how time changes things

Rating: 3/10 (5 May 2000)

I'm looking back at this review I wrote back when I seemed to not know any better, and I guess its one of those times as a movie critic your position HAS to change. When I first saw Armageddon, I liked it, I liked its energy and its sense of humor, and the kind of Michael Bay style theatricality that went with it. That was when I was 14. Since then I've seen the film a couple more times, and each time I saw it again I wondered how I could've given such high marks to a film that is really of low quality. Armageddon is popcorn entertainment incarnate, but it brings more of the lesser qualities than the better- cheesy, overwrought acting style (could someone please tell Ben Affleck to never cry again?), over-stylized special effects, and a sense of humor that is always the same- a little weak and PG-13 predictable in the guise of wit. There's romance, but its never as long as one might like. The ground control scenes with Thornton, maybe at times the only bits of good in the film, are also weak and over-produced. I guess as I get older and see more films stuff like this just isn't as entertaining anymore.