In association with

Armageddon: Re-mastered Edition (2 Disc Set) [1998]
from Touchstone Home Video
starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Will Patton
directed by Michael Bay

Features:

• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

This 1998 testosterone-saturated blow-'em-up from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys) continued Hollywood's millennium-fuelled fascination with the destruction of our planet. There's no arguing that the successful duo understand what mainstream audiences want in their blockbuster movies--loads of loud, eye-popping special effects, rapid-fire pacing, and patriotic flag waving. Bay's protagonists--the eight crude, lewd, oversexed (but, of course, lovable) oil drillers summoned to save the world from a Texas-sized meteor hurling toward the earth--are not flawless heroes, but common men with whom all can relate. In this huge Western-in-space soap opera, they're American cowboys turned astronauts. Sci-fi buffs will appreciate Bay's fetishising of technology, even though it's apparent he doesn't understand it as anything more than flashing lights and shiny gadgets. Smartly, the duo also try to lure the art-house crowd, raiding the local indie acting stable to populate the film with guys like Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Owen Wilson, and Michael Duncan, all adding needed touches of humour and charisma.

When Bay applies his sledgehammer aesthetics to the action portions of the film, it's mindless fun; it's only when Armageddon tackles humanity that it becomes truly offensive. Not since Mississippi Burning have racial and cultural stereotypes been substituted for characters so blatantly--African Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Scottish, Samoans, Muslims, French ... if it's not white and American, Bay simplifies it. Or, make that white male America; the film features only three notable female characters--four if you count the meteor, who's constantly referred to as a "bitch that needs drillin'". Sadly, she's a hell of a lot more developed and unpredictable than all the other women characters combined. Sure, Bay's film creates some tension and contains some visceral moments, but if he can't create any redeemable characters outside of those in space, what's the point of saving the planet? --Dave McCoy

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• Unwatchable
  There's not much more to my review than the one word title I just gave it. Occasionally touching music from Aerosmith (for Steve's little girl) but the last 20 minutes are dreadful and are so quick-cut that it's like watching an MTV music video that just goes on and on and on. The kids puppet show Space Patrol Space Patrol : The Complete Series (6 Disc Set)handled the very same script much better in the 1960s and - unlike Bruce Willis - Captain Larry Dart of the Galasphere 347 manages to place the... more info

• Action adventure and love story sonething for all the family!
  OK, i understand that it pushes the racial boundaries and yes it is a bit far fetched and over dramatic in places but its a damn god film throughout!
  The movie IS well orchestrated, slightly belivable but operates on so many different stages that its hard not to find something to enjoy. The mix of comedy, love, action, adventure and joy brings to gether a well balenced and heart wwarming movie for all the family.
  and liv tyler well who needs to say more!

• The most preposterous blockbuster ever made
  This will probably be the shortest Amazon review I've ever written because there really isn't much to say about this terrible movie, possibly the worst Hollywood film I've ever seen. Ludicrous plot, unsympathetic characters, awful script, dreadful 'jokes'... Don't waste two hours of your life watching it as you'll regret it. If you must watch films about meteors hitting the earth try Deep Impact.

• What, another 'meteor' film? Oh, no, take cover!
  I saw this on TV yesterday, having wanted to see it for a while. Bruce Willis does a very good 'fighting the odds' film, after all.
  Thing is, this is not, in any way, comparable to 'Die Hard', which works for him with a very straight, simple - and plausable - plot.
  'Armageddon' is the Gung-ho version of 'Deep Impact', but the plot is so farcical, with every possible twist wrung dry, that the only surprise in it is that Willis doesn't magically reappear from the debris of the asteriod at the... more info

Similar Products:

More from Amazon