Considering that in summer, 1998, there were two movies about things on a collision course with earth, COULDN'T WE HAVE JUST STUCK WITH THE INTERESTING ONE?

Rating: 1/10 (19 March 2006)

One of the most ironic scenes in "Armageddon" is when a dog starts tearing at a "Godzilla" doll. True, everyone hated the American version of "Godzilla" (released a month and a half before "Armageddon"), but that scene almost implied that "Armageddon" was going to be totally different from the former. Well, guess what? IT WASN'T ANY DIFFERENT!!!!!!! It was just another "Independence Day": kick-ass Americans risk their own lives to save the world, with the help of excessive CGI. "Deep Impact", released two months before "Armageddon" and also about a space object on a collision course with earth, actually had a plot - but let's face it: considering that this movie starred Bruce Willis, should we have really expected a plot? At the end of summer, 1998, Rolling Stone magazine declared this movie the "dumbest scum-sucking corporate product"; I couldn't have said it better myself.
As for the rest of the cast, they're all doing their best, but there's nothing to work with. Steve Buscemi is actually the coolest person in the movie (well, duh). They could have done without that whole thing between Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler. If the movie has any redeeming qualities, it's that it gave Owen Wilson and Michael Clarke Duncan early roles. Also starring Billy Bob Thornton and Peter Stormare.
Yes, it was depressing that this awfulness had to appear on the silver screen, but hope is not lost: director Michael Bay followed it up with "Pearl Harbor", which proved to be a real embarrassment for him and everyone involved in it. Sometimes, I wish that an asteroid would crash down on the people who make these kinds of movies.