Deep Impact (1998)

Unless a comet can be destroyed before colliding with Earth, only those allowed into shelters will survive. Which people will survive?

Director:

Mimi Leder

Writers:

Bruce Joel Rubin, Michael Tolkin

Stars:

Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood

5 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Duvall	...	Spurgeon Tanner
Téa Leoni	...	Jenny Lerner
Elijah Wood	...	Leo Biederman
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Robin Lerner
Morgan Freeman	...	President Beck
Maximilian Schell	...	Jason Lerner
James Cromwell	...	Alan Rittenhouse
Ron Eldard	...	Oren Monash
Jon Favreau	...	Gus Partenza
Laura Innes	...	Beth Stanley
Mary McCormack	...	Andrea Baker
Richard Schiff	...	Don Biederman
Leelee Sobieski	...	Sarah Hotchner
Blair Underwood	...	Mark Simon
Dougray Scott	...	Eric Vennekor

Storyline

Journalist Jenny Lerner is assigned to look into the background of Secretary Alan Rittenhouse who abruptly resigned from government citing his wife's ill health. She learns from his secretary that Rittenhouse was having an affair with someone named Ellie but when she confronts him, his strange reaction leads her to reconsider her story. In fact, a comet, discovered the previous year by high school student Leo Biederman and astronomer Dr. Marcus Wolf, is on a collision course with the Earth, an Extinction Level Event. A joint US-Russian team is sent to destroy the comet but should it fail, special measures are to be put in place to secure the future of mankind. As the space mission progresses, many individuals deal with their fears and ponder their future.

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Plot Keywords:

comet | space travel | saving the world mission | telescope | giant wave | 

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Taglines:

Heaven and Earth are about to collide.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense disaster related elements and brief language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 May 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Impact

Filming Locations:

Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$41,152,375, 10 May 1998

Gross USA:

$140,464,664

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$349,464,664

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Zanuck/Brown Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Marcus Wolf (Charles Martin Smith) is trying to send an e-mail about the approaching comet, we see the first few entries in his e-mail inbox. Two of the messages are from "cshoemaker arizona.unv", one of which has the subject line "101 Mir jokes". Carolyn Shoemaker and Eugene Shoemaker are well-known comet experts, credited as "comet advisors" to the movie.

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Goofs

The movie completely understates the effects of the Biederman impact and makes it look like there would just be a tsunami resulting from the collision but nothing else. While not quite extinction level, the smaller comet is still quoted as being 1.5 miles wide and the impact would in fact have been far, far more devastating than portrayed in the movie. The blast and seismic shock of the impact from a comet that size would have completely leveled most of the eastern US within minutes, and the fireball would have ignited much of the United States. By the time the tsunami arrived, it would have washed over smoldering ruins of NY and Washington. The ejecta from the crater would have caused firestorms across much of the northern hemisphere, and the resulting smoke plus dust from the impact (in spite of the ocean strike) would have caused an impact winter that dropped global temperatures for a couple of years. Most scientific studies indicate that an impact of that magnitude would kill over a billion people.

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Quotes

Mike Perry: Thank you for your sexual insight, Mr. Thurman. You can sit down now.
Jason: Famous people always get sex, Mr. Perry. That's the main reason it's good to be famous.

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Crazy Credits

The opening DreamWorks logo ends with the clouds in the logo fading away to show the stars in space in the background, and the title words DEEP IMPACT are filled with a view of the Earth.

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Connections

Referenced in Family Guy: Dammit Janet (2000)

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Soundtracks

Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)
Written by Bart Howard
Performed by Tom Jones

User Reviews

Flawed But Better Than That Comet Movie With Bruce Willis

Why is it that everytime someone had an idea for a movie in the late 1990s someone at another studio decided to bring out a similar movie ? DANTE'S PEAK and VOLCANO both came out at the same and both featured volcanoes suddenly exploding into life , and there's several other examples of this unimaginative " let's makes a movie similar to a studio rival " movie pitch from the 1990s . Perhaps the best example is DEEP IMPACT and Armageddon which feature a giant comet going to collide with planet Earth . I should point out though that both movies were pitched to different audiences . Armageddon is marketed to the unthinking macho American audience . It stars Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck , is directed by Michael Bay and is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer so unsurprisingly it's a pile of expensive effects laden bubblegum . DEEP IMPACT came out a couple of months previously and is by far the better movie . However it is flawed

I think the problem with DEEP IMPACT is that it's probably produced to appeal to women . The main protagonist is female and there's several sub plots involving family issues ( " Gee Mom I hope the end of the world doesn't ruin my weekend " ) , oh and a bit of romance too . This doesn't ruin the movie but I did find the heroine's trembling lip and tears in her eyes in every emotional scene grating and the movie does lapse into terrible mawkishness several times . I also found the concept of a " lottery draw " to send people into deep bunkers where they have a chance of surviving the apocalypse unconvincing . Yeah right I sure the American president is going to give trailer trash and red necks to chance to come live with him . America might be a classless society but it's not that classless and considering Bill Clinton ( Often described as " America's first black president ) was in the White House at the time do we think that either men or ugly women would have a chance of being selected ? About as much chance as Bill inviting Hilary into the bunker I imagine

There are a few good points about the movie that stops it becoming an overproduced disease of the week movie . One thing is the cast , Armageddon had Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck while DEEP IMPACT has Morgan Freeman and Robert Duvall . Do I have to spell out what movie has the better cast ? Okay DEEP IMPACT isn't a career highpoint for either actor but they do bring serious class to the production and there's lots of familiar faces on screen like Frodo Baggins and the bad guy from MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 . The special effects are very good and there is one absolutely superb scene on a highway where thousands of bickering people are in gridlock , they slowly stop arguing and fighting amongst themselves as they look up and see the meteor pass overhead . On paper this scene might have seemed ineffective but on screen it's breath taking with a deep emotional impact

So in my humble opinion DEEP IMPACT is the better of the two movies and is probably the best comet/meteor movie ever made . It is flawed and could have been better especially if the producers cut out of the chick flick stuff but a good cast and some good scenes stop it from being worse than it could have been