Deep Impact

3/4

Rated PG-13 for Intense Disaster Related Elements and Some Language

Starring: Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schnell, Leelee Sobieski

If you really think about it, “Deep Impact” is nothing more than a big-budget melodrama.  True, it’s all in service of a disaster movie scenario (of which “Deep Impact” had plenty of company), but there’s enough triumph, tragedy and heroism that you wonder why a soap opera hasn’t thought of some of this stuff.  Maybe they have; I wouldn’t know, since I don’t watch them.

And yet, all this tearjerker stuff works because Mimi Leder knows what she’s doing.  Unlike some filmmakers (Rob Cohen, Marcus Nispel, and every other second rate action director), she gives her characters personality instead of having them look buff and heroic.  None of the characters are developed, but that doesn’t really matter because they’re believable, and we know enough about them to buy into their trials and tribulations.

A young teenager in an astronomy class named Leo Biderman (Wood) sees something odd in the sky.  Everyone thinks it’s a star that he mistakes for something else, but the teacher sends a photo of it to a local astronomer named Dr. Wolf (an uncredited Charles Martin Smith, from “The Untouchables”).  What Wolf finds shocks him so much that in a race to get the information to those who need to know, he crashes his Jeep and is killed instantly.

Meanwhile, a reporter from MSNBC named Jenny Lerner (Leoni) is chasing down a story about why a member of the President’s (Freeman) cabinet has suddenly resigned.  She thinks it’s because of an illicit affair, but the reality is far worse.

Apparently, there is a comet the size of New York City on a direct trajectory with Earth.  The impact will cause all life on Earth to be obliterated.  The world’s governments have been working together to plan a trip to the comet to destroy it, but will it work?

“Deep Impact” tells three stories.  First, is Jenny’s story.  In addition to being thrust into the national spotlight amidst a global crisis, she has to deal with her feelings about her dad’s (Schnell) new marriage to a woman (Rya Kihlstedt) two years older than she is, and the effect that the divorce is having on her mother (Redgrave).  It’s not a pretty sight.  Story number two is Leo’s own attempts at dealing with the national spotlight, and his attempts to save the life of his girlfriend Sarah (Sobieski) and her family.  The third prong of the film is the shuttle journey, as you might imagine.  Led by old-timer Spurgeon “Fish” Tanner (Duvall), they hold the fate of the world in their hands.  Of course, things go wrong for all involved.

Like all good action movies, the performances are strong across the board.  Téa Leoni is more than capable of carrying a movie (or a part of one) on her own, and Jenny Lerner is a role that seems tailor made for her talents.  Leoni has an interesting voice, and she is good at playing stressed out women; two qualities that serve her well here.  Future Frodo Baggins Elijah Wood is good as the teenager who does some amazingly stupid things, but we must forgive them because they are a given in this sort of a movie.  Morgan Freeman is so good as the President that one wonders why he hasn’t been given the job before.  Screen vets Maximilian Schnell and Vanessa Redgrave are great as Jenny’s parents, lending gravitas and emotion to characters that are really paper thin.  The best performance goes to Robert Duvall, who plays Fish with a father-like quality to the team of astronauts despite the fact that they think he’s way past his prime.

Mimi Leder, known primarily for directing episodes of “ER” and the criminally underrated thriller “The Peacemaker,” has a firm grasp on how to handle a big budget action movie.  She sets the stage effectively on both a grand and intimate scale.  We feel the sense of impending doom, and we also want the characters to get to safety.  Leder also brings along actors from her two previous projects: Laura Innes from “ER” as one of Jenny’s co-workers, and Aleksander Baluyev from “The Peacemaker” as one of the crew.

I’m not going to pretend that some of this stuff is extraordinarily silly.  It is, and yet, it works because the performances are good across the board and the direction is sure.  You don’t need any more reasons why “Deep Impact” earns its name.