I don’t know how likely it is that a high school kid (Elijah Wood) may actually discover a comet in this day and age, but it’s a movie, so I can make a leap of faith. Get past that and there are actually relatively few of them to make here.

That a cub reporter (Téa Leoni) should stumble on the story prior to it breaking isn’t that bad, and Morgan Freeman is quite good as the president (he’s always quite good, so that’s no real surprise).

In any case, young Leo Beiderman (that’s Wood) spots something in his telescope, and sends it to his friend Dr. Marcus Wolf to confirm – but before Dr. Wolf can deliver the results of his findings to anyone, he is involved in a horrific crash and presumed dead. Moreover, when it is determined that he was correct, and the comet spotted in the telescope is on a collision course for the Earth, it’s decided that the best thing to do is to keep it a secret to keep panic to a minimum.

Unfortunately, the media does what it does best, and ambitious Jenny Lerner (that’s Leoni) hears about “ELE”, and thinking she’s stumbled onto a political affair with a woman named “Ellie”, pursues it relentlessly. Only when the president himself (that’s Freeman, who is almost always good) asks her to keep the lid on what she’s found for a short while does she do so.

But she continues to investigate, and finds out that it’s an acronym for an Extinction Level Event – a far cry from a woman. Shortly thereafter, the president makes an announcement that the comet will hit the planet.

Perhaps the only other issue is that we can secretly build the “largest spaceship ever assembled” in orbit around the planet and hope to get it anywhere near the comet without anyone realizing what is going on. That those folks should get there – and have any chance of success – is just a bit of fantasy. That they fail miserably and the comet heads for us anyway is no real surprise, nor should it be that they then sacrifice themselves to do what they can to save those who are left.

It seems that the government, who we can always count on, had plans to take out the comet by sending a spacecraft, called “Messiah”, to the comet and blow it apart, but being the government, things didn’t work out as planned (despite the fact that it was helmed by Robert Duvall, who is also always good at what he does). Though they failed, the comet has split into two parts – Wolf and Biederman – and it looks like the planet is pretty well doomed.

The United States has now changed course, and made plans to pack a few million people into caves in the middle of the country, but that will leave hundreds of millions more to fend for themselves in the wake of what may be the largest disaster ever. Oh, and they also believe that young Beiderman died in the same crash with Doctor Wolf. But as it turns out, he’s still alive, and he’s turned into something of a celebrity.

So he, along with Jenny and some others who enjoy their celebrity status, will get to go to the caves, as well as those who are deemed necessary for rebuilding society – but the rest of the slots are to be filled by lottery. Those who don’t get in are simply out of luck. The only way they can get in is by having a lucky relative.

Leo decides to marry his young friend, though it’s not really clear if she is his girlfriend or not, in order to get her and her family into the caves. But it turns out only he can get in, so he balks and they’re all on their own. That’s when word comes that Messiah is still out there, and they have an ambitious plan to detonate their ship in the larger of the two remaining comets, which will give everyone on the planet a fighting chance against the smaller one. Naturally it works out.

The only other real problem here is that a supposed “thousand foot tall” tidal wave that is supposed to go hundreds of miles inland only seems to make it a couple of miles, as Leo and his girlfriend/wife/whatever survive by scrambling up a smallish hill. Other than that, it’s not a bad bit of fluff. that is not a bad bit of entertainment, though perhaps better suited for an episode of The Twilight Zone than a feature film. But all things considered, it’s fun to watch. It’s probably better than most of what’s out there, at any rate.

Rated PG-13 for some language and what’s called thematic elements. Presumably this is the potential death of most of the planet, but that may or may not bother you. You’ll have to make the call on whether your kids can handle this one or not.

Tagged with...
Actor: Aleksandr Baluyev, Actor: Alimi Ballard, Actor: Amanda Fein, Actor: Arden James, Actor: Athena Stamos, Actor: Benjamin Stralka, Actor: Betsy Brantley, Actor: Blair Underwood, Actor: Bob Glouberman, Actor: Bruce Weitz, Actor: Caitlin Fein, Actor: Charles Dumas, Actor: Charles Martin Smith, Actor: Charlie Hartsock, Actor: Christopher Darga, Actor: Concetta Tomei, Actor: Cornelius Lewis, Actor: Cullen G. Chambers, Actor: Cynthia Ettinger, Actor: Denise Crosby, Actor: Derek de Lint, Actor: Don Handfield, Actor: Dougray Scott, Actor: Elijah Wood, Actor: Ellen Bry, Actor: Ethan Aronoff, Actor: Francis X. McCarthy, Actor: Frank Whiteman, Actor: Gary Werntz, Actor: George F. Miller, Actor: Gerry Griffin, Actor: Hannah Werntz, Actor: James Cromwell, Actor: James E. Ash, Actor: Jasmine Harrison, Actor: Jason Dohring, Actor: Jason Frasca, Actor: Jennifer Jostyn, Actor: Jody Millard, Actor: Joe Urla, Actor: John Ducey, Actor: Jon Favreau, Actor: Joseph Ashton Montgomery, Actor: Joshua Colwell, Actor: Katie Hagan, Actor: Kevin LaRosa, Actor: Kimberly Huie, Actor: Kurtwood Smith, Actor: Laura Innes, Actor: Leelee Sobieski, Actor: Len Berdick, Actor: Leslie Dilley, Actor: Lisa Ann Grant, Actor: Mark Moses, Actor: Mary McCormack, Actor: Matt Bennett, Actor: Maximilian Schell, Actor: Merrin Dungey, Actor: Mic Rodgers, Actor: Michael Winters, Actor: Mike O'Malley, Actor: Morgan Freeman, Actor: O'Neal Compton, Actor: Pamela Fischer, Actor: Phil Hawn, Actor: Philip Ng, Actor: Rahi Azizi, Actor: Richard Schiff, Actor: Robert Duvall, Actor: Ron Eldard, Actor: Rya Kihlstedt, Actor: Stephanie Patton, Actor: Suzy Nakamura, Actor: Téa Leoni, Actor: Thomas Rosales Jr., Actor: Tucker Smallwood, Actor: Una Damon, Actor: Vanessa Redgrave, Actor: W. Earl Brown, Actor: William Fair, Director: Mimi Leder, Rated: PG-13, Year: 1998