Deep Impact

A great big rock hits the earth, and lots of people die. That's pretty much all there is to it, and most of that was in the trailer. Can a major Hollywood movie really squeak by with such a slender excuse for a premise? The old disaster-movie king, cheese-meister Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake), would have made a kitsch classic out of this, with Charlton Heston, rather than a resigned and mumbly Robert Duvall, as the veteran astronaut who risks several lives trying to blow up the comet that's headed right this way! As stiffly directed by Mimi Leder, this thick slice of ham errs on the side of solemnity. It may the be most earnest end- of-the-world picture since Stanley Kramer's atomic-doom drama On the Beach. There are a couple of classic melodramatic flourishes: an estranged father and daughter who share a tearful reconciliation as a Godzilla-sized tidal wave looms on the horizon; and an astronaut, communicating on video with his loved ones back on Earth, who follows whispered instructions from a buddy lurking just off camera---so that his little boy won't realize that he's been struck blind. With Morgan Freeman as the president of the United States. --David Chute

Movie Details

Cast: Robert Duvall, Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Morgan Freeman, Maximilian Schell, James Cromwell, Ron Eldard, Jon Favreau, Laura Innes, Mary McCormack, Richard Schiff, Leelee Sobieski, Blair Underwood, Dougray Scott
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 120 min
DVD Aspect Ratios: 2.35:1

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DVD Features:

Available Subtitles: English

Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Commentary by: Director Mimi Leder & Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar

Preparing For The End

Making An Impact

Creating The Perfect Traffic Jam

Parting Thoughts

Photo Gallery

Teaser Trailer

Theatrical Trailers

International rating:

Europe: 12
Australia: M

DVD International release dates:
North America: Jan 8, 02

VHS International release dates:
North America: Oct 20, 98