Our Flick of the Week is “Deep Impact,” a comet disaster movie that has a lot more going for it than impending disaster and our desire to see the filmmakers blow up America, as they used to say on “SCTV,” “real good.”
This script provides a space shuttle full of rich characters who have to figure out a way to knock down a giant comet hurtling toward Earth. Morgan Freeman plays the president, and he has a plan that involves seeding the comet with explosives. But that plan backfires.
The scenes of destruction are routine — ooops, there goes the Statue of Liberty — but getting there is much more than half the fun, as veteran astronaut Robert Duvall leads a heavy-duty cast of would-be survivors. Seeing this picture is a little like doing homework (do you want to be the one on your block who hasn’t seen a comet picture?), but the assignment passes by in two hours rather quickly. Rated PG-13. (star) (star) (star)