the people can do as the asteroid hurls on a path towards Earth.

Deep Impact was released in the same year as Armageddon, another science-fiction doomsday story involving a killer asteroid about to wipe out all life on Earth.  While neither film scored highly with the critics, Deep Impact is often viewed as a slightly more realistic story when it comes to the astronauts trying to stop the asteroid.  Despite that, Armageddon was still the box office winner in the U.S.

Directed by Mimi Leder, Deep Impact stars Robert Duvall as Captain Spurgeon “Fish” Tanner, an astronaut on the Messiah spaceship.  Tea Leoni plays the role of Jenny Lerner, a news reporter who learns about the comet and becomes an anchor reporter once the president announces the news.  Elijah Wood is Leo Biederman, a young high school student and amateur astronomer who helps discover the comet and is swept into fame from the discovery.  Morgan Freeman plays the role of President Tom Beck, leader of the United States of America.  Supporting the cast are Leelee Sobieski as Sarah Hotchner, Maximilian Schell as Jason Lerner, James Cromwell as Secretary Rittenhouse, and Kurtwood Smith as Otis Hefter, an administrator in NASA.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Deep Impact begins with some students in a high school’s astronomy club looking at the night sky.  A teacher assists the students with their studies and takes note of a star that Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood) notices in the sky.  They take a picture and send the information out to Dr. Wolf.  Out in Arizona, Dr. Wolf (Charles Martin Smith) takes a further look in the area where Biederman noticed the unusual object.  He checks again and is startled when the computer processes the information.  The object is not a satellite as the teacher originally guessed.  It’s a comet and it’s going to impact the Earth.

The network is down at the observatory, so Dr. Wolf has to drive the urgent information to The Powers That Be.  He labels the information with his name along with that of Biederman (look closely and notice how “Biederman” is misspelled versus the film’s end credits).  Dr. Wolf jumps into his jeep and races down the mountain.  He gets distracted when using his cell phone and crashes off the road, accidentally killing himself in the wreck.

Fast forward a year.

Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni) is a low-ranking news reporter at MSNBC.  The main news story right now is that Secretary of Treasury Alan Rittenhouse (James Cromwell) is suddenly stepping down from his position without stating a reason.  Jenny hears a rumor that he’s removing himself because of a mistress named “Ellie.”  This could be true as Rittenhouse is both a married man and a devoted father.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Jenny takes a cameraman and tries to interview Rittenhouse.  She discovers that he’s packing a boat for a vacation, but the provisions make it look like the man is preparing to be away for quite some time.  Rittenhouse is depressed when Jenny mentions “Ellie,” but he won’t go into any details on the subject.  He just acts like none of it matters anyway.  Jenny threatens to break the story and Rittenhouse is in disbelief, questioning the reporter if she’s capable of breaking the biggest news story of all time.  He leaves her at that and returns to loading supplies into his boat.

Jenny drives back to the news studio and talks to herself about her encounter with former Secretary Rittenhouse.  His behavior makes it seem like it wasn’t him having the affair with “Ellie” but somebody else instead.  For this to be a major news story it would have to involve the president being the one with the affair, and Rittenhouse is involved in the cover-up and taking the fall for the president.

Just as she thinks she figured out the story (her view is flawed though as several presidents have been involved in moral wrongdoings, so this president having an affair wouldn’t be as big of a story as Rittenhouse was claiming), several Secret Service cars trap her on the interstate and force her onto a deserted off-ramp.  Jenny is forced into a Secret Service car and quickly taken to a secret location to meet the president.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

U.S. President Tom Beck (Morgan Freeman) meets with Jenny Lerner at an undisclosed location.  Jenny admits that she knows about “Ellie” and the president asks her to sit quiet about it for two weeks.  Jenny refuses as other networks will break the story much sooner than that.  President Beck concedes and has her stay quiet for two days.  As a reward she’ll be given a great seat at the press conference and he’ll call on her for the first question from reporters, a move that will surely give the reporter a promotion at MSNBC.  Jenny agrees to the president’s terms and stays quiet for the next two days.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Now knowing that “Ellie” isn’t an affair with leaders, Jenny tries to research why “Ellie” is such a big deal.  She begins searching the Internet and stumbles upon a palaeontology website dealing with extinctions.  And then it hits her.  “Ellie” is really E.L.E. — extinction level event.  Something terrifying is out in space and headed towards Earth!

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

President Tom Beck holds his press conference and breaks the news about the comet heading towards Earth.  He informs the public that the Wolf-Biederman comet is set to impact the Earth about a year from now.  He also discusses the Messiah, a spaceship that has been assembled secretly in Earth orbit.  Astronauts will pilot the Messiah, land on the asteroid, and drill into the space rock and detonate nuclear explosives, hopefully shattering the icy rock into small enough pieces so it’s no longer a doomsday threat.  The President has a quick video chat to meet and introduce us to the astronauts who will carry out the mission on the Messiah.  One of the astronauts is rendezvous pilot Captain Spurgeon “Fish” Tanner (Robert Duvall), one of the last men to walk on the moon.

To maintain a functioning society, President Beck orders a wage and price freeze.  People are still required to pay their bills and continue functioning as they normally would.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

The president’s announcement of Leo Beiderman’s “death” gives the teenager instant publicity as he’s still alive and well.  Leo is put on stage at his high school and shares his side of the story about discovering the comet.  He’s now the popular kid in school.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Meanwhile, the astronauts get together before the launch and talk about the usual stuff.  Things are really stereotypical here as the crew is mostly a bunch of younger astronauts who seem very arrogant and optimistic about the mission despite the incredible challenges and level of danger.  They give Fish Tanner some attitude and act like he’s just involved as a publicity stunt, as if such a mission wasn’t receiving enough attention already.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Space Shuttle Atlantis launches and carries the international crew to the Messiah spacecraft.  The Messiah then detaches from the space station and fires its rockets to intercept the Wolf-Biederman comet.  Don’t expect too many details (or any, really) as the Messiah intercepts Wolf-Biederman.

Fast forward by five months.

The Messiah has closed the distance to Wolf-Biederman and prepares to intercept and land on the asteroid.  Jenny Lerner is now a news anchor at MSNBC and she provides commentary as the lander part of the Messiah makes a successful rendezvous with the asteroid’s surface.  The asteroid is slowly tumbling as it hurls around the sun.  Once it rotates and the spot where the astronauts landed is exposed to sunshine, the surface of the asteroid will immediately be heated by several hundred degrees, causing small explosions of gas and posing a dangerous situation for the crew.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

The Messiah lands and the crew begins digging into the asteroid.  The goal is to dig a hole 100 feet deep, drop the nuclear explosives in there, and then fly away and detonate the nukes, hopefully destroying the asteroid.  Things progress well until the digging machine jams itself.  One of the astronauts has to descend into the hole and free the machine.  He succeeds but it takes too long.  Sunlight begins hitting their part of the asteroid and they have to drop the nukes and leave.  They barely make it out of there in time but a sudden gas explosion blasts an astronaut off the astronaut and into space.  The rest of them climb into the Messiah and escape from the asteroid.

Unfortunately, the hole wasn’t deep enough and the nukes didn’t destroy the asteroid.  The explosion merely split the asteroid into two giant asteroids.  The 1.5-mile wide asteroid is named Biederman while the 6-mile wide space rock is named Wolf.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

President Beck addresses the nation with bad news about the Messiah‘s mission.  Contact with the spacecraft has been lost and the two rocks are still going to impact the Earth.  The smaller asteroid (Biederman) is projected to land off the coast of North Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean, while the larger one (Wolf) is projected to land in western Canada.  The Biederman asteroid may not be a global killer, but its impact in the ocean will create a tremendous tsunami that will wipe out all coastal cities and kill millions of people.  This is relatively minor though as the Wolf asteroid will throw enough dirt into the atmosphere to block the sunlight for two years, killing all plant and animal life on Earth.

While most of the Earth’s population will be killed, a large number of them will also survive.  President Beck informs the nation about the survival caves that have been constructed in the hills of Missouri.  The caves are large enough to support one million people in addition to plants and animals for a couple of years.  200,000 people of importance have already been pre-selected to live in the caves, and some 800,000 random people will be selected to join them in a national lottery.  These one million survivors will help re-build society after the devastating effects of the Wolf and Biederman asteroids.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Leo Biederman and his family is selected to join the survivors in the Missouri caves.  His girlfriend, Sarah Hotchner (Leelee Sobieski), however, was not.  There’s a loophole that allows Leo to bring along a spouse.  Leo finds Sarah and asks him to marry him as it’s the only way she can be saved.  Sarah refuses as it may save her but not her family.  Leo tells her that he used his publicity to pull some strings to have her family saved, too.  Sarah agrees and there’s a small ceremony as the young teenagers are married.

After hearing the news that nobody older than 50 years would be selected by the national lottery, Jenny Lerner’s divorced mother commits suicide.  Jenny has to handle the matter as her estranged father wanted nothing to do with her mother.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Relocation Day arrives and soldiers board Leo Biederman and his family onto the bus.  There’s a mix up in the paperwork and Sarah’s family is not listed.  Not wanting to leave them behind, Sarah stays with her parents and refuses to join Leo on the bus.  The bus leaves and carries Leo’s family along with the other lottery winners to the caves in Missouri.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

It’s a few days before impact and the lottery winners arrive at a cave entrance in Missouri.  There’s some civil unrest outside the caves and soldiers hold back the crowds.  Leo still misses Sarah and decides to head back home to find her.  Surprisingly, his parents let him go home to find the girl, knowing full well that he most likely won’t make it back to the caves in time to survive the asteroid impacts.  Leo fights through the crowds and finds transportation back to his home in Virginia.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

About ten hours before impact, the U.S. and Russia launch a bunch of nuclear missiles at the Wolf asteroid, hoping to knock it off its path with Earth.  The plan fails and President Beck once again delivers bad news to the public.  At this point he’s out of options and it’s time for everybody to brace for impact.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Meanwhile, out in space and supposedly on their way back home, Captain Fish Tanner has assumed command of the Messiah and he’s been crunching numbers and analyzing data concerning the two asteroids.  It’s not explained how he has that data as communication with NASA has been lost since the nuclear explosion.  Anyway, the steam explosions have created an opening in the Wolf asteroid, and if they plant the last four nuclear explosives inside the opening, then they can hopefully destroy the asteroid.

The problem is that the lander doesn’t have enough propellant to return to the Messiah from the comet.  They’re going to have to use the main spaceship to carry the explosives into the asteroid.  In other words, it’s a one-way trip.  The crew agrees to sacrifice themselves in the hope of saving humanity.  They fly close enough to Earth to radio contact with Houston and get the arming codes for the nuclear explosives.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Down on Earth, it’s apparent that too many people on the east coast waited until the last minute before evacuating to higher ground.  There’s a news helicopter at the MSNBC building, but it can only carry a few people.  The staff draws straws to see who will get the lifesaving flight (remember that this is temporary as the fallout from the Wolf asteroid is expected to kill them all anyway over the next two years) to higher ground.  Jenny wins a seat but she gives it to a co-worker and her young child.  Once the helicopter leaves, Jenny races to find her estranged father and make amends with him.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Leo Biederman finally makes his way to Sarah’s home, but the place is deserted.  Everybody has left and fled to higher ground.  Leo takes Mr. Hotchner’s dirt bike and heads off in search of Sarah.  He picks the right direction and finds Sarah and her family stuck in evacuation traffic as everybody tries to flee to the Appalachian Mountains.  Sarah’s parents make her take her baby brother and then give their farewells to the young couple.  Leo and Sarah are off to higher ground in the mountains.

Jenny Lerner makes her way to Virginia Beach and finds her father standing near the location of their favorite vacation spot.  They make up and hold each other, waiting for the tsunami that will kill them instantly.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Everybody watches in awe as the massive Biederman asteroid races through the atmosphere.  The incredible fireball soars overhead and heads towards the Atlantic Ocean.  There’s not much sound from the event and clearly no shattering sonic boom as the asteroid passes right over the masses of people.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

Sure enough, the asteroid creates an incredible super tsunami.  The mountain-sized wall of water crushes everything in its path and destroys all coastal cities including New York City.  The coastal water recedes before the wave crushes Jenny and her father on the beach.

Out in space, the crew of the Messiah give their tearful goodbyes to loved ones back on Earth before completing the final part of their mission.  They fly into the Wolf asteroid and detonate the nuclear weapons, successfully shattering the asteroid into a billion tiny fragments.

Deep Impact (1998) – (c) Paramount Pictures

In Virginia, Leo and Sarah manage to scramble to the top of a mountain and avoid the deadly tsunami.  Sarah’s parents share a small moment together before they, and the rest of the people on the roads, are killed by the wall of water.  On top of the mountain, Leo and Sarah look into the sky and watch the meteor shower from the destroyed Wolf asteroid.

Deep Impact ends a few months later as President Beck addresses a crowd in front of the destroyed capital building.  He talks about hope and optimism and that they are all survivors.

So is Deep Impact a good movie?

Deep Impact is one of those films that has a ton of potential, but its execution fails miserably and you’re left with a movie that is mediocre at best.

The concept behind Deep Impact is great.  It’s a terrifying doomsday story that tries to take a more realistic look at altering the path of the incoming comet along with its effects on society.  Here we have to deal with issues such as price freezing and martial law, along with some minor civil unrest, but none of the main characters are really seen dealing with those scenarios.

Unfortunately, Deep Impact fails in trying to show the true impact of the approaching comet along with its repercussions.  The film also fails in some other areas including bad characters and simply unrealistic situations.

Bad Characters

From Leo Biederman and Sarah Hotcher’s alleged relationship to Jenny Turner’s horrible job delivering news at the anchor desk to most of the Messiah‘s crew, there were many bad characters and undeveloped situations in Deep Impact.

Was it just me, or is there no relationship or chemistry between Leo and Sarah?  First of all, the two youngers don’t even look old enough to attend high school yet.  They both look very young in this film, adding to their unrealistic relationship.  As far as their love story (like on the movie poster of all places), there is no love story here.  Ordinarily I wouldn’t care, but that part of the story was what helped push the marketing for Deep Impact.  But as we see, it clearly doesn’t exist.

We see Sarah pop up in the introduction, at Leo’s house to briefly check on him, and again in the high school auditorium when Leo is on stage, but we don’t see her again until Leo convinces her to marry him so that she’ll be saved in the Missouri caves.  Yeah, that’s really believable there.  I understand that the marriage was for convenience and not for love, but that relationship between them should have either A) actually been shown to the viewers, or B) removed completely.  It’s very hard to believe that Leo is so lovestruck that he would leave the 100% safety of the Missouri caves to go on an impossible mission to find (and basically die with) his girlfriend.

Jenny Turner stinks at being a news anchor.  It’s almost like she has a constant state of stage fright every time she’s on camera.  The woman continually mumbles and has no faith in her ability to deliver the news in such a prestigious position.

The crew of the Messiah is full of stereotypical young astronauts who are overconfident and disrespectful.  In reality, astronauts for that type of mission would have been older and highly experienced.  Most of the crew would have been like Fish although not as old.  What we have here is Hollywood trying to show people what they want to see versus something closer to reality.

Unrealistic Situations

Getting back to Leo and Sarah, what parents would allow for their children to basically go out and die versus being saved from a doomsday event?

There’s no way that Sarah’s parents would have let the girl stay behind with them instead of boarding the bus with Leo and his family.  In this film, making it to the Missouri caves means guaranteed safety from the doomsday asteroid.  Not being in the safety of the caves is a death sentence in one form or another, whether it’s from the Biederman asteroid or the prolonged effects of the Wolf asteroid.  In reality, Sarah’s parents would have forced the girl onto the bus with Leo.  Case closed.

The same goes true for Leo’s parents when the boy wants to leave the caves in search for Sarah.  Again, it’s guaranteed survival versus a death sentence out there in the wilderness.  There’s no way that Leo would have been able to return in time with Sarah, especially as the crowds became more and more violent.  Those doors would have been sealed and Leo would be left outside with everybody else.  So why do Leo’s parents easily allow their son to leave the safety to pursue a girl?  Not only does Leo have to find a speedy way from Missouri to Virginia, but he has to find the girl.  She could literally be anywhere with her parents.

This is completely unrealistic and insulting to the viewers.  This is on top of the non-existent love story between Leo and Sarah, making the unrealistic situations exponentially more unrealistic.

In addition to that, we should have seen progressively worse civil unrest amongst the population.  There should have been looting and rioting as the doomsday event approached.  This is survival mode, and when death is staring at you from the skies, you’re going to do whatever it takes to try to survive.  Violence should have escalated to the point where everybody would be a target, whether it’s a soldier, a child, or the average person on the street.

On a side note, why did everybody wait so long to evacuate from the coastal areas?  We should have seen an aerial evacuation event ten times the size of the Berlin Airlift.  Every aircraft imaginable should have been ferrying people out of immediate harm’s way.  Trains and bus convoys could have also evacuated people days or weeks in advance of Biederman’s impact.  The government knew that nothing could be done about the smaller asteroid.  All concern was towards the larger asteroid.  Even if the larger asteroid could not be stopped or have its course altered, the people should have still been evacuated in advance so that they’d at least have some chance of survival.

But we don’t see anything like that in Deep Impact.  The only “evacuation” moment is the massive traffic jam as people flee hours before impact.  In addition to it being too late, it’s also way too civil concerning that almost all the people would be killed from the towering tsunami anyway.

Deep Impact tries to show society and the impeding effects of a doomsday scenario, but it fails.  Deep Impact tries to show a love story between Leo and Sarah, but it fails.  Deep Impact tries to tell a science fiction story about astronauts flying out to destroy the comet, but it mostly fails.  Notice a pattern here?

Deep Impact (1998) – movie trailer

Deep Impact is a movie that had so much potential to be a great disaster film, but thanks to plot holes, unrealistic situations, bad characters and poor story telling, this movie stinks.  The film tries to take itself seriously but the final result is a horrible piece of garbage.  At least Armageddon knows that it’s basically a rock video and completely unrealistic.  It didn’t try to fool the audience and pretend to be a film of higher caliber.

President Beck – “Life will go on, we will prevail.”

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Andrea Baker – “Well, look on the bright side. We’ll all have high schools named after us.”