Impact (2008/TV Mini-Series/Sony DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Episodes: C-

 

 

Some programs know when they are silly and when you have a TV mini-series trying to be a disaster film, it is impossible to keep a straight face.  Michael J. Rohl’s Impact (2008) is one of those laugh-fests that knows it is a wreck and keeps moving along just the same.

 

David James Elliot (from annoying military TV dramas) shows he can come across as human when he plays a father who must soon protect his children from “the largest meteor shower in 10,000 years” (don’t even ask how the experts know this) and even as he consults his father (James Cromwell), the digital… I mean outer space terror is flying towards earth at high speeds.  Good thing Natasha Henstridge (of the Species films) plays a doctor who might have the best answers in how to stop this menace.  They have 39 days to save the world.

 

Good thing this mini-series only lasts for three hours, and believe me, that was pushing it.  This is just silly, throws in whatever they think will move the story along and is loaded with every cliché you can think of, but they still play it too seriously (even when they look like they want to laugh) and maybe doing it as an Airplane!-like comedy would have worked better.  Skip it unless you have nothing better to do, like watch paint dry.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is very soft, suggesting too much digital work was being done even when it was not necessary.  The result is near haloing in parts and a hard-to-watch experience.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 is the default highlight of the disc, with constant surrounds and a decent recording overall.  If only the rest of this had been as ambitious.  Extras include two behind the scenes featurettes and deleted scenes.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo