Armageddon (1998) Dir: Michael Bay
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This is one of those films that pretty much everyone knows, and a lot of people have seen - I was one of the seemingly few people who hadn't. I was pretty excited to see it, although, I will say, I let out an audible groan when I saw the name Michael Bay appear at the start. However, I decided it would still be worth checking out, though perhaps with a little more trepidation than before.
In Michael Bay's defence, this may have been the perfect film for his particular directing style. Its story demanded flashy shots, big sets and even bigger explosions, which is exactly what Bay provided. It was an absurd film in just about every way, but honestly I kind of loved it.
It had some ridiculous opening scenes, though entertainingly so, I must admit. I was expecting a pretty dramatic film, but I wasn't quite ready for how ridiculous it all was. Was it silly? Absolutely. Was it great because of how silly it was? You better believe it.
My favourite thing about the film had to be the practical effects - they were great! It didn't bother me at all that you could tell easily that they used miniatures, if anything, that added to the charm. The visual effects were a lot more dated, quite frankly, but again, they didn't really bother me much.
The film was incredibly patriotic and America-centric in the way these big American blockbusters tend to be, but in fairness, it stopped bothering me after a while. My main complaint was with the near two and a half hour runtime; the film was way too long - it needed to be twenty minutes shorter.
Bruce Willis provided one of his typical blue collar character performances, which worked pretty well, particularly in juxtaposition to the stiffer military characters of the film. It was good to see him in his 90's prime, giving a memorable and badass performance in outer space.
Ben Affleck gave a really compelling and emotive performance, which showcased some of his best acting qualities. He showed a great range of emotions; arrogance, vulnerability, tenderness, anger and more. It was a very solid, all-around performance, and one that I was very impressed with.
I'll have to summarise a bit here, but I will still give plenty more flowers out to what was a very decent supporting cast. Billy Bob Thornton started slow but got better and better throughout his time on-screen, while I thought Liv Tyler had some really well-acted scenes in the second half of the film especially.
Steve Buscemi was his entertaining best, providing some of the best comedic quips and quick-witted remarks of the film. I also really enjoyed the efforts of the talented Michael Clarke Duncan - who is always good at showing emotion. William Fichtner and Will Patton were a little less memorable than the above-mentioned, but still gave good performances.
I will also give brief mentions to some of the smaller roles, who I still feel were worth name-dropping; Owen Wilson, Jason Isaacs, Peter Stormare, Ken Hudson Campbell, Keith David and Jessica Steen.
Overall, this might be the most over-the-top disaster film I've seen in a long time, but it's also one of the best, at least in terms of entertainment value. I had so much fun watching it - be it the silly comedy, the cracking practical effects or the bonkers scale of it all, the film was great. Sure, it is far from perfect, but my goodness, did I not care about any of my complaints by the end of it. It was so dumb, and yet so good.
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