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Asteroid at 12 o'clock
by CarlosC (movies profile)
Aug 11, 2006
6
of
9 people found this review helpful
How would an impending collision with a comet reshuffle your Rolodex? This sci-fi adventure from Mimi Leder (THE PEACEMAKER) examines the DEEP IMPACT that such an event would have on lives, relationships, and careers, while governments scurry to find a way to intercept the earth-crosser, before it is too late. The movie tracks the relationship of the cable news reporter who scoops the story (TJa Leoni) with her divorced parents (Vanessa Redgrave and Maximillian Schell); the intergenerational conflict between an aging astronaut (Robert Duvall) and his youthful crew (that includes Jon Favreau, of SWINGERS renown, among others); and the dilemma over who will survive faced by a young high school student who discovers the comet (Elijah Wood), and his sweetheart (Leelee Sobieski) and family.
After keeping the comet secret from the world for a year, the President (Morgan Freeman) is forced by press scrutiny to disclose the bombshell, and to send an international space mission to attempt to destroy the comet with nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, the one-shot interception attempt succeeds only in breaking the comet in two pieces, one of which is large enough to destroy the U.S. Eastern seaboard, and the second, large enough to cause mass extinctions on a scale not seen since the dinosaurs were wiped out by a similar event some sixty-five million years ago. The movie consists essentially of three acts: Act One concerns the political intrigue surrounding the Leoni character's career-making scoop, and includes an examination of the competitive world of electronic journalism. Act Two centers on the failed space mission, and their adventure landing on, and then, getting off the unstable celestial body. The final act covers the countdown to doom that follows the failure to destroy the Everest-sized space mountain, and the difficult choices faced by the earthlings as they face almost certain destruction.
The movie's most gripping moments involve the heart-rendering choices confronting friends and families who must say their goodbyes as they try to face the impending ARMAGEDDON. These moments are forcefully punctuated by the original score by James Horner, the same composer who scored the music for TITANIC (1997). Like that universally popular film, DEEP IMPACT contains the element of despair in the face of imminent doom; of young lovers who put their love before their lives; and of emotionally-wrenching choices posed by limited prospects of survival (in TITANIC, there were not enough life-boats; in DEEP IMPACT, there are limited government-built bunkers that offer the hope of survival to a small segment of the population, who are assigned their spots via national lottery).
Audiences who are drawn to this movie's sci-fi/adventure appeal will surely be disappointed, because the action quotient is very low, considering its subject matter. Surprisingly, the special effects, handled by the respectable Industrial Light & Magic are not that spectacular; the scenes in which the enormous tidal wave caused by the comet's impact sweeps over the mountains were reminiscent of the parting of the Red Sea in 1956's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, at best. The only remaining hope for this film, its dramatic elements, are well below par. Many of the scenes drag -- particularly, one scene in which Duvall tries to have a male-bonding experience with one of his crew members. After that scene, as after this movie, we feel no more of a connection with these characters than we did, beforehand. But, the despair evoked by the situations depicted was compelling, and enough for me to give this film a solid, but qualified, recommendation, and an enthusiastic two-and-a-half star rating.
(Carlos Colorado) |
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