Reviewed by: Joe

Directed by: Michael Bay

Produced by: Gale Anne Hurd, Michael Bay, & Jerry Bruckheimer

Cast: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, & Will Patton

Released: July 1, 1998.

Science Fiction/Fantasy and Thriller 2 hrs. 24 min. Bruce Willis stars as a roughneck oil driller who takes his merry band of misfits into outer space to save the world from a giant asteroid on a collision course with it.

whatever quips you have with Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay or the disaster genre in general, Armageddon is decisively one of the best action flicks in years and raises the bar for all others like to follow in its footsteps. Though his films are famous for their outlandish action sequences, the combative scenes in this film go beyond the normal expectation ten-times in that their choreography and set up transcend the amazing special effects that are used to execute the sequence. Though there are many things to compliment the filmmakers on in this film, the feature is far from perfect but not so much so that it is an utterly unbearable disaster (no pun intended). At times the situations involved are too unbelievable and far-fetched, though it to be suggested that they may not have been intended to taken seriously in the first place, that it takes away some of the film’s credibility. It would have been better if the situations were more down-to-earth (once again, no pun intended) for the audience to take the plot of the film more seriously.

And, yes, several moments in the feature are over-drawn and clichéd but with the overall tone of the film being quite entertaining, one can forgive the filmmakers for such mistakes. Clearly if you don’t enjoy action films or can bother leaving your head at the door (not entirely but for portions of the film) then Armageddon isn’t for you but Bruckheimer flicks have the weird effect of making the most unlikely people fans of his work, so give it a shot before passing judgment.