You could apply this same sentiment to director Michael Bay himself, the mastermind behind this seminal blockbuster, but then you'd also have to admit this film makes him something of a pioneer. Let's rewind a bit first.
An asteroid « the size of Texas » is on a collision course with Earth, so NASA scrambles its finest to bring a team of drillers to the deadly rock, where they will plant nukes in it and obliterate before it exterminates humanity. You could fly actual space shuttles through the plot-holes in this film - the unlikely sum of six screenwriters' toil - but one of the many things Armageddon pioneered is a relentless style and pace that leaves little time to pause for breath, let alone ponder such things. So the man of the hour is grizzled drilling vet Harry Stamper (Willis, at the peak of his popularity), whose idiosyncratic crew includes son-in-law-to-be A. J. (Affleck in his first mega budget outing) and daughter Grace (Tyler, who can gaze wantonly at a monitor like few actresses before or since).
Here we need to pause in wonder at who approved such an awe-inspiring cast. Willis doesn't evoke financial risk, and it is nice to see him invest a character with feeling - one of the very last times he would do so - but the credits are something of a miracle. Billy Bob Thornton as a NASA head honcho, Steve Buscemi as a sex-crazed drilling prodigy (yes, yes, I know...), Jason Isaacs, William Fichtner, Owen Wilson, Keith David... Remember this is a blockbuster from the late 90s. It's just awe-inspiring to watch such talented performers rip into such ludicrous material and twist it around their little fingers like pros, and the film would never have connected half as well with audiences without them. But here the subtle pleasures of life end and we need to examine the very raw meat of this film.
Before it was even fashionable to do so, Michael Bay films every scene not just like trailer material, but like a set piece. No moment is too small to get the BIG treatment. He also ramps up the color saturation to something approaching pop art: skins are golden, almost orange, and deep space a frosty teal. You can see where this is going? The only director to have taken this approach any further - almost as a joke it would seem - has been George Miller with Mad Max Fury Road (an infinitely superior film to be sure but similar in its intent to be a purely visceral crowd-pleaser). The music is big and anonymous in equal measure and the pop song needle drops as refined as the rest of the product. Aerosmith's centerpiece « Don't Want to Miss a Thing » made many a desperate listener claw at their eardrums for relief in late 1998, and there is something deliciously sick in hearing Steve Tyler sing over scenes where Ben Affleck is an inch from banging his real-life daughter, particularly in a Disney production. The epilogue is legendary for its bad taste and sappiness... But if you're honest with yourself, you'll probably really enjoy yourself watching this film.
Armageddon is big, its stupidity at times overpowering enough to qualify as inspiring. But it does have a personality of its own, and that is definitely something to be treasured.
An asteroid « the size of Texas » is on a collision course with Earth, so NASA scrambles its finest to bring a team of drillers to the deadly rock, where they will plant nukes in it and obliterate before it exterminates humanity. You could fly actual space shuttles through the plot-holes in this film - the unlikely sum of six screenwriters' toil - but one of the many things Armageddon pioneered is a relentless style and pace that leaves little time to pause for breath, let alone ponder such things. So the man of the hour is grizzled drilling vet Harry Stamper (Willis, at the peak of his popularity), whose idiosyncratic crew includes son-in-law-to-be A. J. (Affleck in his first mega budget outing) and daughter Grace (Tyler, who can gaze wantonly at a monitor like few actresses before or since).
Here we need to pause in wonder at who approved such an awe-inspiring cast. Willis doesn't evoke financial risk, and it is nice to see him invest a character with feeling - one of the very last times he would do so - but the credits are something of a miracle. Billy Bob Thornton as a NASA head honcho, Steve Buscemi as a sex-crazed drilling prodigy (yes, yes, I know...), Jason Isaacs, William Fichtner, Owen Wilson, Keith David... Remember this is a blockbuster from the late 90s. It's just awe-inspiring to watch such talented performers rip into such ludicrous material and twist it around their little fingers like pros, and the film would never have connected half as well with audiences without them. But here the subtle pleasures of life end and we need to examine the very raw meat of this film.
Before it was even fashionable to do so, Michael Bay films every scene not just like trailer material, but like a set piece. No moment is too small to get the BIG treatment. He also ramps up the color saturation to something approaching pop art: skins are golden, almost orange, and deep space a frosty teal. You can see where this is going? The only director to have taken this approach any further - almost as a joke it would seem - has been George Miller with Mad Max Fury Road (an infinitely superior film to be sure but similar in its intent to be a purely visceral crowd-pleaser). The music is big and anonymous in equal measure and the pop song needle drops as refined as the rest of the product. Aerosmith's centerpiece « Don't Want to Miss a Thing » made many a desperate listener claw at their eardrums for relief in late 1998, and there is something deliciously sick in hearing Steve Tyler sing over scenes where Ben Affleck is an inch from banging his real-life daughter, particularly in a Disney production. The epilogue is legendary for its bad taste and sappiness... But if you're honest with yourself, you'll probably really enjoy yourself watching this film.
Armageddon is big, its stupidity at times overpowering enough to qualify as inspiring. But it does have a personality of its own, and that is definitely something to be treasured.