Armageddon (1998)
TOMATOMETER
Critics Consensus: Lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie's antagonist, Armageddon slickly sums up the cinematic legacies of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay.
Critics Consensus: Lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie's antagonist, Armageddon slickly sums up the cinematic legacies of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay.
Movie Info
Michael Bay (The Rock) directed this science fiction action thriller in the When Worlds Collide tradition. After astronomy students discover a comet-asteroid collision, an asteroid fragment "the size of the Super Dome" threatens. It's destroyed by a secret USA defense in space, but a large chunk veers off toward Singapore. With another asteroid "the size of Texas" en route, a plan is devised to send oil drillers to land on the asteroid and drop a nuclear device down a 1000-foot shaft, a scheme … More
- Rating:
- PG-13 (For sci-fi disaster action, sensuality and brief language)
- Genre:
- Action & Adventure , Mystery & Suspense , Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Directed By:
- Michael Bay
- Written By:
- Robert Roy Pool , J.J. Abrams , Jonathan Hensleigh , Tony Gilroy , Shane Salerno
- In Theaters:
- Jul 1, 1998 Wide
- On DVD:
- Jan 5, 1999
- US Box Office:
- $201.6M
- Runtime:
Cast
as Harry S. Stamper
as Dan Truman
as A.J. Frost
as Grace Stamper
as Gen. Kimsey
as Walter Clark
as Ronald Quincy
as Charles 'Chick' Chap...
as Lev Andropov
as Rockhound
as Max Lennert
as Col. Sharp
as Co-Pilot Jennifer Wa...
as Max Lennert
as Gruber
as Oscar Choi
as Freddy Noonan
as Jayotis 'Bear' Kurle...
as Colonel Davis
as Co-Pilot Tucker
as Lt. Halsey
as General Boffer
as NASA Tech No. 5
as Astronaut Pete Shelb...
as Operator No. 1
as Operator No. 2
as Karl
as Dottie
as Samoan
as Little Guy
as New York Guy
as Client No. 1
as Client No. 2
as Client No. 3
as President
as Admiral Kelso
as Helga the Nurse
as Psychologist
as Dr. Banks
as Stu the Cabbie
as Asian Tourist
as Chuck Jr.
as Tommy
as Denise
as Max's Mom
as Hollis Vernon `Grap'...
as Grap's Nurse
as Nuke Tech
as Droning Guy
as Roughneck No. 1
as Roughneck No. 2
as Roughneck No. 3
as NASA Planner No. 1
as Newscaster No. 2
as Newscaster No. 3
as Newscaster No. 4
as Redhead
as FBI Agent No. 1
as Geo Tech No. 1
as Loanshark
as Biker Customer
as Molly Mounds
as Kennedy Launch
as Math Guy
as Newscaster
as Reporter No. 1
as Sector Director
as Marine No. 1
as Secretary of Defense
as G-Man
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as NASA Tech
as Dr. Nerd
as Dr. Nerd
as KSC News Reporter
as Pad Director
as Vacuum Chamber Tech
as Young Grace
as Priest
as Little Richard
as Narrator
Related News & Features
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Should Disney Part Ways with Jerry Bruckheimer in 2014?
– ScreenRant -
Michael Bay Apologizes for Armageddon
– CinemaBlend.com
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LoginCritic Reviews for Armageddon
All Critics (116) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (70) | DVD (28)
The special effects are spectacular, even if the acting and script are patchy, but at two and half hours long, it overstays its welcome.
How does Armageddon, a movie obsessed with countdowns and countdown clocks, manage to redefine -- downward -- the standard for summer stupidity? Let me count the ways.
It's strictly a side issue whether mankind will survive colliding with an asteroid the size of Texas; the real question is whether Liv Tyler, who plays Bruce Willis's daughter, gets to keep her boyfriend.
By the time Bay and Bruckheimer appropriate John F. Kennedy's image in their final small-town-America montage, it's clear their pomposity knows no limits.
The special effects are the best that $150 million can buy and the script plays like a near-afterthought.
The end of the world is going to be very noisy and filled with some of the worst dialogue ever.
Armageddon peels your eyelids back and blows your eardrums out until rational analysis is moot.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay are slick Hollywood operators who know exactly what they're doing: Armageddon's heart beats strongly, but it's pumping adrenaline rather than blood.
Just when you think you've had it with this movie, there comes a farcical, rock 'n' roll sort of comedy sequence, or a hilariously goofy line.
Most of the time, Armageddon simply makes your head hurt.
If you're going to blow up the world -- or advertise your intentions to do so -- you might as well have some laughs along the way.
Affleck demonstrates a sexy Paul Newmanish charm and is clearly bound for stardom.
It's such a thrill ride, in fact, that after its 2 1/2 hours of thrills, you're likely to feel more pummeled than entertained, which is just the point.
Bay directs Armageddon in a way that seems more concerned with constantly assaulting the senses than anything else, hoping perhaps that the quick cuts and constant explosions will distract from his film's many flaws.
So predictable it could have been written by a chimp who's watched too much TV, the huge movie is as dumb as it is loud, and it's way too loud. Watching it is like putting your head in a tin washbucket while weightlifters whack it with golf clubs.
Bay has simply botched the job. His action sequences, especially those on the asteroid, are impenetrable and chaotic. And the narrative, larded with the usual military double-cross, is preposterous.
[Bay's] movies are trailers for themselves. Every scene is all climax and no foreplay. When it's all over you can't remember if you've been watching a movie or just a jumbo-sized coming attraction.
If you've seen any of a dozen similar disaster movies, you know how it all turns out.
The loved-up subplot is a low point but, within such an expert thrill ride, it's not the end of the world.
Of course, the special effects are dazzling.
Audience Reviews for Armageddon
Back in 1998 after the first asteroid disaster porn flick, we got this second very different take on the same idea. The first movie 'Deep Impact' had been a very serious sensible realistic angle on what would or could happen. This film was helmed by the one and only Michael Bay...hence it went down the over the top action packed cool gadget exploding set piece rammed popcorn fireball with enough gloss and shine to decorate Buck Palace.
What is so funny about this is the plot for this movie is exactly the same as 'Deep Impact', admittedly there isn't much scope for originality when an asteroid is heading to Earth but bloody hell! So yes an asteroid is heading to Earth and its a whopper! NASA are befuddled about what to do so they devise this plan to drill into the asteroids core (or near enough) and plant one of those ever handy nukes we have strewn around our planet for just such an occasion. For this they are gonna need Bruce Willis and his team of beer swillin' fist throwing womanising drunkies to save the day, thank God for Bruce Willis.
So the initial hook for this movie is the bunch of grimy grunts that are handed the job of saving the world. In the other film the team of astronauts were clean cut slickass all Americans (apart from the Russian) that all probably sat down to pee, this time the team are so utterly shabby and rebellious you tend to wonder how the hell they ever manage to get anything done without squabbling drinking or having random brawls. Willis' character shows how unstable he is in the first ten minutes by going after Batfleck's character with a shotgun! a grown adult is falling in love with his grown adult daughter...yeah sure that isn't too overly protective to worrying proportions.
I can't deny that this hook is a winner and Bay nurtures it perfectly. The gathering of the team montage is fun and badass as each member is brought in by officials from their own individual seedy locations, Buscemi's being the best. The casting for this team again is admittedly sheer brilliance, Buscemi is the...errr well he's virtually a seedy prostitute using Lothario that makes you wonder if age ever comes into it. Will Patton is the all round sense of reason for the team, Michael Clarke Duncan is basically the gruff muscle (could he really be anything else?), Batfleck is the handsome young guy who is bonking the romantic angle Liv Tyler and Owen Wilson in one of his first major roles plays a Texan cowboy type because...errm he comes from Texas in real life and has a Texan drawl.
Next to the D-team of heroes you have Keith David playing the gruff US military General who naturally hasn't revealed the entire plan, Fichtner plays the gruff golden boy US astronaut who also hasn't revealed the entire plan because he's in cahoots with the US military, Billy Bob Thornton is the good guy NASA controller who is the sense of reason on the ground and finally Peter Stormare naturally plays a Russian astronaut who comes across as drunk for most of the time. Yep so the cast line is pretty darn sweet no doubt, a solid ensemble.
As I've already explained and as I'm sure you're all aware of the other hook for this movie was the firework display show more commonly known as the special effects. The movie is ridiculous yes, we know this, but at no point does the movie ever try not to be ridiculous, Bay and co know what they are aiming for and they strike with lethal efficiency. The set pieces all look like something from a comicbook superhero flick, the gadgets are big bold and badass, the action is wild and furious with people getting killed off in various obligatory space-like ways and in general it all does look very good even to this day. Add to that the now known Bayisms such as mighty lens flares, mighty low camera angles, mighty explosions...even in space, sunsets, that specific colour palette he seems to regurgitate, slow motion close ups and his military fetish. The only things he doesn't manage to cram in here surprisingly are car porn and hot girly soft porn (Tyler most certainly does not qualify here).
The film in short was a huge huge success mainly because it caters for us...the regular folk. The heroes in the movie are all average Joe's with average looks and various defects (mainly mental), this isn't about big lantern jawed super men with huge biceps and rippling six-packs. The entire premise of regular blue collar bums getting called up to save the Earth is a winning formula that most will get behind. This also adds to the nice array of semi adult humour that is spread throughout the movie plus it cranks up the tension and emotions massively when the guys get into big trouble and you approach the predictable weepy ending. Its genuinely great fun to watch this group of everyday schmoes trying to get through NASA training with their attitudes towards the preppy clean cut environment they are now in and their average everyday physical issues such as being completely out of shape. You also relate and feel for them when the shit hits the fan and they're stuck in this scientific hi-tech terror situation with lots of confusing buttons.
Yep back in the day Bay knew how to throw out a good heavily buttered popcorn flick...before he milked it out of existence. The movie was targeted for the wider audience and it scored in every department, even the God awful Aerosmith power ballad cleaned up as teenage girls everywhere trembled at the knees. The film moved with an incredible pace which I found acceptable given the style of the movie and the fact we already had a slower burning asteroid strike movie earlier in the year. Likewise the authenticity of the whole thing was kinda dubious in places but really? does anyone really need to even question that aspect of it? its quite obvious what could possibly be done in reality and what probably couldn't.
Both of the asteroid flicks that landed back in 1998 were essentially exactly the same thing, they offered the same and delivered the same. Each movie offered the same but from a different angle...and they both worked! amazingly. End of the day as I said in my 'Deep Impact' review, that first movie was the equivalent of a much slower sensible simulator videogame. This movie is the equivalent of an arcade videogame, big bold loud bad colourful and in your face, it should rock you, and honesty for me this movie actually did just that.
Super Reviewer
Michael Bay's mindless, brain numbing action extravaganza does it's job by entertaining but is a guilty pleasure at best.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Too melodramatic and out of place. Michael Bay's apocalyptic picture only provides somewhat-fascinating visual with a stale plot and uninspiring cast. This film is negative in so many ways, that's enjoyable and entertaining just to joke at. 3/5
MoreSuper Reviewer
HOW this got a bad rating from Rotten Tomatoes i will never know, as you would never expect Bruce Willis to sacrifice himself. This is as pure as an action drama film gets.
MoreSuper Reviewer
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