Armageddon

1998
PG-13
2h 31m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

459K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:32

Disaster Space Sci-Fi Action Adventure Sci-Fi Thriller

After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas will impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep-core drillers to save the planet.After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas will impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep-core drillers to save the planet.After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas will impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep-core drillers to save the planet.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

459K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,375

234

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 15 wins & 40 nominations total

Trivia
NASA shows this film during their management training program. New managers are given the task of trying to spot as many errors as possible. At least 168 have been found.

Goofs
It's explained in detail how the impact will cause a horrible freak tide, what it will do, and that one half of mankind will die in the nuclear winter. That's absolutely irrelevant. The asteroid has a diameter "the size of Texas," which means a volume of about 180 million cubic miles. Such an impact is called ELE (Extinction Level Event). A bigger part of the Pacific Ocean would evaporate immediately, so no matter if a wave or not. The earth would become "sterilized." So no life form will live long enough to die in a winter. (So it is nonsensical to compare that impact with the event 65 million years ago. It's much different).

Quotes
Rockhound: You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?

Crazy credits
Portions of the video of Grace Stamper and A.J. Frost's wedding are shown during the final credits.

Alternate versions
Criterion's two-DVDs version features the longer director's cut with added dialogue and footage, including a scene between Harry Stamper and his father (played by Lawrence Tierney.) A second DVD with supplemental material is included, with additional deleted scenes, outtakes and bloopers.

Connections
Featured in Meat Loaf: Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are (1994)

Soundtracks
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
Written by Diane Warren
Performed by Aerosmith
Courtesy of Columbia Records

User reviews1.3K

Review

Featured review

8/10

My Ultimate Guilty Pleasure- how do you assign a rating to that?

This movie is my ultimate guilty pleasure. It's inane, manipulative, has hyperactive cutting, a ton of glaring inaccuracies (pointless to even discuss or debate), and probably 29 other glaring faults. And why in every dramatic slow-mo emo shot are there 3 helicopters flying in unison overhead? What's the point of having 3 helicopters flying really close together? Who cares! It looks cool. If one day I am having a heartfelt talk with my daughter, I hope there are 3 helicopters flying overhead to really 'bring it home' (and Aerosmith performing in the background.)

Despite it all, I still love watching this movie. Anytime it is on TV I can watch it 'til the end. Bruce Willis does a great job doing his Bruce Willis 'thing' (smart alecky tough guy), and the supporting cast is really great. Steve Buschemi in particular gets the best lines. An awesome assortment of ragtag castoffs (spitting funny one-liners) must save the world- who would have thunk it?

I think Armageddon was actually conceived by suits in a studio office (no really, I read that in a magazine), which is I guess another strike against it. Yet only a bunch of suits could come up with a 'high concept' like this (so high it's basically a parody by itself.) And only a director like Michael Bay could make it. He's far more suited to these types of movies, rather than big historical epics like PEARL HARBOR (which I really, really disliked.)

I read somewhere once that this movie is as close as Hollywood gets to pure cinema, in that it is basically completely divorced from reality of any kind. Is that good or bad? I don't know. I do think if you're going to ditch convention and any semblance to reality, you may as well go all the way. It's better than having something that is a confused mess that tries to be different things (Pearl Harbor.) There will be no 'it could really happen!' here.

So after all this, believe it or not I am going to give this movie a big fat whopping 8. Why? Because IMO it unabashedly succeeds at what it tries to set out to be, whatever that is. That makes no sense, since I am basically saying by all logical accounts this movie may actually suck, yet I am giving it a 8. But hey I loved this movie.