Review of Armageddon (1996) by Erik G — 25 Jan 2012

"Oh, we're at war! Saddam Hussein is bombing us!

- An N.Y.C. taxi driver.

Actually, the main threat in 'Armageddon' is not terrorism but, rather, an asteroid the size of Texas. Theatrically released in July 1, 1998, I was already out of elementary school and ready for junior high when this blockbuster came out. After watching similar flicks like 'Independence Day' and 'Deep Impact', I'm hoping that this film title would be better. And even though only 40% critics liked it (and surprisingly, 77% of Flixster users liked it), I thought of 'Armageddon' as one big epic film, definitely the best I've ever seen!

An asteroid is about to obliterate the Earth. When Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton), the executive director of NASA, realizes the threat, he has only one option - land a ragtag team of roughneck oil drillers (Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck among of them) on the asteroid and drop a nuclear warhead into its core. He sends two crews on two separate space shuttles, Independence and Freedom; the latter of which survives. I find the story of 'Armageddon' great and adventurous for the space mission as well as patriotic for the crew's heroics. Think of the film as "Operation Freedom and Independence for Mankind", as I would like to call it. I understand some science here: for instance, we know that a meteor collision could wipe out life as we know it, just like what happened to the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. While it's possible to use space technology to prevent future asteroid disasters, I highly doubt that using a nuke, even a small one, to blow up the Texas-sized asteroid would do the job - it would, if it were done for real, only take thousands of nukes to destroy it. Beyond that, the special effects (SFX) here are great, including those of the asteroid's surface.

The film has a great soundtrack to listen to. Aerosmith's #1 single, "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing", gets stuck into my head every time I hear it, yet I find it fitting for the story. (Interestingly, Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler is the father of Liv Tyler, who plays Grace here.).

For those who haven't watched Armageddon yet, I highly recommend this great sci-fi/action/drama film from the '90s. You'll see the possibilities of preventing future asteroid collisions through the use of space technology here. Hopefully mankind will survive this...