Armageddon

It's Bayhem time again. An asteroid the size of Texas is heading towards Earth, the consequence if it hits is a global killer, the end of mankind. In spite of the billions invested in the space programme, NASA has no answers other than the notion that the asteroid will need to be nuked, from the inside. Enter Harry Stamper and his rough and rugged crew of deep core drillers. Can NASA get these men up on the asteroid and do the job? The fate of mankind rests with a bunch of odd balls! Perhaps because I have a particular kink for the disaster picture, I find it hard to understand the hate for Armageddon. I am after all a man who gleefully defends The Towering Inferno et al with staunch defiance. Armageddon does exactly what was expected from it, ridiculous high octane entertainment with laughs, peril and obligatory chest thumping bravado. All of course cloaked in director Michael Bay's gleeful insistence on blowing things up with devilish panache. Sure there are some twee moments, sure there is some less than great acting on show, but you know what? It's a disaster picture for Michael Bay's crying out loud sake! Check the brain at the door, turn the sound and colour systems up, enjoy the effects on offer and singalong to Aeromith's smashing, "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing". Armageddon, does exactly what it says on the cover, don't take it so serious folks. 8/10

Good watch, might watch again, and can recommend. This has a great premise and stacked cast which is incredibly well balanced not only between the "diggers", but the control crew and the astronauts as well. While they take that opportunity use the characters to really build the world, the story really just boils down to "meteor going to kill earth" and "guy and girl connection, but girl's daddy doesn't like". Surprisingly the latter takes up a significant amount of time in the movie, but everyone gets their moment in the spotlight. Steve Buscemi definitely has some of the most memorable moments in the movie. This is the first movie I can think of that has this sort of detail of space travel, let alone tried to simulate the hellish landscape of an asteroid. It really feels like they put the production value into not only to making the movie look good but getting the details right. This is a "I laughed, I cried" sort of movie, and while I don't think it does any one thing especially well, it definitely delivers a solidly good experience.

This starts off quite entertaingly as "Stamper" (Bruce Willis) discovers that his daughter "Grace" (Liv Tyler) has been having a romance with one of his employees "AJ" (Ben Affleck) and so chases him around a drilling establishment taking pot shots at him with a shotgun. Sadly, though, this silliness is soon replaced by a greater one as we discover a great meteor is heading our way and "Stamper" and his team might be the only hope for mankind. Egged on by "Truman" (Billy Bob Thornton) they must quickly learn to be astronauts, then by way of a Russian space station, head into space to plant a gazillion ton nuclear bomb on the thing so it will split up and harmlessly pass us by. This is probably Willis at the top of his game, lively and mischievous and Affleck was at his most eye-catching, but the rest of this just just fits nicely into the well trodden sphere of sci-fi disaster movie. The visual effects are fine, but the dialogue is pretty pedestrian and the ending has a cheesy sentimentality to it that made my eyes roll. It is far, far too long. We spend at least an hour faffing about on the preamble, establishing the characters and when finally lift off comes, I was not entirely convinced the meteor wasn't welcome. There is quite a fun contribution from cosmonaut "Andropov" (Peter Stormare) who knows just how to fix high-spec technology, but otherwise this is all just a rather colourful vehicle for the star that is enjoyable enough, eventually, but really nothing to phone home about.

**Armageddon might not be as good as I think, but it’s definitely not as bad as many say.** I know I’m an extreme to love this movie as much as I do, but I can’t help it! I know it’s filled with scientific inaccuracies (I’m ok with that. I don’t watch Michael Bay movies for the science). I know it has some cliche parts and cheesy lines, but it all just works. The casting director for this movie needs a trophy because every character has the perfect actor portraying them. From Stomare’s crazy cosmonaut to Fitchner’s by-the-book commander, along with Affleck, Duncan, Tyler, Wilson, Thornton, and more - this cast is stacked! Bruce Willis is the perfect choice for a grizzled oil driller that could save the world. The result is a cast of characters you care for, are scared for, root for, and almost mourn for. Michael Bay’s explosive directing and love for special effects guys this outlandish plot perfectly. And the soundtrack! Liv’s father, Steven Tyler, and Aerosmith provide an iconic soundtrack with songs like Sweet Emotion, Come Together, and I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing. The cast, music, effects, camaraderie, and epic heroism make this movie one of my all-time favorites!

Directed by Michael Bay, co-written by J.J. Abrams and starring Bruce Willis just being Bruce Willis while he saves the world from a giant asteroid with a proper bunch of misfits and some oil drilling equipment. I'm in!

Another end of the world movie. Not really action more drama then anything. It's an unlikely team that saves the world.

**_First, there was "2001: A Space Odyssey," and then..._** ..."Armageddon." Lol, okay maybe it suffers from too much modern blockbuster syndrome, but I couldn't help thinking that 1998's "Armageddon" was the 1990's "2001: A Space Odyssey." I visualize the sci-fi progression something like this: 1968: "2001: A Space Odyssey" 1979: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (which towers alone in the Trek franchise -- a profoundly spiritual TRIUMPH) 1986: "Aliens" 1998: "Armageddon" Some might object that I omitted "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" (1977), but it really doesn't fit the list. Don't get me wrong, it's good for what it is, a space fantasy, but it's just too kid-oriented to be relevant to adult-oriented sci-fi. In any case, I hated "Armageddon" when I first saw it and never cared to see it again. My dislike was a combination of the whole "blockbuster" syndrome with its fast-editing to please those with ADHD approach and, believe it or not, Roger Ebert's scathing denouncement, which illustrates the power of words. Well I decided to give it another chance. Wow, was I entertained! Despite my dislike of fast-editing techniques, the story pulled me in right away and held me to the end. Yeah, some of the melodrama is too much, like Willis' scene with his daughter (Liv Tyler) near the end (rolling my eyes), but the filmmakers actually put some depth into the story and it mixes well with the action and humor. Their best move was to focus on character so that we knew and identified (with) the many individuals before the last hour's non-stop suspense & action kicked-in. Speaking of the humor, there are some laugh-out-loud lines, like the one on not paying taxes, ever. Furthermore, the star-studded cast is great and I especially appreciated the inclusion of Keith David and Michael Clarke Duncan (RIP). The film is rather long at 2 hours and 31 minutes (the DC adds two additional minutes), but the story maintains your attention and the suspense, action and F/X are literally senses-shattering. So, yeah, it's a shameless, over-the-top "blockbuster," but it tries so hard to entertain that you can't help but respect it. Besides, in addition to the disasters, action and humor, there's some actual depth to the characters and story. Take, for instance, Willis' character stumbling upon Affleck and Tyler during an intimate moment where Affleck literally covers her with kisses while she just eats it up. Willis stops, looks, and reconsiders his stubborn position. Then you know why he does what he does at the end. GRADE: B+/A-