Deep Impact wants to be a serious disaster movie, and mostly it fails to deliver. The comet threat is real, the stakes are enormous, and the cast is strong. But the script can’t decide whether it wants a human drama or a spectacle, and the result is a film that never commits to either.
Trailer, via YouTube Movies.
The Comet Arrives
The setup is simple and effective. Leo Biederman, a high school astronomy student, spots an object in the sky and sends a picture to astronomer Marcus Wolf. Wolf realizes it’s a comet heading straight for Earth. He dies in a car crash trying to raise the alarm, and the world learns of the threat only after it’s too late.
That early stretch works because it’s grounded. Leo is a believable kid, and the discovery feels earned. The film doesn’t rush the premise. It lets the dread build slowly, which pays off.
Jenny Lerner Takes Over
Jenny Lerner, played by Téa Leoni, is the film’s engine. She’s an MSNBC reporter investigating Secretary of the Treasury Alan Rittenhouse, who’s gathering supplies and acting strangely. Her investigation leads her to President Tom Beck, played by Morgan Freeman, who offers her a spot at the front of the press conference in exchange for keeping quiet.
“Oceans rise. Cities fall. Hope survives.”
That tagline captures the film’s problem. The tagline promises hope. The film delivers despair.
The Messiah Mission
The spacecraft Messiah carries a crew of six: five Americans and one Russian. Their mission is to plant nuclear bombs beneath the comet’s surface. The plan is sound. The execution is not.
The comet shifts into sunlight, blinding Mission Commander Oren Monash and sending medical officer Gus Partenza into space. The remaining crew escapes, and they detonate the bombs. Instead of deflecting the comet, the bombs split it in two.
Beck announces the mission’s failure. The film cuts to a scene of global destruction, and the tone shifts from tragedy to melodrama.
What Works
Robert Duvall as Capt. Spurgeon ‘Fish’ Tanner is the standout performance. His weary, gruff presence anchors the film’s quieter stretches. Vanessa Redgrave, as Robin Lerner, also delivers a sharp turn as the mother of the family torn apart by the comet’s arrival.
Elijah Wood plays Leo with a quiet intensity that suits the character. He’s the film’s emotional core, even when the plot forgets him.
What Doesn’t Work
The film’s second half is where it collapses. The comet’s split creates a narrative dead end. The film spends time showing the destruction without giving viewers a sense of what comes next. The ending is abrupt, and it leaves the audience feeling cheated.
The film’s message is that hope survives. That’s a noble idea. It’s also a thin one, especially when the film spends most of its runtime showing the opposite.
A Mixed Legacy
Deep Impact was released in the same summer as Armageddon, and the two films competed directly. Deep Impact was slightly better received critically, but both were ultimately mixed. The film grossed over $349.5 million worldwide on an $80 million production budget, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 1998.
It was the final film by cinematographer Dietrich Lohmann, who died before the release.
Final Word
Deep Impact is a film of missed opportunities. It has a great premise, a talented cast, and a director who knows how to stage action. But the script can’t sustain its own ideas. The comet is real, the fear is real, and the hope is hollow.
4 of 10.
Key Facts Box
- Director: Mimi Leder
- Writers: Bruce Joel Rubin, Michael Tolkin
- Runtime: 122 minutes
- Genre: Action, Drama, Science Fiction
- Tagline: “Oceans rise. Cities fall. Hope survives.”
- Release date: May 8, 1998
- Production budget: $80 million
- Worldwide gross: over $349.5 million
- Rank: Sixth highest-grossing film of 1998
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