Armageddon


release year: 1998
genre: sci-fi/action
viewing setting: home DVD, 9/14/09 and 2/25/06 and theater 7/3/98

synopsis: An asteroid is hurtling toward the Earth, and only 17 days remain to save it; a desperate plan is hatched, but of course things go wrong.

impressions: Well, everyone (including me) will compare this to Deep Impact, which is fine, really. This one had more characters, more destruction, more action...and more character stupidity. Okay, here's a quiz: you're sitting on the asteroid running out of time, with things exploding all around you. Do you - or do you not - sit there and engage in a lengthy personal diatribe to your daughter on Earth? If you're in the shuttle, do you - or do you not - sit there and listen, rather than firing up the engines? When every second counts, there are some things you just don't do; these include but are not limited to: argue, bicker, play ego games, have heart-to-heart conversations, play around with equipment that is necessary for the mission, fire gatling guns in random directions (!) Aaaargh! This mission would have gone like clockwork, and no one would have died, if certain characters hadn't been SO STUPID! One other thing: no other country or resource, despite an abundance of them on the planet Earth, helps the United States save the world. Is this odd...or is it ignorant on the part of the writers? Okay, that aside, this movie was definitely big-screen destruction-filled fun of a world-threatening scope.

things to watch for: The initial small meteor shower on New York.

something this movie has that no other movie has: The Chrysler Building's top breaking off and falling to the streets of New York.

acting: Bruce Willis is the senior driller whose team is trained and taken into space; he does a good job as a blue-collar main hero. Ben Affleck is his overconfident and sometimes reckless main disciple who also happens to be dating his daughter...Liv Tyler, who brings a love story into all this. Steve Buscemi plays a genius-level driller who does stupid things at the worst possible times, and is very annoying.

final word: Worth seeing for large-scale action in space, but it has the plot holes necessary for such a story to remain entertaining.

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