Deep Impact

Deep Impact has built a real following in Australia on Foxtel Now, and in the US on YouTube TV and Kanopy among viewers who want their sci-fi to think as hard as it looks. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. With 3,358 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Robert Duvall leads a cast that never lets the concept overwhelm the characters. Put it on tonight on Foxtel Now and see for yourself.

Part of the current wave of titles people are actually watching, Deep Impact earns its spot. The world-building is meticulous, but it is the characters who carry Deep Impact through its more ambitious moments. A seven-mile-wide space rock is hurtling toward Earth, threatening to obliterate the planet. Now, it's up to the president of the United States to save the world. He appoints a tough-as-nails veteran astronaut to lead a joint American-Russian crew into space to destroy the comet before impact. The human element stays intact thanks to Robert Duvall and Téa Leoni, who anchor every scene. It hit screens in 1998. Deep Impact resists the temptation to explain everything, trusting the audience to sit with ambiguity. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Sci-fi fans who want ideas alongside the spectacle will find Deep Impact genuinely rewarding. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Robert Duvall grounds the bigger ideas in something human. Once you are in, you will want to talk about it.