Asteroid

Starring: Annabella Sciorra, Michael Biehn Director: Bradford May Original UK Premiere: 1997 Dvd Release: 2nd June, 2003 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Collector's Edition, Full Screen, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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A two-part US TV miniseries here edited into a 122-minute feature, Asteroid was originally rushed onto screens in 1996, well before the one-two big screen punch of Deep Impact & Armageddon. Single mum-cum-astronomy boffin Dr Lily McKee works out that a comet is about to divert a meteor shower towards Earth & spends the first half of the film alerting the authorities to the danger, & the second half helping rugged rescue guy Jack Wallach haul survivors out from under the rubble caused when a bunch of minor asteroids collide with the planet ; all while as the usual shenanigans go on to cope with the big, preventable chunk. The script explains everything in childrens science lecture terms & is written in pure comforting cliché-speak . With its hymn to the quick-thinking authorities & intently cooperating heroes, this may be the most pro-Establishment disaster film ever made: only a few panicky civilians cause any trouble, & we need plot contrivances to get made-for-TV he-man Biehn into danger as he outruns a flood in Kansas City or searches for the heroines missing kid in the burning wreckage of Dallas. A large supporting cast of no-name labcoats, uniforms & victims clutter up the screen between the effects. Of course, this cant compete with its big-screen counterparts, but it did get there first, coopting the CGI & modelwork techniques of Independence Day to the rock-from-space sub-genre as cities are smashed, crowds submerged, the planet battered & multitudes saved to order.

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