It seems that every year the summer movie season begins a little bit earlier. This year is no exception with the first of the big-budget action flicks, Deep Impact, opening this past weekend.

Deep Impact is another disaster movie, a genre that was revitalized by the success of Twister in 1996. Since then movies have dealt with various natural disasters ranging from floods, volcanoes, alien invasions and now giant asteroids.

But to lump Deep Impact into the disaster film category, along such bombs as Dante's Peak and Hard Rain is rather unfair. Whereas previous disaster pics provide little more substance than the disaster itself, Deep Impact is a well-rounded summer film experience.

Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni), a reporter for MSNBC covering a political story when she stumbles across a lead implicating the President of the United States (Morgan Freeman) of having an affair with a mysterious woman known only as Ellie.

She is detained by the FBI and questioned by the President as to what she knows. Because the White House thinks Lerner has discovered the existence of a giant comet on a collision course with Earth, it goes public with the story.

From here Deep Impact changes from an engaging investigative political thriller to a somewhat gripping drama/full-fledged Hollywood action film.

After the announcement of the comet, a team of astronauts attempt to engage it by knocking it off course, thereby saving Earth.

Back on Earth, a national lottery is held to decide which 800,000 Americans will be given a chance to survive. Here the drama unfolds as the chosen and unchosen alike are forced to deal with the severity of the remarkable situation.

There is a lot going on in Deep Impact. What makes the film good is that it tackles a gargantuan premise (the destruction of humanity) and focuses on enough different elements that it gives viewers a pretty good sense of what it would be like.

By using a television reporter (Lerner) as a center for the film, much of the film's technicalities are presented in the form of a newscast. We also see the personal issues such an event would present.

My only complaint about Deep Impact is that the actual impact isn't shown nearly enough. Sure the big tidal waves look really cool, but the film only contains about a few seconds of wave action that doesn't appear in the trailer.

The destruction is also a bit passive. There are a few good scenes of people getting washed away, but in actuality four deeply impacted wisdom teeth provide much more anxiety than this film was able to muster.

The lust for mass destruction aside, Deep Impact is a good summer movie. It has a smartly written story, great special effects (even if they are a bit Star Trekish), and solid performances from the actors, especially Freeman, Duvall and Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Lerner's mother.

If this film is any indication of the summer movies yet to come, we are in for one mother of a ride.