Review of Armageddon (1996) by Claudette A — 22 Sep 2014

"Armageddon" shows most of the usual ingredients for a Michael Bay film - a simplistic story, an A-list cast with very little to do, and some explosions. But, for this premise, it's gotta be said that it kind of works.

The film follows a period of intense crisis for the world. A fragment of a massive asteroid hits the Earth, causing widespread destruction and casualties. With the large asteroid (the size of Texas) en route, NASA devises a plan to destroy the asteroid before it can destroy the human race. Bringing in oil drill expert Harry Stamper and his team, the race is on to prevent the annihilation of life on Earth.

The highly regarded cast includes names such as Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Will Patton, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan, Owen Wilson and William Fichtner. As mentioned, they don't often have much to do, but they still seemed more engaged with their material than the casts of some of Bay's more recent films.

It's a ludicrous premise, and there's some incredibly cheesy parts of the script and unneccesary explosions and deaths, but it's what you sort of expect coming in. Overall, this film exceeds expectations, although you could never accuse it of being a great film.