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| Téa
Leoni, Robert Duvall, Morgan Freeman, Maximilian Schell, Elijah Wood |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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President
Beck (Morgan Freeman):
Life will go on, we will prevail.
Humanity
is threatened by an approaching comet that could devastate all life
on Earth.
 Based
solidly on the tried and true conventions of the Big Disaster Movie
of the 1970s, Deep Impact introduces the viewer to a number of
main characters and the proceeds to cut back and forth rapidly between
them as events unfold and we learn how their lives are affected by the
impending catastrophe and/or how they contribute to help avoiding it.
The solemn, practical approach the film takes towards the approaching
comet is exemplified by Morgan Freeman's sympathetically earnest President
Beck, whose solid performance brings to mind US Presidents played by
Henry Fonda in the 1950s and 1960s. Unlike that other 1998 comet movie
Armageddon, this picture wisely chooses to neither pummel the
viewer with vertiginous camera moves and machine gun editing nor with
gung-ho machismo, but on its main characters and how the knowledge that
the end of the world is coming affects their lives both personally and
professionally.
This is certainly a worthwhile approach, and one that makes Deep
Impact a much more enjoyable movie than Armageddon, but it
also poses a problem that the film is ultimately unable to solve. For
as our attention jumps back and forth between the major characters,
we get to know them well enough to care what happens to them, but none
of their narratives gains enough weight to fully convince dramatically.
Especially the family drama that is played out between Leoni, Schell
and a rather out-of-place Vanessa Redgrave never succeeds in registering
highly on the emotional scale. Part of the fault is Leoni's, as her
flat performance and clipped delivery barely make her a credible anchorperson,
let alone a sympathetic character. But with the film cutting back and
forth so rapidly between the many characters that populate it, the viewer
is given little room to build up a relationship with any of them. The
only ones that automatically engage the viewer's sympathies are the
expert performances from veteran character actors Freeman and Duvall,
who is clearly having a great time playing an aging astronaut. The net
result is hardly a classic, but still provides fast, slick entertainment
with some excitement and even a few moving moments. |
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Deep Impact is available on DVD
in Region 1 and Region 2. The Region 2 release has an anamorphic transfer,
the Region 1 release does not.
The widescreen image is framed
at 2.35:1. The non-anamorphic transfer on the Region 1 release is quite
good and provides a solid image, though it is too contrasty and the
colors are at times nearly oversaturated. The anamorphic Region 2 transfer
has better horizontal definition when viewed on 16:9 sets, but is otherwise
identical to the Region 1 version.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix is very strong with excellent spatial
integration and directional effects. It also provides a deep and wide
soundstage for the sweeping score. The only fault lies with the dialogues,
which often sound overly ADR-processed and unnatural.
Two
theatrical trailers are the only extra features. The
static menu screens present the rather limited navigation options over
some nicely designed poster art.
Dan Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on Deep
Impact .
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