Contemplation of the end of the world seems to be just about enough to compel seriousness from a Hollywood filmmaker. And certainly the bigger-than-Everest comet herein hurtling towards Earth compels more seriousness from Mimi Leder than the prospect of a mere nuclear detonation in the heart of Manhattan in her previous film, The Peacemaker. Seriousness in this case, although it comes up shy of the level of contemplation per se in such pertinent predecessors as The Day the Earth Caught Fire and On the Beach, means a fair amount of religious references (the nuclear-armed spaceship sent to head off the comet is called the Messiah, the underground shelter built to ensure the survival of the few is called the Ark), together with a fair amount of brave little trumpet on the soundtrack. And it means at least some moderately patient attention to Human Interest, centered around a cable-network newswoman (and her family), two teenage astronomy buffs of opposite sexes (and their families), the rescue team of gung-ho astronauts plus their older-generation manual-control pilot (and their families), and the furrowed-browed President of the United States (no family apparent). Only Morgan Freeman's race, in this last role, places the events in the science-fictional future; otherwise, our lives are no more in the grips of computers, television, telephones, and automobiles than they are in the present. And no less. Of necessity, the big wallop of special effects (a speed-of-sound tidal wave rolling over the Statue of Liberty, etc.) must be put off until near the end. And it does not, to be cold-blooded about it, disappoint. With Téa Leoni, Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood, Maximilian Schell, Vanessa Redgrave. (1998) — Duncan Shepherd