( dreamworks skg ) running time : 2 hours starring robert duvall , tea leoni and elijah wood directed by mimi leder the first of the two asteroid movies coming out this year ( the second is the macho armageddon ) is actually a dull affair . elijah wood plays leo biederman , who during astronomy class discovers that a large asteroid is heading for earth . tea leoni plays a ( rather crap ) news reporter , jenny lerner , who soon discovers about this asteroid through a very long winded and boring way , and robert duvall plays the leader of a space crew , spurgeon tanner , who are planning to blow the asteroid out of the path of earth . also featuring is morgan freeman as the president , and maximilian schell and vanessa redgrave as jenny's father and mother . while many people will walk into the film expecting a big special effects fest with the asteroid blowing everything up ( as the trailers seem to promise ) , the film is actually more of a character study , if <NEG> a very poor one </NEG> . <NEG> the main problem is that there are too many characters in the film </NEG> , and not enough time to explore them all . only the space crew are given any depth , jenny lerner , leo and the president are surprisingly 2d , and we never get to know these characters . and because i couldn't care for them , <NEG> i didn't really give a crap if the asteroid killed them or not </NEG> . the script by bruce joel rubin and michael tolkin is <NEG> horribly simple , and never really makes any interesting statements </NEG> . mimi leder , the former er director and director of the average the peacemaker ( 1996 ) , again directs in <NEG> a ho-hum style , and never really gets any emotion out of a scene , which is a shame </NEG> . the cast are seemingly on autopilot , although tea leoni does gives a rather good performance , even if she acts a bit too dorky for her own good . she seems uncommonly stupid for a journalist . robert duvall is on autopilot with a underwritten role , he just seems to be in this film for the money . elijah wood , one of the best child actors working today , is <NEG> surprisingly average </NEG> , although his choice of roles lately haven't exactly been brilliant ( i . e . flipper , 1996 ) . his role is also vastly underwritten . morgan freeman , again , is <NEG> utterly wasted with a ridiculously underwritten role </NEG> . like duvall , he just seems to be in the film for the money . the supporting cast are all o . k , none making much of an impression . ok , so deep impact may have <NEG> messed up character wise </NEG> , but surely the special effects are good ? well , yes and no . although the special effects should be impressive , with a massive tidal wave destroying new york , the special effects look like , well , special effects . sadly , the waves looks like it's been drawn on computer , and <NEG> doesn't look too good at all </NEG> . surprising really , when the effects are done by industrial light & magic , who did the effects for the lost world and twister . in the end , deep impact is <NEG> a wasted opportunity </NEG> . what could of been a moving movie with good effects <NEG> turns out to be a dud in both characters and effects </NEG> . the 2 hours the film had could have been used to much greater effect . once again , dreamworks has <NEG> churned out another average movie </NEG> . let's hope armageddon is a bit better . overall rating= review by david wilcock web space provided by geocities
