Quien es^H^H^H^Hwhat are the relative merits of these movies, IYHO?
-Ben
When Worlds Collide was interesting, based on a classic sf novel, and had the advantage of artworld by Chesley Bonestell. Unfortunately, they let things get stupid (why in God’s name did they change the name of “Bronson Beta” to “Zyra”? Except, perhaps, that it sounded outer space-y), and didn’t pay attention to getting their science straight. Arthur C. Clarke wrote a devastating review of it when it first came out that was, for my money, right on target.
“Deep Impact” stayed remarkably realistic and believable. They stumbled a few times (see the critique at http://www.badastronomy.com , which is pretty sympathetic), but it’s still the best “asteroid strikes the Earth” movie I’ve ever seen. Far better than the concurrent “Armageddon”. I can live the rest of my life happily if I never see another astroid movie, and I’m glad Deep Impact was the last one I’ve seen.
I just have trouble believing that Tea Leoni would be able to hail a cab a day before the world is supposed to end. Think about it. A comet is heading on a collision course to earth, should be here any time, and you’re going to go do your shift as cabbie?
I never saw When Worlds Collide, but I can say that Deep Impact stayed remarkably true to the science. There were a few sacrifices for the sake of the plot/presentation (if you have a black comet on a black background, you can’t see anything), but overall, it was not only the most accurate impact movie, but one of the most accurate science movies, period. (Apollo 13 is the only one I can think of offhand that was better, and the story already existed for that. Heck, if it hadn’t actually happened, I probably would have considered it less plausible than Deep Impact.)
As for how entertaining/exciting/gripping/whatever it was, well, you’re out of my forte. Go ask Cervaise or someone.
Deep Impact was just ridiculous. That’s all I could think when I saw it. Especially at the end - didn’t the people have something like a year’s warning that there was going to be an asteroid impact in the pacific ocean? And yet, just hours before it was going to hit, the roads leading inland from the coast are packed with cars.
And then, it actually hits. The people in their cars see the approaching giant wave, so they decide to get out of their cars and run for higher ground.
And THEN, they actually MAKE it to higher ground, and SURVIVE. ARGH! RIDICULOUS!
OK, I’ll grant you it was ridiculous in many ways, but far less ridiculous than other asteroid-hits-the-earth movies. (It hit in the Atlantic, by the way. That’s why New York and Washington are obliterated). But I can understand their point – you don’t want a movie in which EVERYONE dies. It’s too damned depressing. And a movie in which the hero stockpiles a hole in th mountains and then screws the lid down tight a month before the strike would be … well … dull.
Erroneous, although I liked the movie, that was my thought, too. They’ve got a year–let’s start lining up 767s at every airport on the coast, and start moving people to Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Idaho . . .
IIRC, in Deep Impact, they had called for martial law, they had declared a price freeze, and no unauthorized travelling. This didn’t break down until the day before or of the asteroid. People weren’t moving inland because of the freeze on travelling, and also because the understanding at the time was that the only people that were going to be saved were the people going underground. They didn’t know that only part of the asteroid was going to hit, and only people along that coastline were going to die, or I’m sure the government would have evacuated the area the year before.