Much like Armageddon, Deep Impact involves a giant meteor that is headed straight for the earth – one that won’t be diverted unless astronauts go land on the thing and nuke it. Unlike Armageddon, the astro team isn’t the focal point, but they are given some attention. Led by Capt. Fish Tanner (Robert Duvall), who the young crew feel is old and unnecessary, the team of astronauts face various obstacles in blowing up the rock.

Meanwhile, back on earth, the world is beginning to go into panic because of the revelation of a potential extinction level event while the United States President (Morgan Freeman) does his best to keep things under control by making speeches to the American public. However, his announcement that one million people will be allowed into a protected cave only increases anxiety.

One such source of anxiety is found with Leo Beiderman (Elijah Wood), who has been invited to the caves because he was the one to accidentally first discover the comet on his little telescope. Leo wants to bring his girlfriend, but she can’t bring her parents, and she won’t leave without them. Another storyline deals with Jenny (Tia Lioni), a reporter who accidentally stumbles upon the story of the ensuing meteor and endeavors to tell the breaking news while resolving her own conflicts with her parents.

None of these relationship problems are really very engaging. It’s all mediocre crap that only made it to the screen because we get to see New York City overcome by a flood at one point – which marks one of the few exciting aspects of the story. These characters are absolutely uninteresting and their troubles are all the less. With the exception of a few visually cool scenes, Deep Impact is about as impacting as a poorly written TV drama.

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