Armageddon

NASA astronauts observe that a large asteroid will hit earth in the next eighteen days and destroy life. They realise that their only hope of survival is Harry Stamper, an oil driller.

Review

The 90’s was chock full of big, explosive action movies with releases such as True Lies, Speed, Independence Day, Con Air, The Rock, Gone in 60 Seconds, and I could continue listing more.  The point is, the 90’s produced many great, fun and exhilarating movies, and I think Armageddon easily fits into that category. 

For many, including myself, Armageddon is a guilty pleasure.  So let’s get the negatives out of the way first.  The script is extremely cheesy which has come to be expected with Michael Bay movies.  There are a few lines of dialogue that made me roll my eyes such as William Fichtner heroically saying “then let’s turn this bomb off” and there a few moments throughout the movie where I was thinking this does not sound like a natural conversation.  Does this ruin the movie? No, absolutely not.  Another minor complaint I have in the editing of the movie feels choppy.  There is a lot of ‘fast cutting’ between shots, close-ups, establishing shots and slow motion.  I appreciate many action movies have fast-paced editing but at times it feels chaotic and disjointed.  You do not need to show the same explosion multiple times from different angles.

Besides from those pitfalls, Armageddon is pure entertainment and is exactly what you look for in a big budget blockbuster.  For starters, Armageddon has a great ensemble cast with the likes of Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Will Paton, Billy Bob Thornton and many others.  Most of the cast get ample screen time and because the movie is centred around this ragtag team of oil drillers being sent up to space, the movie spends a good length of time introducing the characters making sure we are rooting for them.  Some might say that it’s slightly over-whelming having so many top-billed cast members but other than Owen Wilson, everyone else is given enough to do to warrant their place in the movie. 

Armageddon also has a great musical score; Composer Trevor Rabin gets the adrenaline pumping during the action heavy set pieces.  I would also be doing Armageddon a massive disservice if I did not mention the song ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ by Aerosmith, I have had the song on repeat ever since re-watching the movie!  Trivia fact – Liv Tyler is the daughter of the lead singer from Aerosmith (Steven Tyler), which I think is quite poetic considering the father-daughter relationship between Liv Tyler and Bruce Willis in Armageddon plays an integral part to the story.  And somehow this knowledge makes Bruce Willis’ final scene and the ending of the movie much more emotional. 

The set designs in Armageddon are fantastic, especially on the asteroid. The terrain, the rocky surface and the canyons must have been a huge benefit for the cast when acting, as the movie does not rely too heavily on green-screen.  It was also great that they were able to film on location at many iconic sites such as the Kennedy Space Centre, Apollo 1 Memorial and the Johnson Space Centre.  The CGI also holds up as there are only a few shots of the Space Shuttle’s that look slightly cartoonish, but other than that the effects for the rest of the movie immerses you into this crazy mission into outer space. 

Overall, Armageddon is a lot of fun.  It’s the type of movie where you can just switch your brain off and enjoy yourself.  The story is completely ridiculous but as long as you’re not going into this expecting a scientifically accurate and realistic movie like Apollo 13 then you will not be disappointed!