Skip to content
Distributed by
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 490 968 2
- Running time: 116 minutes
- Year: 1998
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 30
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, German
- Subtitles: 6 languages available
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £17.99
- Extras: Trailers
Director:
- Mimi Leder
(Deep Impact, The Peacemaker, TV: E.R., L.A. Law)
Producers:
- Richard D. Zanuck & David Brown
Screenplay:
- Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael Tolkin
Original Score :
- James Horner (Titanic)
Cast :
- Spurgeon Tanner: Robert Duvall
Jenny Lerner: Tea Leoni
Leo Biederman: Elijah Wood
Robin Lerner: Vanessa Redgrave
President Beck: Morgan Freeman
Jason Lerner: Maximillian Schell
Alan Rittenhouse: James Cromwell
Oren Monash: Ron Eldard
Gus Parlenza: Jon Favreau
Beth Stanley: Laura Innes
Sarah Hotchner: Leelee Sobieski
Mark Simon: Blair Underwood
Mikhail Tulchinsky: Alexander Baluev
Marcus Wolf: Charles Martin Smith
Vicky Hotchner: Denise Crosby
Otis Heffer: Kurtwood Smith
When up-and-coming investigative journalist Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni)hears of an affair between cabinet member Alan Rittenhouse (James Cromwell)and a girl called Ele, she suspects she’s hit upon the story of the year as shebelieves it was not him who had the affair, but the President (MorganFreeman) himself. One frightening experience later and she realises thatEle isn’t a woman at all, but “E.L.E.”, which stands for ExtinctionLevel Event.
A year beforehand a comet, discovered by Marcus Wolf (Charles MartinSmith) and Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood), was found to be headingdirectly for Earth, something that would cause worldwide devastation andthreaten the existence of mankind. As the President addresses the nation tellingthem that there is another year to go before the comet is due, panic sets inas he tells them there is to be a National Lottery in which 800,000 Americanswill be selected to accompany 200,000 scientists and other dignitaries inspecial bunkers underground which will house them for two years. The rest ofthe country will be left to their own devices.
A team of astronauts headed by Spurgeon Tanner (Robert Duvall) isassembled to pilot the Messiah, a craft containing nuclear missiles which willdock with the comet, at which point the crew will bury them beneath the comet’scrust so that detenation will blow it apart and save the human race. Thequestion is, do they work? Well, if you’ve seen the trailer you’ll know thatit doesn’t as the comet eventually hits the planet causing massive tidal wavessweeping away skyscrapers and whole cities up to 700 miles inland. What hopeis there for mankind afterwards?
Director Mimi Leder is certainly making all the right moves in Hollywood.After being responsible for episodes of L.A. Law and E.R., shemade her feature film debut last year withThe Peacemaker,starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. That film had but two big names,and the cast of Deep Impact dwarves that.
As mentioned earlier, Robert Duvall heads the rescue mission in space,while reporter Tea Leoni, wife of The X-Files‘ David Duchovny hitsupon the story which will change her career and put her on the frontline as sheis promoted to helming the flagship news programme which stays on airpermanently as the fatal day draws near. Her role shows she can cope well withdrama as her main audience will come from her comedy shows The Naked Truthand Flying Blind.
Elijah Wood uses his new found fame to get his girlfriend LeeleeSobieski, who looks like a 15-year-old Helen Hunt, and her parents(Gary Werntz and Star Trek: Next Generation‘s Denise Crosby)a place in the underground bunkers.
Maximillian Schell and Vanessa Redgrave play Jenny’s parents,whom have grown apart from their daughter in recent years, but it begs thequestion – can the fate of mankind bring the family back together?
Links between some cast members and the director are abound as the film featurestwo stars of E.R., namely journalist Laura Innes (aka Dr. KerryWeaver in the TV series) and astronaut Ron Eldard (aka Shep, the firemanwho dated Carol Hathaway for a time). Scientist Charles Martin Smithappeared in the AIDS drama And The Band Played On, as did Laura Innes;while Blair Underwood appeared in L.A. Law and AlexanderBaluev was last seen on the big screen stealing nuclear missiles inThe Peacemaker.Another TV face is Jon Favreau who will be well-known to viewers ofFriends as Peter Becker, a Bill Gates-like billionaire who romancedCourtney Cox.
The rest of the cast includes the always-excellent Morgan Freeman whotirelessly attempts to ease the fears of the world as the President,Robocop‘s Clarence Bodicker – Kurtwood Smith who controls thespace rescue mission from ground control, and James Cromwell as theman accused of having an affair, but who gets such a small amount of screentime given how high up in the credits his name is.
Framed at the original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, the picture lookssuperb almost all the time bar the odd print fleck which is nothing to worryabout.The average bitrate is a high 7.23Mb/s, often peaking over 9Mb/s.
The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 for both English and German, but onlyreally gets to shine in the planet-vs-comet scenes and other outer spacemoments, while the rest are mainly standard domestic ambience.
Extras :Just a couple of trailers, both non-anamorphic, one in 2.35:1 and theother cropped to 16:9. Watch ’em. Forget ’em.
There’s a good number of chapters at 30, and the subtitles come inEnglish (and hard of hearing), Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.
The menus are all silent and static.
If I had a couple of criticisms of Deep Impact, they’d be that whilethe film makes for compelling viewing the first time, that doesn’t last foron repeated viewing. Like1996’s Independence Day, the world faces disaster and when severalcharacters are thrown together, the priorities within their relationshipschange dramatically, although Deep Impact has the edge in that category.As an aside, both films feature a few minutes of jaw-dropping special effects aschaos rules for a brief spell.
The other problem is the ending – there is an immense build-up of tension anddrama for the best part of two hours, save for a bit of a slow start, then thecomet hits, many people die and the President addresses the nation again,although it’s not clear whether this was later the same day or after thetwo-year period they were meant to be held underground for… and then that’sit.
It’s worth a rental, this DVD, but it’s not exactly busy in the extras dept.to make it worth a purchase.
Also, check out the review for Mimi Leder’sThe Peacemaker,starring George Clooney.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.