Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thorton and Liv Tyler
Yet another hyped up special effects movie for the summer of 1998, and even another movie about a object in space hurtling towards us at a million miles per hour... the difference is, this one is actually good. I always worry about movies that have a lot of hype, because that usually means they are hyping it up because the movie can't hype itself up... and Armageddon was being hyped over a year ago. But it really was a very good movie, not a masterpiece mind you, but a very entertaining movie.
Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) saving the world
When it first started I was even more worried then before I went into the theater because the plot was taking awhile to set up, especially considering the fact that everyone on the planet has know the basic setup for Armageddon for months now, a giant asteroid is hurtling towards earth, threatening to destroy all life on our little planet. After we find this out (after a very destructive meteor shower in New York City that shows this movies special effects might early in the film) we learn that the only real way to beat this threat to our very existence is to atempt to send up a team of drillers to drill into the rock and plant a thermonuclear bomb inside to split the asteroid and deflect it away from earth. The problem is we (as in the earth) only have fifteen days to put together a crew, train them, get the mission ready, send up the team, drill the hole, plant the nuke, get off the rock and blow it to pieces. The think tank at NASA, led by Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thorton) finds out that the best driller in the world is Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis), who has been able to drill for oil in places where everyone else said he never could. They send for him and ask him to help and train their astronaut team that is going to try and save us all... but in Harry's opinion there is now way he can train people who have no idea how to drill in the time he has so he recommends that they send up his drilling crew, especially his younger protege A.J. Frost (Ben Affleck) even though he now hates A.J. because he just found out that he is in love with Harry's daughter Grace (Liv Tyler). After assembling the team and training them for about a week they are ready to go up and kick some asteroid butt. It's here where the action really begins... first they have to dock with the Russian space station to refuel for a long burn they will need to reach the speed neccessary to catch the asteroid, it is here that they meet Cosmonaut Lev Andropov (Peter Stormare), a guy who has turned a little wacko after being stuck on MIR for almost a year. After a nice mishap where the spacestation blows up and the shuttles don't get all the fuel they needed (yet it is somehow still enough) they are on their way to get the asteroid. Of course there is a ton of adversity, and several members of the crew get killed, but I won't be ruining the plot by saying the mission is succesful in just the nick of time and the planet is saved.
Billy Bob Thorton as Dan Truman
If you just look at the plot itself, Armageddon would probably be pretty lame. Even with the awesome special effects (and they are awesome) and a great soundtrack (Aerosmith all the way, I guess when one of the stars is a daughter of the lead singer you can get them to do the soundtrack) it would still be a flop. Luckily for the movie's creators, and for the millions of people that are going to see it, Armageddon doesn't stop there. One of the things that really sets this movie apart from Deep Impact, this years earlier movie about death from above, is it has way better actors. Not to say Morgan Freeman isn't a good actor, but one good actor up against three good actors (Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, and Billy Bob Thorton) and a good supporting cast just can't compete.
A.J. (Ben Affleck) and his love Grace (Liv Tyler)
Another thing that made this movie better than earlier blockbusters this year was it wasn't lacking in the comedy department, all of Harry's drilling team has their own little quirks that make them fun to watch, and together they are hilarious. A.J. is extremely cocky and it gets him in trouble throught he whole film, Rockhound (Steve Buscemi) is a genious who is extremely (pardon my French) horny and Bear (Michael Duncan) is a huge man who is completely fearless. Even during the serious action scenes they break up the tension with a few funny lines. In fact the only real flaw I found in the whole movie was a lot of what happened was hard to believe or they just didn't explain it at all. This usually can be a movie killer, except when the entire plot is kind of far fetched (as is the case)... as long as you are able to suspend your disbelief through the whole film it is very enjoyable. I also have to say that right at the climax of the movie as the nuke is being set off there is a serious of shots that I thought was spectacular (and a brilliant idea), I can't reveal what it is without ruining a major plot point but those of you who have already seen it know what I mean. Overall Armageddon lived up to, and possibly even exceeded it's hype... I'm not saying it is a cinematic masterpiece or that it is worthy of Best Picture or anything, but it is a very good movie that will be good entertainment for the Fourth of July Weekend.
