Only so-so movie, but the FX are great!

Rating: 4/10 (17 November 2002)

The movie Armageddon is typical Jerry Bruckheimer fare. It combines a massive budget and plenty of special effects with an average script and semi-serious plot.
Where do I begin? Armageddon is a lopsided movie. The premise is that an asteroid the size of Texas (?) is headed for earth and a team of oil drillers are employed to stop it. The movie sounds serious, but it is really a comedy.
Most of the asteroid scene is an error because the only things they would be able to hear is each other's voices. There are too many sound effects on the asteroid to make it believable.
The best parts of this movie are the visual effects which were outstanding and Steve Buscemi who provides comic relief as the hilarious Rockhound. The beginning scene in NYC is quite well done, but after that the plot seems to go downhill. How is it that the guys on the oil rig have not heard about the disaster in NY? And don't even get me started on the whole nuke-on-the-surface-wouldn't-work thing, because it probably would. That scene on the Russian space station was so far-fetched that it blows my mind. But again, that's most Jerry Bruckheimer movies.
Then there is that whole manual-detonate thing at the end. Why didn't NASA think of that in the first place, rather than trying to detonate the bomb on the surface, killing the whole crew? This was a weak way to add drama to the script.
The dialogue is funny in some parts, but in most scenes it is just stupid. That might have something to do with the fact that the movie had 9 WRITERS!!!
Overall, I think people are too hard on judging this movie. People have given it 1 out of 4, and some people have given it 3 out of 4, but no one has given it 2 out of 4. So I will. I give it ** out of **** or 5/10.