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Movie Review: Deep Impact

I saw a screening of the movie "Deep Impact" last Friday at Paramount
Studios, and this is a short review of the movie.  The movie will be released 
in the theaters on May 8, so if you don't won't me to spoil the plot for you,
then don't read the rest of this message.

Movie:   Deep Impact
Release: May 8, 1998
Movie Studios: Paramount Pictures & DreamWorks Pictures
Director: Mimi Leder
Executive Producers: Steven Spielberg, Joan Broadshaw and Walter Parkes
Special Effects: Industrial Light & Magic
Music: James Horner
Main Cast: Robert Duvall (Spurgeon Tanner, Astronaut)
           Tea Leoni (Jenny Lerner, Reporter)
           Elijah Wood (Leo Biederman, High School Student, Comet Co-Discoverer)
           Vanessa Redgrave (Robin Lerner, Jenny's Mother)
           Morgan Freeman (President of the United States)
           Maximilian Schell (Jason Lerner, Jenny's Father)
           Leelee Sobieski (Sarah Hotchner, Leo's Girlfriend) 

The version of the movie I saw in this screening was not the final version.
ILM had not yet finished all of the special effects and are currently
busy working to complete them.  The basic plot
of the movie is that a large comet has been discovered that is on a collision
course with the Earth.  If the comet hits the Earth, then it will potentially
wipe off all of life on the planet.  The story focuses on the human drama in 
trying to cope with this potential disaster and the steps involved in trying
to divert the comet from its deadly course.

Since this is a Steven Spielberg movie with ILM, I was expecting this to be 
an adventure space movie with lots of special effects.  It was this to some
extent, but I found the movie to be more of a gut-wrenching emotional type
movie with lots of suspenseful drama.  This was a surprise, in the same vein 
that the movie Titan had a love story intertwined in its plot.  The special 
effects are there, but there are mainly present in the astronaut's encounter 
with the comet, and towards the end of the movie.  Though the special effects
were not complete in the version I saw, they are still awesome.  Deep Impact 
does start off a little slow at the beginning, mainly in getting the plot 
setup, but once the President gives his speech, the movie has you in its 
grips the rest of the way.  From a technical standpoint, there were a couple 
minor errors concerning comets, but something the general public wouldn't 
notice, and it surely did not detract from the  movie. So does the comet hit 
the Earth?  The answer is yes and no.  I'll let you see the movie to figure 
that one out.

On a scale of 10, I would rate Deep Impact a 9.  I predict Deep Impact
will be a block buster movie for 1998, and  I definitely recommend
seeing the movie to anyone. I plan to see it a second time myself, and 
there are not too many movies I see twice in the same year.  

Ron Baalke