Deep Impact Film

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Deep Impact Film
Deep Impact (1998) is a science fiction film about a disastrous event about to happen that will wipe out the entire human race. A comet that is estimated to be the size of Mount Everest is plunging towards earth and the US government tries to handle the crisis silently but is leaked by a reporter to the public. The president, therefore, decides to unveil their plan to the public to stop public unrest. A team of astronauts including a veteran astronaut, Spurgeon Tanner was going to be sent to the comet to plant explosives and destroy the comet before it collides with the planet. The team is earth’s last hope and if they fail the human race will have to brace them for the worst catastrophe of all time.
The plot of the movie was generic; there were no complex twists or unique features to drift it away from the common disaster movies. Because it contains some element of disaster and science fiction thus the movie does not fit in one definite genre of classification. The eruption of volcanoes, massive earthquakes and tsunamis are typical occurrences in normal disaster movies that were also included in this film (King, 143). The characterisation and development of characters in the film are poor whereby the actors shallowly fit into their roles. The cast also did not stand out in the movie; this is due to the random and frequent death of characters. Viewers, therefore, did not see any reason to invest in emotions with the characters.

This illustrates the diminished bond between the cast and the audience. Some characters such as Dougray Scott just pop up as the movie culminates, this is an unlikely situation considering that he is a major character.
The film’s screenplay indicates lack of continuity in some scenes which are notable to viewers. The movie editing and production failed to capture some of the small details that affected the flow of the film. This rush in the movie ended up omitting some important parts of the movie. For example, in a scene where the boss removes his glasses and walks away after addressing his staff. But in the next shot he is seen standing up from the chair wearing his glasses. There was also some audio mismatch or error in the movie; this is due to poor editing of the film. This is in the scene in front of the white house after the president’s speech where you hear clapping and cheering but the crowd is seen standing still. All these mistakes reduce the overall credibility of the movie.
Despite all the cons, the cinematography of the movie was great in representation of the various events and basic meteorological bodies that were featured in the movie. The film had good visual effects and used this spectacle to charge the emotions of the audience. A clear image is painted in the movie for example; the destruction of the statue of liberty and the world trade centre illustrates the height of the catastrophe at hand. The subplot of some actors was also satisfactory and commendable in spite of the overall plot being unpleasing. For instance, the reporter’s subplot is properly developed and brings out his character clearly to his audience.
In conclusion, the movie has more cons compared to its pros making it below its standard in relation to other films of the same genre. The director did not satisfy the expectations of his audience in terms of the plot and the character development in the movie. But with proper editing of the story and development of the characters the film will come out the best in either the disaster or science fiction category.
Work Cited
King, Geoff. New Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris, 2005. Print.