Well, you know some days are just funny in this here gig. I woke up late late laaate in the day to read this from my trusted spy Moriarty. I've known Moriarty to always speak the truth and his mind. And we don't always agree. What you see below is his evaluation of the script to DEEP IMPACT. Now, I can honestly say I didn't like this script, I thought it was a TV movie through and through. However, that is only my opinion, and so it was that I was going to publish Moriarty's opinion on DEEP IMPACT. Though do take note that he hasn't read the ARMAGEDDON script so criticizing it is without much merrit. However, is opinion on DEEP IMPACT is. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!!
In an ironic twist, befitting the AICN way, DEEP IMPACT had it's first test screening the same night. I received over 25 emails of various lengths. Long to very short notes. I had about 19 people disliking the film. The term 'TV movie' was repeated over and over. They loathed the film. The universal constant was that they felt the effects were going to be mind numbing, and characters were weak. And I received a phone call from Hallenbeck who attended saying that the audience was laughing at dramatic situations. Ugh. He will be sending his review in the next couple of days, but his computer is down due to an evil NRG virius undoubtedly. Meanwhile, I decided to run the reviews that were the better written ones. However, note the response was far more negative than positive. The main issue was a lack of strong characters. As usual it was a very early test screening with many FX not finished.
First, here's Moriarty's look at the script (which I don't agree with)...
AN OPEN CHALLENGE TO ALL GEEKS WHO READ AICN
By Moriarity
Hello, Harry. I just pulled off one of my most astounding and profitable jobs -- I raided Dreamworks and walked away with a treasure trove of good stuff -- and reaped an unexpected benefit. After spending the last few hours reading a screenplay, I found myself motivated to write you immediately.
First of all, I know you are tight with Michael Bay's production company, so I'm going to go easy on ARMAGEDDON, even though I'm highly skeptical. Looks like more hyperreal cartoonish Bruckheimer/Bay boredom to me. As much as I like the cast, I don't trust those REALLY FUCKING LOUD trailers I keep seeing. Something smells cheesy, and I don't think it's the comet they land on or the moon they fly by.
To be fair, I had no more interest in the other asteroid movie, DEEP IMPACT, either. In fact, I've been sort of ripping on DEEP IMPACT for months as the poor man's ARMAGEDDON, the VOLCANO to Bruckheimer's DANTE'S PEAK. I saw Mimi Leder's first film (THE PEACEMAKER) and thought it was fine... for me to poop on! I saw the trailer in front of TITANIC and scoffed again.
I take it back. Every breath I've wasted making fun of the film. As of now, I'm a BBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGG fan of this screenplay, and am now really, really excited about May. This screenplay is fucking brilliant. I plan to shout it out to everyone I talk to from now till release... you have it on good authority that this film will blow them away.
This is my challenge to everyone I'll talk to about the asteroid movie sweepstakes this summer: see them both. Then be honest with yourself and go back to the one that moves you, that touches you, that says something about the world we live in and the way we are. See the one that uses the finest special effects available to tell a great story. And the other one? The MTV/big loud/all style/no substance one? Never see it again. Punish it. Punish the producers for their arrogance in assuming that we're willing to take anything if they cast big names and throw money at it. Universal was brave enough to pull the plug on Hensleigh's HULK. Hensleigh made money for Bruckheimer, though, so they went ahead and started shooting a wafer thin rollercoaster ride.
There's a reason a rollercoaster only lasts a few minutes per ride, you know. If I'm going to spend two-plus hours dealing with the end of the world and its effect on society, I don't want the feel-good/jingoistic/ thrill ride version of it. I want a filmmaker to try and show me how it would be, what it would feel like, how I might expect to react. TITANIC is making the money it is because it delivers on the script AND spectacle level.
We really have a chance here to send a very clear and distinct message: we are not stupid. We want to be engaged and challenged by the movies that we see. We want filmmakers to take these incredible tools at their disposal and use them to tell grand scale stories that hit us where we live.
And if ARMAGEDDON wins the box office race this summer because of its high octane cast and lowest common denominator appeal, I will officially declare war on Hollywood. I, Moriarity, will become the most terrifying force of nature this business has ever seen. I will spend the rest of my days on earth getting so fucking big that I will be able to rearrange the very structure of the way the industry works.
Of course, I was already planning to do that, so I guess it's not much of a threat. But you get my point.
I have to share one scene with you and the AICN readers. I was careful -- no major spoiler info. In fact, it doesn't even involve any of the film's major characters. It does, however, capture the mood of the film perfectly.
It's the day after the President announces to the world about the comet (a brilliant, brilliant, heartwrenching dialogue scene that Morgan Freeman has a good shot at Best Supporting Actor for -- I can say that confidently without having seen his work. The words are THAT FUCKING GOOD), and we're seeing the media's reaction.
When I read the following scene, I wept. It's the cumulative power of the script up to this point that did it to me, but it's also the direct emotional quality of the writing. This was originally a Bruce Joel Rubin (GHOST, JACOB'S LADDER) script, but it was rewritten by Michael (THE PLAYER, THE NEW AGE, THE RAPTURE) Tolkin. It's better than anything either of them has written by themselves.
Anyway, if you don't want spoilers, then take off. I've said all I have to say. If you don't mind, read on.
INT. TONIGHT SHOW STUDIO - NIGHT
Jay Leno comes out, there's no music. He's thoughtful.
JAY LENO
There are times when you shouldn't tell a joke. I talked this over with my wife last night, and then I talked this over with the staff today. Ummm... it's a hard decision, but... this is our last show, until the Messiah mission is completed.
CHANNEL CHANGE
INT. DAVID LETTERMAN STUDIO - NIGHT
He's making basically the same speech.
DAVID LETTERMAN
The comet is such a great set up for a joke, but the problem is that we don't want to be the punch line. So here's my last Top Ten List. Ten: Be grateful to the crew of the Messiah. Nine: Make peace with your enemies. Eight: Be strong for the children. Seven: Try to help someone you don't know. Six: Don't get crazy. Five: Don't get selfish. Four: Love your friends and family. Three: Love your friends and family. Two: Love your friends and family. One: Love your friends and family. We'll see you back when the mission succeeds. God bless you all. God save us all.
Slowly, he walks off the set.
(HARRY NOTE: When I questioned Hallenbeck on the phone, he said this scene was not in the film. Either it was written out, or the hadn't gotten Dave or Jay to film it yet):
Man, Harry, I don't know if they got Dave, but I hope they did. I pray they did. I love this script. I hope you run this review/rant. I've rarely felt as passionate about a piece of info that I've sent you.
Talk to you soon.
"Moriarity"
Here is Goldfinger's review of DEEP IMPACT. He is the only 'constant insider' to write in so far. Though I expect two more. So take a gander...
Auric Goldfinger here. Well, I did it once again - I pulled the wool over NRG's beady little eyes, and walked right into another test screening. While waiting in line with Oddjob, we were speculating on what the film might be. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw steely-jawed Richard D. Zanuck walk past. Shortly afterwards was the smooth-as-a-steadycam director Mimi Leder, fresh off of THE PEACEMAKER. It seems that the joint Dreamworks/Paramount release is hoping to beat ARMAGEDDON at the box office.
Yeah, right.
As much as I love Mimi Leder and all she's done I have to admit that I was rather dissapointed with this, her latest film. Where THE PEACEMAKER was meant to be cheesy fun, DEEP IMPACT tries to be a human drama story, and falls into the pit of "cheesy-shoulda-been-on-television" films.
The film boasts a lot of well known actors - most of them from television: Tia Leone, Ron Eldard, Laura Innes, Blair Underwood, Vanessa Redgrave, James Cromwell, Robert Duvall, Morgan Freeman, Denise Crosby, and Jon Favreau (to name a few). Unfortunately, we never really get attached emotionally to any of the characters, which is a bad thing, since this is supposed to be a human drama story.
There were many problems with the storyline, so I won't even
bother typing them all. All I have to say is Technically, there are many cool things about this film - most
of which happen when the team of astronauts sent to try to stop
the comet land on the comet and drill nuclear warheads into the rock.
(sounds familiar, eh?) When completed, the visual effects (most
of which are done by Industrial Light & Magic) look promising.
//SPOILERS//
Of note is the sequence when New York City is destroyed - way
fucking cool (pardon my German). Definitely makes me want to
see what the final effects will look like. And as such, I will
definitely see this film again.
//END SPOILERS//
But it was paced like a television mini-series. I expected
commercial breaks - in fact I was reminded all-to-familiarly of
the NBC mini-series, ASTEROID.
The music is to be written by James Horner. And as much as I
love the guy, expect the final score to sound like the temp
music: CONTACT, JFK, WATERWORLD, SPEED, APOLLO 13, and THE
PEACEMAKER.
I think it was one of the studio representatives who said
it best (overheard outside the screening): "Maybe it will
do well on video..."
Ouch.
I hate to say it (because I want Dreamworks to do well - maybe
that's what SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is for), but DEEP IMPACT has
no chance against ARMAGEDDON.
Goldfinger
I saw a test screening of DEEP IMPACT at Paramount Studios tonight. This
film was not yet completed meaning that some of the special effects were
not
yet finished or were just green and blue screen backgrounds and the music
was a temp track. As much as I want to say that this movie was excellent,
unfortunately it had some problems, but first I'll tell you the good stuff.
The special effects that I did see were awesome! This is one bad comet!
There are some great destruction scenes in this movie (I would have to say
comparable to those in ID4). The tidal waves were enormous and you could
really get the feeling of how big and powerful they were. It felt like
they
were going to penetrate the screen and pound us all. The space mission to
the comet was exciting, action packed, and very suspenseful. This film
also
had a great story and had some good plot twists. In about the first half
hour of the film, I thought I had the whole movie figured out, but new
variables jumped into the equation throughout the movie that kept me
interested and had me in anticipation for what was going to happen next.
It
was these things about the movie that made it good. Now the bad news, the
characters sucked! For a disaster movie, never have I seen more awkward
moments than the ones that occurred in this movie. Imagine the
overdramatic
dialogue from Starship Troopers and then puffed up ten times more with
wailing and screaming from the girl who played opposite Elijah Wood (I
forget her name). This movie tries to do too much and just doesn't pull it
off. The characters are not developed very well that in some parts it left
me confused. The film tries to get the audience emotionally involved with
the characters which only achieved laughs from the audience. I mean,
families are being separated and they know they'll never see each other
again, and all the people around me are laughing. I doubt that's what the
creators of this film intended. Bottom line, I couldn't relate to the
characters. They reacted in ways that just were not believable and they
would either show no emotion or too much. Some things the characters do
just don't make any sense and the element of "sacrificing one life for
another" in this movie is overdone and sometimes is done in vain. Although
the ending had some great action, it ended too quickly. The film didn't
wrap up the story. It just ended abruptly. Imagine ID4 if it didn't have
it's final scene and it just ended abruptly after the alien ships blew up.
That's the feeling I got when this movie ended. Anyways, hopefully the
input from our audience will make this movie better. It has promise, but
it
needs some work. The characters need to be toned down a bit and just be
made pawns of the story. This alone will make the movie alot better.
Anyways, this movie reminded me alot of ID4 because of the magnitude of the
special effects and the wide variety of characters and subplots in the
film,
but I know it's not going to do as well as ID4. I would recommend this
movie, after all, it was entertaining. I'll probably see it again when it
comes out so I can see all of the special effects because those alone make
the movie worth seeing. I'll probably just pay matinee price though.
And then we have Bernstein's review....
BERNSTEIN with some notes.Last night I got treated to first-look at DEEP IMPACT, a
Spielberg production--not direction. I’m not sure why I saw it on the Paramount lot, but
whoever made the movie deserves KUDOS. Also for bravery. There were a lot of scenes
that didn’t have visual effects beyond sketches. And weightlessness in space was people
moving around on strings, but the acting of Freeman, the President, Duvall, the Astronaut,
and Leoni, the overzealous reporter, were great. THE STORY, A KNOCKOUT.
Someone delivered a line in the movie that, “There would not be an Armageddon.” I
wonder what Disney will think of that one. In fact, like Disney's ARMAGEDDON, the
whole movie is about earth’s destruction by a meteor aimed right at us and the exciting
ways we try to stop it. But the highlight is how people handle themselves when its
apocalypse now. What they do is make a modern Noah’s ark in underground caves of
communities of a select few million. Chosen at random by a lottery. Either your
telephone rings, or it doesn’t. Most on earth wait by the phone and never get called. It is
a little unbelievable that the bad guys don’t storm the safety zones of those who won the
lottery. I saw a few familiar faces at the screening with me, Harry, so I suspect they will
report their own takes, but everybody seemed pretty impressed, despite the roughness of
scenes, like whole parts of the earth flooding and there was no water in a couple of shots
there because the effect were not done, or a spaceship turning and it is just a drawing. But
it is not the effects that make the movie, its the people and the how they deal with the
situation, the zero hour. I think I’ll try to sneak past the guards again when they’ve got
more of the effects done. It will be worth the effort to see the progress
Expect in the coming days, Harry Tasker's and Joe Hallenbeck's reviews. I know Joe is
writing a review that describes the audience's reaction, as well as what could possibly be
done to salvage the film. I now the above reviews don't sound that bad, but the bulk of
the short iddy bitty reviews said things like, "It Sucked!!!" "Worse than ASTEROID"
that sort of thing, and didn't go into why. I like 'WHY'. Because it tells me where the hell
the reviewer is coming from. So expect more on this screening. Also Los Angelers be on
the look out, I'm told there will be another screening in the next 7 to 11 days. So stay
tuned!!!
And then here is Goliath's review..
.
