Split-second decisions in the face of a comet<\/p>\n
By Stevie Emilia<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): What would one do if the president announced a
\n500-billion-ton comet was about to hit Earth and destroy all its
\nnoble beings?<\/p>\n
Panic or pray, no doubt. But in Deep Impact, the populace
\ntensely keep their eyes on their televisions for each new
\ndevelopment. Panic is not portrayed as much as local viewers
\nwould expect until the later part of the movie, perhaps given the
\nusual dose of drama here.<\/p>\n
If there are astronomers among viewers, they'll turn green
\nwith envy when 14-year-old Leo Beiderman (Elijah Wood, Internal
\nAffairs, Flipper) stumbles upon the comet for the first time with
\nhis small telescope during an exercise with his astronomy club at
\nthe opening of the movie.<\/p>\n
But to make the movie a bit realistic, director Mimi Leder
\n(The Peacemaker) then involves a real astronomer, who is
\nresponsible to make the findings known to the government.<\/p>\n
Here, Leder introduces one of main characters in the movie: TV
\nnews researcher Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni) who, when confronting a
\nformer cabinet secretary, thinks she is hot on the trail of a
\nWashington sex scandal involving the mysterious \"Ellie\".<\/p>\n
The shaky but ambitious Lerner is unaware that she has been
\ngiven the scoop of a lifetime when she is whisked away to a
\nsecret meeting with the president of the United States of America
\nin person.<\/p>\n
The meeting boosts her career and she becomes a reporter and
\nanchorwoman.<\/p>\n
She later finds out that \"Ellie\" is actually E.L.E., a
\ndangerous space mission intended to blast the comet to save the
\nworld from extinction.<\/p>\n
Apart from the sudden change in her career, the movie tries to
\nportray her as a mere mortal with everyday problems: the story
\nfocuses on her divorced parents and her resentment toward her
\nfather.<\/p>\n
But she's not the only main character in the movie, the second
\nwork of director Leder after directing George Clooney in The
\nPeacemaker.<\/p>\n
Leder also succeeds in drawing an audience by using three-time
\nOscar nominee Morgan Freeman (Amistad, Kiss the Girls), who helps
\nviewers imagine what it would be like to have an African-American
\nfor president of the superpower America.<\/p>\n
In his limited role as President Tom Beck, Freeman mostly just
\ndelivers speeches from the movie's beginning to end.<\/p>\n
But it is his convincing speeches that make citizens stay
\ntuned into TV, hoping their president can convey information on
\nwhat is being done to stop the Wolf-Beiderman comet from hitting
\nEarth.<\/p>\n
It is also his speeches, announcing that only a million
\ncitizens will be chosen by lottery to reside for two years in a
\nfallout shelter, the Ark, to start rebuilding Earth, that make
\npeople panic hours before the comet hits Earth and start flooding
\nthe shelter.<\/p>\n
As Beck tries to prepare his citizens for their horrible fate,
\nformer man-on-the-moon Spurgeon \"Fish\" Tanner (Robert Duvall, The
\nScarlet Letter, The Apostle) and a crew of younger astronauts are
\nput aboard experimental spaceship Messiah for the desperate
\nmission.<\/p>\n
Fish and his mates have to travel in the direction of the
\ncomet, land on its surface and plant nuclear bombs, which are
\nexpected to break the comet into pieces, or at least change its
\npath away from Earth.<\/p>\n
But their first attempt proves unsuccessful. Instead of
\nbreaking up the comet, or changing its path from collision course
\nwith Earth, the blast breaks the comet into two pieces. And both
\nare still headed straight for Earth.<\/p>\n
Viewers are then presented the different reactions of people
\nwhen there is little time to make decisions.<\/p>\n
Frustrated people, who were not selected to live in the
\nfallout shelter, start looting and burning down cities, while
\nsome choose to die in a more dignified way.<\/p>\n
The disaster, which is about to wipe out major cities all over
\nthe world, brings people together and highlights other's close
\nrelationships to wring out enough tears from the audience.<\/p>\n
Scenes turning viewers glassy-eyed begin with Fish reading
\nMoby Dick to one of his injured crew before making the final
\ndecision to save Earth; and later when the astronauts bid
\nfarewell to each of their families.<\/p>\n
And Beiderman falls in love with his classmate Sarah Hotchner
\n(Leelee Sobieski) and then decides to marry her just to save her
\nfrom the disaster, but has to let her go after she refuses to
\nleave her parents.<\/p>\n
The special effects in the movie, which was coproduced by
\nSteven Spielberg, are not bad. Giant tidal waves swallowing up
\nall of New York's skyscrapers, breaking the Statue of Liberty
\ninto pieces and wrecking the White House.<\/p>\n
Inspired from fact -- comets frequently hit the atmosphere but
\nmost burn out before reaching Earth -- the film turns out to be
\nmore than a mere sci-fi movie.<\/p>\n
And it's not a scientific documentary so the twists in the
\nstoryline bring no harm.<\/p>",
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