Customer Reviews

Deep Impact (1998 Film)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While many may say Horner's the greatest copycat of all time, he's undeniably brilliant. True, Horner constantly echoes his past works, but instead of unoriginality, I prefer to think of it as Horner's calling card. Personally, there's no greater feeling than sitting in a movie theater and hearing a familiar motif in the score and turning to my movie buddy and saying "That's James Horner." The awed look on their face when the credits come up makes it all worthwhile. Also, it's not so much the melodies or motifs he uses, but how he weaves them together into his tapestry of emotion. Not only is Horner quite possibly the most adept composer when it comes to turning a mood completely on its head, he does it with style.

As for DEEP IMPACT, Horner demonstrates his mastery of music once again. When one closes their eyes during "A Distant Discovery" (trk 1), his haunting stellar theme emerges from the blackness of the imagination. Never has Horner been so reserved with his sound. Like a clay sculptor, he meticulously crafts a vast emotional landscape one note at a time. "Comet's Sunrise" (trk 4) explodes into existence with a rampage of clashing strings and trumpets, eerily unnerving yet forceful in its drive. Then, without even batting an eye, Horner lulls us into one of the most poingnant sequences he's ever composed. Finally, "Drawing Straws" (trk 11) culminates nearly an hour's worth of Horner restraint, walking the tightrope between unremitting sorrow and joyous hope, building heartfelt momentum upon momentum. Horner teases us with gratifying moments of fullfillment and satiating relief, but never quite relaxes us completely, carrying us through all ten minutes and forty seconds of track with calculated abandon, finally leaving us breathless and drained on the steps of the final masterpiece, "Goodbye and Godspeed" (trk 12).

Ironically, in this humble reviewer's opinion, DEEP IMPACT transcends its Oscer-winning predecessor, coaelescing into a collection of ethereal echoes and lasting impressions. For those of you with a big heart, prepare to have every string within battered and worn by the end of this tour de emotion.

James Horner is an expert at capturing the essence of what is emotional in a movie, and breathing musical life into it. I found DEEP IMPACT, the movie, to be almost unbearably moving and sad, yet infused throughout with a nobility and a human touch that differed from movies with an action-bent, like ARMAGEDDON. I was knocked out of my seat by DEEP IMPACT, and it caught me by surprise. After rushing out to buy the Horner soundtrack, it became clear to me that perhaps the main reason I was so moved was because of this haunting and poetic score. There is a mesmerizing quality to the evolution of that one, all-mighty theme, and the finale still leaves me in a weakened state of sadness and euphoria. If you liked the TITANIC score, you will love this one.

I can't say much more good about this soundtrack than has already been said by the other reviewers (With the exception of our friend from Seattle), so I'll just echo their sentiments. This is one of the best soundtracks I've heard, arguably better than Titanic even. While the monotony of it may drag on some people, the quiet beauty of the monotony will just encapture others. That would be the only knock I could think of, the sameness of all the tracks, and the similarity to other Horner works, notably Titanic. But those aren't enough to take away a star, and overpower the deeply impacting main themes presented. The patriotism and valor embodied here are powerful, and moving. So do yourself a favor, especially if you're a Horner fan, and get this soundtrack.

This CD should have deep impacted itself so far into the underworld that the true horridness of it would expell Satan himself from his unholy lair back to the gates of Heaven where he would repent all of his sins for he had experienced the forsakening sounds of evil.

This is one of those James Horner scores that does not quite measure up like the others. Some of the music is good here, but nothing really stands out for me. The recording is not too good here, as most of the music is really, really quiet and you have to crank up the volume high just to barely hear anything. The soundtrack is very long at about 77 minutes, which bores you to death after a while. The usual Horner trademark sounds are present in this score, such as the horn blasts and snare drum licks. Most of the tracks contain quiet pianos and really soft strings and barely audible brasses. "Crucial Rendezvous" contains the patriotic main theme which although decent, does not really stand out. "The Comet's Sunrise" has some good action music that fans of Horner will instantly recognize and "The Wedding" is one of the best tracks with gentle and romantic string passages. "The President's Speech" is a good track with a patriotic feel and "Drawing Straws" has some rhythmic string passages that are good. "Goodbye and Godspeed" is the best track with a choir along with the full orchestra. Although some great music can be found on this soundtrack, the music really doesn't quite take off the way I wanted it to and the end result is a fair listenings worth.

Another great score for James Horner. The first track is great and magestic. But sounds like the other scores Horner has composed. The only downside of the CD is the lengthy tracks. After 6 minutes, my attention span begins to kick in. But a great score.

Though it received mixed critical and audience reaction when it was released during the summer of 1998, the science fiction/disaster movie DEEP IMPACT, about a large comet on a collision course with Earth, was a fairly sizeable box office smash. The special effects were extremely well done. But something else certainly contributed to the success of that film, and that something was James Horner's music score.

Up until, say, 1995's BRAVEHEART or the 1997 mega-blockbuster TITANIC, Horner was not as well-known an entity to filmgoers as other film scoring legends like John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith. But the score he composed for DEEP IMPACT, beginning with the piano-based opening track "A Distant Discovery", which serves as the underlying melody for most of the film, is as poignant and touching as Williams and Goldsmith; and he doesn't lack the ability to create drama as well. This, after all, is the same composer whose score for Ron Howard's 1995 masterpiece APOLLO 13 has a lot of similarities to this one. The feel of the vastness of space and the impending sense of tragedy, as the giant comet Wolf-Biederman bears down on Earth, is very palpable in Horner's music, which includes some very haunting choral passages as well. And none of it is ever boring, even though, out of the twelve tracks, three ("Our Best Hope"; "Drawing Straws"; "Goodbye And Godspeed") are between ten and a half and thirteen and a half minutes in length each.

DEEP IMPACT was a far better film than a lot of people gave it credit for, and the score has a lot to do with that. Highly recommended for film-score fans.

What can I say! If you listened to the soundtrack of the motion picture "Titanic," you're sure to love this new release from James Horner

The soundtrack for Deep Impact is one of those cases when a movie also turns into an orchestral concert. I have seen the movie twice and I think Horner has done a spectacular job in introducing the audience into the feelings of the characters and for this unique time (count "Titanic") we get such a sentimental and deeply humane score for a disaster movie. Horner's famous "self rip-off" is noticeable here, but I think if a musical theme goes well in a scene why not perform it there? Besides, that is what gives this composer stylistic unity in all his works. What I certainly disliked was the lack of themes on the C.D., it wasn't nearly as rich as some other works from Horner, but, anyway, what matters is quality, and it exceeded my expectations. A great soundtrack! See the film and you certainly feel the emotions flow through you. Horner is one of the reasons why soundtracks are becoming so popular.

I have to admit that after the popularity of "Titanic", James Horner reached a high peak in his career. Now almost all directors want to work with him, and truly enough, he has become the kind of musician that knows how to reach people, to manipulate the listener's emotions. He's been very successful at that, creating such guilty pleasures such as "Bicentennial Man" and "Deep Impact".
And since I'm supposed to talk about his music for "Deep Impact", let's move on to that. It has beautiful themes as heard for the first time in 'Crucial Rendezvous' (for the astronauts) and 'The Wedding' (for the Elijah Wood character). There is suspense music in 'Our Best Hope' and 'A National Lottery'. However, there is little action music, as heard in 'A Distant Discovery' and in the middle of 'Drawing Straws'. You can tell that Horner is focusing his music over the drama and the characters. I have no problem with that. But the movie is about the impending disaster that a comet will provoke, and, gosh, how much I wanted to hear some more of Horner's action music, with propulsive percussion and all.
In the end, I can't help to be touched by Horner's musical artistry and emotional drive, because I hum those themes for "Deep Impact", but this CD is an indication that the old James Horner is maturing, and you'll start getting used to his new manipulative voice. So let's get our handkerchiefs, and start weeping.