Not a masterpiece and a bit confusing, but still very entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (2 March 2020)

I have to admit that despite ARMAGEDDON is considered a classic of the end of the 1990's cinema, I haven't watched it until a week ago. Considering that ARMAGEDDON has lots of mixed reviews I hadn't high expectations for it, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Now I can go on with the review.
The movie begins with a shot of our planet hit by a meteor (similar to the same that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago) and then we see the NASA's interior with everyone also in the White House worried for what is happening in the space. After they discover what the meteor looks like and after lots of explosions in New York City, the NASA President Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) says that if they don't find a solution within 18 days the meteor will destroy Earth. Soon the movie focuses on Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) that is the chief of an oil rigging company that has an hard time with his daughter Grace (Liv Tyler) because she is dating one of his employees, AJ Frost (Ben Affleck). Soon Harry is called by Nasa and he is commissioned lead of a mission for saving the world from outer space. He leads a ragtag team that includes also his employees that it consists of: AJ Frost, RockHound (Steve Buscemi), Oscar Choi (Owen Wilson), Bear (Michael Clarke Duncan) and Chick Chapple (Will Patton). After few days of training, some other explosions around the world and some disadventures (as you might expect with such a team) they go in mission. Once in space nothing goes as planned and after being at odds with each other and suffering some casualties, the team will manage to save the world from the asteroid (tho this manages to kill Willis' character) and AJ will finally marry with Grace.
As I said in the summary the movie was a bit confusing from time to time and it was overlong (tho I have generally no problems with very long movies) but it had some qualities that made it very entertaining in its own way. The acting by everyone (Thornton, WIllis, Tyler, Buscemi, Ben Affleck and even Owen Wilson and Keith David) is good and Michael Bay's direction is decent despite his style is very evident most of the time. The soundtrack is also very good (with the nice addition of Aerosmith's I DON'T WANNA MISS A THING) and the movie itself gives a nice and nostalgic 90s feel that folks that grew up in those years will understand better.
However, don't expect a masterpiece if you want to watch this movie. Just expect a DEEP IMPACT-type movie that it has also its funny moments, and this is probably the best thing.