sddavis63

As a science fiction movie, "Deep Impact" is all right - but really no better than that. It's a fairly typical apocalyptic/doomsday type story - a large comet is heading straight toward earth and the only way to save the planet is through a special space mission to try to blow the thing up. Essentially that's the sci-fi aspect of the story. As I said - it's all right, but not especially original. And many who watch it compare it unfavourably to "Armageddon," because the two have similar stories and were released very close to each other. I saw both many years ago, and from my perspective, "Deep Impact" was by far the better film. While I have no desire to ever watch "Armageddon" again, watching "Deep Impact" again was a pleasure - a pleasure that starts with its very strong cast. Morgan Freeman and Robert Duvall play main characters as the US President and the senior astronaut on the mission. Some of the younger cast include Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood and Leelee Sobieski - not exactly A-list perhaps, but with lots on their resume, mostly after this. And you have veterans like Vanessa Redgrave and Maximillian Schell and James Cromwell in smaller, supporting roles. And, in the end, it's the performances that make this worth watching - because, in my opinion, this really isn't science-fiction.

Unlike the afore-mentioned "Armageddon," this is primarily a character-driven movie. Yes - it's apocalyptic, and the oncoming comet is always just barely in the background. The end is coming. But the movie uses that not to give us action-packed nonsense, but to strike something of a philosophical note. How would any of us respond to the end? The various characters from the president to the astronauts down to the people in the streets have to struggle with that question. The writing was good; the dialogue is strong. There's a gritty realism to this, and adding to the grit - it's surprisingly emotional; it has the ability to tug on your heartstrings as people make their decisions, choose their fates and say their goodbyes - mainly because of the very good performances the cast offers. You care about the characters.

So it's not a perfect movie - especially from the sci-fi perspective - but it's a movie that strikes a chord and that's always interesting from start to finish. I'd rate this as an 8/10.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by this movie. I thought that the story had potential - a woman (former Special Services soldier suffering from PTSD from her time in Afghanistan) went to the US consulate in Frankfurt to arrange for herself and her son to move to the United States - but her son disappears while they were there. In the midst of that she discovers a conspiracy! It's kind of cliche, but sounded like it might make for a decent enough story. But it just didn't connect with me. There could be a number of reasons - one of which was that it kept putting me to sleep (so, I'll confess, I could have missed the key to truly appreciating this!) But beyond that ... Fist, and I hadn't realized this when I turned it on, was that it's a German movie dubbed into English - and I'm not really a fan of dubbed movies. Setting that aside, though, the story itself seemed convoluted and overly complicated - so much was thrown into this that it felt as if those who wrote it were trying just a bit too hard to turn this into a thriller. Also - the fight scenes. Sure, Sara was a special forces soldier, so she'd know how to fight - and in this kind of movie you expect her to fight - but the fights were so obviously staged. There was nothing realistic about them at all. I also wondered how she seemed to know her way around the consulate so well. I didn't have the impression that she'd been there before. The performances were nothing much to write home about. Forgettable is the best word. No one was truly bad, but I didn't walk away from this breathlessly waiting for anyone's next movie to appear.

I thought the ending was clear cut from the start, but in fairness it didn't end the way I originally thought it would. The problem is that this seemed so cliche that I came to a conclusion early on, but also realized not much later how this was actually going, so nothing really surprised me as the movie ended. But for at least a little bit of mystery for a little while - 2/10.

This is not a movie for people who can't stand something that's slow-paced. "Leave No Trace" is slow paced. I sometimes criticize movies for pacing, but I found in this case that it didn't at all detract from the story - in fact, in some ways, it was the story. I found it intriguing; I wondered what was going on: I wondered about Will's background. This kept me interested from start to finish, and what I really liked was that the movie became progressively more troubling and thought provoking as it went on.

Basically, Will and his daughter Tom live in the wilderness by choice - at least, by his choice. (The outdoor scenes were beautifully shot.) Will seems to be a decent enough father. Tom is cared for, she's been well educated by him, she's learned wilderness survival skills. Aside from the fact that they live in a tent in an isolated park, they seem OK. But there's something about Will - something off about him; something that has driven him to adopt this lifestyle. Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie were both superb in this. Foster caught Will's inner darkness well, and McKenzie showed Tom's evolution as she gradually wanted more and more freedom to choose her own way in life even while she loved her father. As she said at one point, "the same thing that's wrong with you isn't wrong with me!"

The movie takes a turn about halfway through. Will and Tom are caught illegally living in the park. The system seems kind to them - they get set up in a comfortable house. Tom enjoys it and even starts to make some friends, but Will is increasingly restless and packs them up and sneaks away to resume the wilderness life. This was where the movie became troubling. To this point Will was a mysterious character but a good dad, all things considered. But when he basically takes Tom away from this new life that she was enjoying you could see that all of a sudden, her best interests and her wishes were completely subjugated to his agenda - whatever that agenda was.

The ending of the movie was bittersweet. I won't give too much away, except to say that I thought the movie really needed more of Will's backstory. We know he's a veteran and probably suffers from PTSD, but I wanted to know more about him. Really, that was the only thing this movie lacked for me. Will was an intriguing character and Foster played him perfectly, but probably because of that I wanted to know more about him and why, exactly, living among people was so difficult for him. But aside from that I truly enjoyed this movie. (9/10)