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Reviews
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Deep ImpactRobert Duvall, Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Morgan FreemanDirected by: Mimi Leder |
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Analysis
| Movie Critique |   |
| Video Quality | |
| Audio Quality | |
| DVD Quality | |
| DVD Contents | Trailer and Chapter List |
| DVD Studio | Paramount |
| Languages | 5.1: English; Dolby Surround: English, French |
| Subtitles | English |
| Running Time | Approx. 121 min. |
| Theatrical Release Date | May 8, 1998 |
| DVD Release Date | December 15, 1998 |
| MPAA Rating | PG-13 |
| Screen Formats | Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| # of Discs | 1 |
| Disc Format | Single Sided-Dual Layered |
| Case Type | Keep Case (Amaray) |
Video Quality
The video quality on this DVD was superb. Skin tones were
very true. The darks were beautiful, and the vibrant colors were terrific. Firstly
the skin tones were very realistic. Probably the best I've seen, in my collection.
I could see everything from little blushes of two young lovers, to a paleness when
people begin to fear the unimaginable. When there are accurate skin tones, you,
well, I don't know about you, but for me, I get into the movie more. The people
have to represent the movie. If a comet is about to wipe you off the face of the earth,
you can't just mumble an "I'm scared" and look happy about it. Your deep emotions
have to show. According to science, depending on how you feel, your blood rushes
to and away from certain points. In this DVD, you can tell, that the characters
were really embarrassed, happy, sad, or fearful through the color of their faces and skin,
which adds a whole new environment to movie-watching.The darks on the DVD were
great. There were many scenes in space, and you can
see the vastness of space with the help of a good brightness/contrast setting on your
TV. Stars just sparkled and gleamed as a big space shuttle flies across the screen. Which
leads me to the next part, color. As the comet was rushing toward earth, you can vividly
see its tail in all its glory, and through all the explosions and whatnots, you see uninterupted
color and brightness. What I mean by uninterupted, is there is nothing fuzzy or any little
artifacts that make it seem unrealistic, it's pure. Again, I rated this DVD with an extreme
high rating. What costed that half a star/cd? Well, there was this one part, that pictured
something like a white shirt, and I remember playing back that part quite a number of times
where a black spot appeared and disappeared quickly. I slow-moed it, and kept on coming.
Maybe it's my copy, but hey, 4.5 stars is pretty impressive. It takes a lot to get 4.5, but it
takes an absolute PERFECT DVD to get a 5.
Audio Quality
The audio was for the most part excellent. 4 out of 5 is very good, but it lacks something.
Now, I love the idea of surround sound. And, I love Dolby Digital, because it's an improvement
to surround sound. However, way back a long time ago when I went to see this movie in a
theater, I really didn't look for audio so, I don't really remember how it was, but when I saw
the movie at home, on DVD, I saw all these "Potentially Surround Intensive" scenes, but the only
problem was the word Potentially. Yes, they had a choice to have some sound from surround
at certain points, but they decided, it was too minor to put anything in, there were some times
where that happened. Also, in some scenes, the surrounds are too distinct. However, after about
a half hour of critical testing, they sounded better, but not perfect. Although, some scenes were
truly entertaining. In my opinion, the best use of surround sound in this movie was definitely the
New York Underwater scene. In that scene, I really felt underwater as I hear sounds from colliding
objects deepen in tone. That was definitely some of the best use of Dolby Digital I've heard...in
MY collection. It was probably that scene alone that boosted that star rating about 1.5. Overall, the
audio was good. There were some not that bad points, some pretty good points, and that one
Really Really Astounding point in the audio.
DVD Quality
I gave the DVD quality only a rating of a 3 because I think that's just about an average DVD.
In my opinion, all DVDs should at least come with trailer or two, plus the movie, scene
selection, and sound setup. Deep Impact did meet these requirements but didn't give me anything
else. In a movie like Deep Impact, I was actually expecting a commentary, or an interview, or
maybe even a cast of characters/production extra, but nope, in my opinion, it gave the bare
essentials. Normally, I would have rated this DVD a 2.5, but it had 2 trailers, so I upped it
by a half. Now, if these trailers were in 5.1, maybe it could've passed for a 3.5 or 4, instead
it was only Dolby Surround, which is respectable because most DVDs come like that.
DVD Contents
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