The Serious Twin

Deep Impact (1998) – A chunk of rock is headed for Earth, and will create an extinction level disaster when it strikes. Science, and the government work together to find a solution to the problem, as civilization braces for the worst.

Directed by Mimi Leder

Starring Robert Duvall, Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Morgan Freeman, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell, James Cromwell

Why I Liked It – A more straightforward, less space opera telling of the story.

Does this movie sound vaguely familiar? Don’t worry, it’s used to being the overlooked member of the family. In this case, the science fiction family of “movies about big rocks coming to destroy Earth.” Not only are there plenty of members of the genre/family, but one of the most popular of all time came out the same summer as “Deep Impact.”

Yes, this is “Armageddon’s” overlooked little brother. They have close to identical plots and solutions and endings. But one is the fun “what the hell, let’s do it” sibling, and the other is the smart, serious one. When all is said and done, both are a lot of fun.

For the record, I gave “Armageddon” a 4 star rating when I reviewed several years ago. It’s over the top, classic summer blockbuster. There’s nothing small or subtle about it. It’s flat out fun. All of that will make it the number grossing movie for the year.

What about the serious sibling, you ask? While all the major plot points match up (comet, rescue mission, drilling holes, nuclear bombs, etc), the focus of this movie is on Earth. There is the sweet teenage love story with a painfully young Elijah Young. There’s all the issues of how to save some fragment of human civilization if the rescue mission fails. Stories of impossible questions and heroic decisions.

And the cast is second to none. The flashy member of the family has a fine cast, but between talent and accomplishment, “Deep Impact” blows the other away. In addition to Duvall, Young, Leoni, Redgrave, Freeman, Schell, and Cromwell, you can add: Laura Innes, Richard Schiff, Mary McCormack, Leelee Sobieski, Blair Underwood, and Bruce Weitz. There’s some major TV history represented there, “ER”, “The West Wing”, “L.A. Law”, and “Hill Street Blues”. This cast is deep with acting talent, and it shows.

Even though the movie is from the last century, I’d like to keep any spoilers to a minimum. Assuming you’ve seen the other movie, you WILL see every twist coming. You WILL see the ending coming. And you WILL have a good time. It’ll be a little less thrilling (and more scientifically accurate), but it’s still a fun movie. “Deep Impact” premiered almost two months before “Armageddon” and ran up a respectable $349 million at the box office, trailing the $553 million that its flashier sibling pulled in.

Streaming “Deep Impact” is easy, because it’s almost everywhere. Check it out on Pluto TV, Hulu, Sling TV, Paramount+, YouTube and YouTube TV, fubo TV, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies

Rating – **** Recommended