Deep Impact

Summary

“The comet we discovered is the size of New York City….”

In 1996, Independence Day proved that ensemble disaster films once again could be blockbuster theatrical events and incredibly profitable for the studios. The disaster film formulas had been crafted with films like The Towering Inferno, Airport, and The Poseidon Adventure, but with Independence Day the stakes were elevated to a global scale. A hotel wasn’t burning or a ship sinking, instead the whole world could be destroyed in one fell swoop. In the years that followed, movie studios competed to make the best volcano threat film (Volcano and Dante’s Peak) in 1997, and in 1998, when I was thirteen years old, I remember that the studios were battling it out to see who would make the better “dangerous asteroid” film. Paramount Pictures had Deep Impact, and Touchstone Pictures (owned by Disney) had Michael Bay’s Armageddon. That summer, the song “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” from Aerosmith ruled the radio. It was inescapable. Armageddon was a bigger success theatrically and on home video ($553 million worldwide on a $140 million budget,) but Deep Impact was the more critically respected picture. Deep Impact was still extremely successful at the box office, reeling in $349 million worldwide on a $75 million budget. In the years that have followed, Armageddon has proven to be (arguably) the more culturally important film, while Deep Impact has stayed a well-regarded but somewhat less memorable disaster film. As for the blockbuster battles where studios chose similar subjects to duke it out, those basically ended when the studios released Mission to Mars and Red Planet in the summer of 2000. Both films failed critically and commercially. By straying from the pending global disaster formula, the studios took it on the chin. To celebrate the twenty fifth anniversary of the theatrical release of Deep Impact, Paramount Pictures has given the film a 4K UHD upgrade. I watched the movie with my two sons the other day.

In Richmond Virginia, some teens looking through a telescope with their classmates, Leo Biedermeier and Sarah Hotchner (Elijah Wood and Leelee Sobieski,) note a strange occurrence in the sky. It appears to be an unidentified star. Days later, in Tucson, at the Adrian Peak Observatory, Marcus Wolf (Charles Martin Smith) looks up the coordinates from the comet based on what research Leo had sent in. After running calculations, Marcus realizes that the comet will collide with the Earth. He quickly names the comet Wolf-Beiderman. He puts his research onto a floppy disc and races to get the info to D.C. Unfortunately, he crashes his car while avoiding a semi truck. He is run off the road, and his car explodes. One year later, in Washington D.C., reporter Jenny Lerner (Téa Leoni)  believes she is on the trail of a story involving a philandering Secretary of the Treasury named Alan Rittenhouse (James Cromwell). His assistant has claimed that Alan was seeing someone possible named “Ellie,” and that the President knows about it. Alan Rittenhouse has resigned claiming he wants to spend time with his family. Jenny approaches Alan at a dock where he is loading numerous supplies onto his boat with his children. Jenny lets him know that she plans to break the story. He says it is the “biggest story in the world.” She doesn’t realize that he has mistaken what she knows to be about the comet. After she leaves there, the secret service pull her over aggressively. Jenny is taken to another location where President Beck (Morgan Freeman) speaks with her. He offers her a seat at the press conference in two days, if she will not break the story, after asking her what she knows about “ELE.” On her own, realizing this story must be bigger, Jenny does research on the internet and finds articles pointing towards an “Extinction Level Event.” The film progresses as numerous people try to cope with the news and Earth scrambles to try to save itself from the comet which is on course to strike in the middle of the ocean and kill everyone on the planet. Their hopes are penned to the largest spacecraft ever assembled – the Messiah -to help stop the comet’s trajectory.

Deep Impact was fun to revisit with my two children. The film is interesting as a time capsule of our country before 9/11 – prayers are said by presidents and the whole film stays hopeful in the face of catastrophe. It feels wholesome. The film focuses more on the ways in which the community responds to terrible news than on the actual disaster (until its final moments, which have the disaster fireworks one would expect from a disaster film.) Written by Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael Tolkin, the script has some very well written moments that are uncommonly thoughtful and intelligent for a disaster film. There are also occasional moments of levity such as when kids tell Elijah Wood’s character that he is going to get laid because of his association with the comet. These moments are few and far between because the film takes the predicament at its center seriously. There are some fairly human and deep moments in the movie – some of which I didn’t see coming – especially in the finale. This makes sense given that Michael Tolkin wrote the novel and screenplay for Robert Altman’s The Player, and Bruce Joel Rubin wrote both Jacob’s Ladder and Ghost. Both men were accomplished writers. That said, the film’s script is not without issues. Deep Impact spends a little too much time focusing on characters having melodramatic discussions, and it has too many characters for the audience to adequately care for all of those involved. The film could have been trimmed by twenty to thirty minutes easily without sacrificing anything emotionally. For example, the story of Vanessa Redgrave’s character has no significance to the plot, doesn’t add anything to the film, and worst of all … it is boring. Her story does nothing for the film except add unnecessary length to the picture and hurt its pacing. This is a script that has a lot of great moments that needed someone to edit it with a machete instead of with a scalpel. I think that the film is at points frustrating because the bones of a truly excellent disaster film are there, but it only settles for being a good disaster film.

Like many disaster films, Deep Impact has a large ensemble cast of notable actors. Robert Duvall shines in the film as the old-school astronaut that rises to the occasion during their mission. Duvall is the type of prestigious actor that elevates films simply by being involved in them and that feels like the case here. This isn’t Academy Award winning stuff, but he does well in the film. Téa Leoni is perfectly suited to the role of the inexperienced journalist Jenny Lerner. Her character has some annoying moments, but the actress is just dealing with the hand the screenwriters gave her. I always found her appealing. Elijah Wood and Lee Lee Sobieski are well cast to play the younger generation dealing with the impending crisis. Morgan Freeman is perfectly suited to playing the President. Obviously, Hollywood took note of his Presidential qualities because he has played the President in other films as well. He steals every scene he is in. Vanessa Redgrave is largely wasted in her role. Maximilian Schell has a nice character arc despite his limited screen time. Ron Eldard doesn’t really do it for me in his role as astronaut Oren Monash. I have liked him in some other films, but wasn’t enthusiastic about his casting here. It was fun to see Jon Favreau in a small role as well.

The soundtrack to the film is dramatic and well orchestrated by legendary composer James Horner. Horner was an extremely busy composer in the Nineties with excellent work on films ranging from Field of Dreams to Patriot Games to An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. He passed away in 2015, leaving behind an amazing legacy. Fans of Horner will definitely enjoy the score. The film benefits from some excellent special effects. While some of the special effects show their age when CGI is heavily used, many of the effects are very well done and hold up.

Mimi Leder had proven herself directing episodes of E.R. which was incredibly popular at the time and had directed the enjoyable action film Peacemaker starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. Sadly, Deep Impact has all the trappings of overly dramatic television. Watching the film through that gaze will explain many of its faults.

At the end of the day, I nostalgically enjoy Deep Impact for its hope focused portrayal of a world pulling together to deal with an unfathomable event. It is certainly a product of its time. I also can’t help but feel that the movie never quite lives up to the most promising aspects within its script. It is a good enough movie that was almost a great one.

Video

Paramount Pictures have done a fantastic job on their new 4K presentation of the film. Presented in 2.35:1, Deep Impact benefits from the increased resolution. The last time that Deep Impact was released on Blu-ray was 2009, so the 4K enhancement brings out much more fine detail and resolves the grain in a more filmic fashion than was possible with the prior encode. The special effects shots show their age at times, but the majority of the picture looks fantastic. I can’t imagine any fan of the film being less than thrilled with how the film looks in this presentation.

Audio

Paramount have provided the same Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless surround track which was used for the 2009 Blu-ray release. It is a missed opportunity that Paramount did not take the opportunity to update the 5.1 track to a Dolby Atmos track, but I was still extremely impressed by how the track sounded on my system. The film handles dialogue and the well appointed score by James Horner capably, but it truly truly shines during the sequences featuring the Messiah spacecraft and in the tidal wave finale of the film. The sound design is excellent throughout the picture and the track delivers.

Supplements:

The UHD only features the Audio Commentary supplement. The rest of the special features are included on the Blu-ray Disc which is identical to the 2009 release.

• Audio Commentary with Director Mimi Leder and Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar
• Preparing for the End
• Making an Impact
• Creating the Perfect Traffic Jam
• Parting Thoughts
• Photo Gallery
• Teaser Trailer
• Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 3/5

Overall – 4/5

Deep Impact was released into theaters twenty five years ago. It was Paramount’s big asteroid movie that was competing against Touchstone’s big asteroid movie. It stands out (in good ways and bad) from other disaster pictures at the time due to its dramatic storytelling of how characters react to the possibility of extinction. The script has some surprisingly emotionally rich moments that I applaud, but it also meanders frequently and needed to be shaped up more than the final version that was filmed. Mimi Leder is an adequate director, but the dramatic aspects of the film strike me as the work of a director specializing in television (which she was at that time.) As it stands, Deep Impact is a pretty good disaster film that had the potential to be a pretty great disaster film. I enjoyed rewatching it after all these years with my kids – one of which is the exact same age that I was when I saw the film. It still managed to hold their attention and the finale holds up really well. We all liked the movie. Paramount has done an excellent job on their new 4K release of the picture. It looked fantastic on my Epson 4K projection screen. I would argue that the visual uptick is worth the price of admission if you are a fan of the film. The only missed opportunity on the 4K release is the lack of an Atmos track. The film still sounds incredible in its Dolby True HD 5.1 presentation, but an Atmos track would have been demo quality based on just how good the current 5.1 track is. Fans of the film will be pleased overall with this release, and newcomers should opt for the 4K for the much crisper visuals.