Armageddon
“For love. For honor. For mankind.”
When an asteroid threatens to collide with Earth, NASA honcho Dan Truman determines the only way to stop it is to drill into its surface and detonate a nuclear bomb. This leads him to renowned driller Harry Stamper, who agrees to helm the dangerous space mission provided he can bring along his own hotshot crew. Among them is the cocksure A.J. who Harry thinks isn't good enough for his daughter, until the mission proves otherwise.
Details
Release Date: 7/1/1998
Runtime: 151 minutes
Languages: English, Russian
Director: Michael Bay
Budget: $140.0M
Revenue: $553.8M
Production
Companies: Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Valhalla Motion Pictures
Countries: United States of America
Where to watch · US
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Reviews
John Chard
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
Kamurai
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.
