20 Disaster Movies You Must See Before You Die

Deep Impact suffered immensely from being released the same year as Armageddon, despite the fact that it not only released before Armageddon but is also a better movie in any "serious" filmmaking sense.

Mimi Leder's more thoughtful, restrained disaster film about a comet heading towards Earth doesn't offer up nearly as much digital mayhem as Bay's - it was produced for barely half of Armageddon's budget - but actually makes an earnest attempt to invest you in its characters and their various dramas.

Emotional without getting sappy, Deep Impact centers itself around its massive human cast before letting loose with the climactic torrent of carnage, which is gorgeously, terrifyingly wrought.

Plus, Morgan Freeman portrays one of cinema's all-time greatest American Presidents.