Review of Armageddon (1998) by Pascal V — 14 May 2012

My verdict on Armageddon: I loved it.

Compared to Deep Impact, this one wins by a mile. There's more tension, special effects that are just as good and probably even better (love the way Paris is destroyed in this one), a better cast, a LOT more humor and even a bit more of a storyline (still not great, but better..). The almost two and a half hours of film flew by.

Again, a comet is threatening the earth and again the human race thinks of the same solution. This time it's a bunch of oil drillers that have to do the job. Their motivation and their characters are a big part of the film, which is a major improvement compared to Deep Impact, where the characters were mostly without detail.

Steve Buscemi, who seems to be in every film these days (Con Air, The Big Lebowski, The Wedding Singer) is again great. Bruce Willis is fine; if you didn't like him in Die Hard, you might still like him in this one.

I could have done without the sentimental stuff, those are the weakest scenes in the film, and without the enormous amount of close-ups of Liv Tyler's face. Admittedly, she's not unpleasing to the eye, but you CAN overdo it.

If you stay for the end-titles (worth your while because of a great version of Leaving on a Jetplane), you might still notice the mentioning of "Mr Willis' hair-stylist"; how's that for a cushy job?!