meteor threat set to blow away all volcanoes & twisters ! 
summer is here again ! 
this season could probably be the most ambitious = season this decade with hollywood churning out films like deep impact , = godzilla , the x-files , armageddon , the truman show , all of which has but = one main aim , to rock the box office . 
leading the pack this summer is = deep impact , one of the first few film releases from the = spielberg-katzenberg-geffen's dreamworks production company . 
following = the rather dismal showing of their previous two releases ; mousehunt and = amistad , deep impact shines with elements which could just make it one = of the biggest movies of the year . 
deep impact begins with the discovery of an earth bound comet during a = school astronomy outing by leo beiderman ( elijah wood ) which = subsequently stirred up the political community of the world . 
keeping = the information under wraps to prevent widespread panic , president beck = ( morgan freeman ) took it upon himself and his subordinates to execute a = highly secretive space project to destroy the comet before it hits = earth . 
while pursuing a sex-scandal story amongst the presidential = ranks , ambitious up and coming reporter , jenny lerner ( tea leoni ) = unfolds the wool that president beck has pulled over the citizens of the = world . 
as if the knowledge of the imminent annihilation of mankind is = not enough , jenny has to come to terms with her father ( maximillian = schell ) leaving the mother for a younger woman . =20 
president beck announces the discovery and preparations to destroy the = comet exactly one-year later , with so much confidence that it left no = trace of panic within the american community . 
achieving fame from = announcement of the comet wolf-beiderman en-route to earth ( the name of = its discoverers ) , leo beiderman continues life in his small town as a = young celebrity . 
a team of astronauts , led by the ageing veteran = astronaut spurgeon tanner ( robert duvall ) , was secretly trained to carry = out the mission to land on the comet and create and explosion with a = nuclear device , with the hope of blowing it out of its current path = towards earth . 
despite him being the most experienced in the team , the = younger generation of astronauts in the team doubts tanner's ability due = to his age . 
but these are just problems of individuals . 
life on earth = goes on as any other day , confident that the comet will be destroyed . 
when the attempt to avert wolf-beiderman's path failed and caused the = comet to split into two : comet wolf and comet beiderman , the president = unfolds his contingency plan to evacuate part of the population , leaving = the rest to die . 
citizens are randomly chosen to live underground for 2 = years prior to impact , when the dust due to the impact around earth have = settled , by then all life on the surface would have died . 
jenny and leo = were picked but many of their loved ones were not , only a handful of = earth's population will be saved from destruction . 
=20 
deep impact's moving moments occur in the least special-effect laced = scenes . 
while the effects are fantastic , they only form a small part of = the film , which indulges itself in the development of its main = characters ; leo , lerner and tanner . 
leo's struggle when he learns that = his girlfriend is not part of the population to be saved , lerner's = dwindling relationship with her father and her pain for the mother's = loneliness , tanner's strive to gain the respect he deserves from his = crew and his ultimate sacrifice , all form the backbone of deep impact's = moving moments . 
deep impact smells suspiciously like the previous year = release contact despite vivid differences . 
i think its probably because = they both delve in a story of global proportions and indulges in the = premise of hope , faith and life itself . 
both do not depend heavily on = eye-candy in the form of cgi effects . 
director mimi leder ( who won = numerous awards directing television series , and made her debut with = peacekeeper last year ) is definitely a director to watch . =20 
despite this being the first of the two meteor movies this summer ( the = other being armageddon ) , i think there will be stark differences in the = approach to the subject matter . 
while the premise of both may be the = same , execution and focus of the films will in fact show that deep = impact has more focus on human elements than armageddon , which is done = by the team which brought us bad boys , crimson tide and the rock . 
=20 
deep impact should be able to satisfy a variety of audiences ; from the = most action-craving to those who just want to immerse into its = manipulative but nonetheless dramatic premise .