Armageddon

Camera orgies reaching indescribable dimensions, one of the best soundtracks ever created for a film, captivating action, beautiful Bruckheimer-like filters, sharply contoured image composition and perhaps the most exquisite coloring I have ever seen, excellent dynamic direction, romantic scenes alternating with the most action-packed ones, with at least every other shot carrying an emotional charge that doesn’t leave a moment to catch your breath, great voiceovers, and Bay’s stylish and indispensable low-angle. Bruce Willis delivers a magnificent and restrained performance, brilliantly complemented by the rest of the cast, and the screenwriter deserves praise for the wonderfully structured and diverse characters. For nitpicky film student it will be rubbish, for the ordinary viewer, divine entertainment and literally burning filmmaking, showing what can be done nowadays. As Bay himself once said, “I didn't come to cure cancer, but to entertain people.” It is holy truth. (25/10/2003)

I watched it for so long I definitively fell in love with it. A controlled dose of absolute patriotism with lots of romantic pathos and catastrophically tuned action scenes. Here Michael Bay let loose his megalomaniac destructive imagination for the first time and created the best disaster movie I have ever seen. Bruce Willis has never been such an adored hero. (23/07/2007)

A most American film. On the one hand, this is a good thing, because you are entertained almost non-stop and the incredible influx of "last minute" rescues, enormously explosive heroic moments and frantic editing leaves absolutely no room for proper reflection. But the structure of the STORY is actually terribly ridiculous and annoying, and not only due the pervasive pathos, but more importantly because of the utterly idiotic approach to heroism itself. Everything in the movie sucks from the beginning – smaller asteroids hitting the Earth and a doomsday meteor approaching; there's very little time to train drillers; a few rescuers get arrested just before take-off; everything explodes while refuelling on a Russian station, etc., etc. In doing so, the screenplay wants to constantly heighten the drama and tension, only to reinforce the comedic side from the start and destructively dismantle the fatality that the film tries to communicate with cuts to helpless people praying or even that famous melodramatic ending. There are so many deadlines in the finale that you actually stop caring about them and can only enjoy the whirlwind of crazy catchphrases and the overall grandiose concept, which also sometimes intentionally, but mostly unintentionally, highlights the comedic side. And of course, I must mention perhaps the greatest asset, which is the excellent cast, for who else can better sell us the iconic, flawless tough guy better than the charismatic Willis, who else would entertain us more effectively by goofing around and bouncing on a nuclear warhead than Steve Buscemi, who else could make a full-fledged character out of the routine role of NASA director than Billy Bob Thornton, and what man could excel so well in a supporting, almost lightweight Russian role than the traditionally delectable Peter Stormare? Armageddon is enormous bollocks, but, as unconvincing as it sounds, it's honest and cinematically entertaining bollocks. Saving the world is a joke. 65% (15/06/2012)

I avoided this movie for a long time. Still, you can't deny that it's sufficiently action-packed, excellently executed in terms of special effects, mostly has great scenery, and is a fantastic tearjerker. Then you might forgive Bay here and there for those Bay-esque absurdities he stuffs into every movie and the ridiculously far-fetched plot that pretends to be extremely believable. But a crisis situation indeed calls for crazy solutions. And this is really crazy. Great actors, carried by Bruce Willis. (20/10/2014)

Armageddon has become a true action cult film over the past twenty years, which, while sometimes coming off as genuinely silly and poorly thought out today, is still a product of its '90s atmosphere and an excellent ensemble cast—an irresistible combo. Michael Bay is a director who has clearly split his audience into two camps. I must agree that his films suffer from excess and sometimes comically delivered dialogue, but their epic and bombastic nature usually manages to overshadow these flaws. For its time, the special effects are impressive, and I still had a great experience with it, so I understand how revolutionary it must have felt in movie theaters in 1998. Adding to that the brilliantly cast Bruce Willis, even if he sometimes overacts, makes it a no-brainer. As mentioned, don’t think too much about the plot; don't try to apply physical formulas or knowledge to the film, as that would clearly lead to a definite disappointment. However, I don't think that way, and I enjoyed the film despite its shortcomings, and the soundtrack also stood out. I give it 70%. (29/08/2019)