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Year of Release: 1998
Cast: Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare
Director: Michael Bay
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 155 Minutes (2 hours, 35 minutes)
Academy Awards: None.
Academy Award Nominations: Best Song ("I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"), Sound, Sound Effects Editing, Visual Effects.
A gigantic asteroid "the size of Texas" is hurtling toward Earth, and NASA scientists must find a way to stop it, or else Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler won't be able to live together happily ever after. And, oh yeah, the rest of humankind will die too. That's pretty much the plot (is that the right word?) of Armageddon. This Aerosmith video...I mean, movie...is a totally mindless, completely unoriginal thrill ride, but it is thrilling. It delivers on what it promises. Bruce Willis plays a rough and gruff oil-driller who is hired, along with his crew, to blast off from Earth and land on the asteriod, where the crew will drill a hole, insert a nuclear warhead, and blow the big rock to pieces. Ben Affleck is the crew member who is in love with Willis' daughter, played by Liv Tyler. The acting is sufficient, with the best performance coming from Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade) as the NASA expert who oversees the astronaut training of the crew members. The entire plot of the movie must have taken about half a minute to think up, and it is completely unbelievable and one hundred percent predictable. It is filled with the many coincidences, unexplained actions, and just-in-the-nick-of-time moments that you would expect from this type of summer blockbuster. There is also the inevitable, always-present "I love you, I promise I'll come back for you" love story that is a rule for this kind of movie, which fails here due to the total lack of chemistry between Affleck and Tyler. The jokes are mostly lame, with a few funny lines here and there from Steve Buscemi, the comic relief of the movie (he's funny just to look at). The editing is horrible -- there are many confusing moments when you are not sure what the heck is going on, and the movie is way, way too long. But, it doesn't pretend to be anything better than what it is, and it serves its purpose well. There are some tense moments, plenty of action, and lots of impressive special effects.
- Average
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