Haters be damned. I will always love his one.

Rating: 10/10 (21 November 2015)

I was going to start this review off by saying what a guilty pleasure this flick is for me, but you know what? No. I am unapologetic in my love for Michael Bay's Armageddon. It's a titanic blast of pure adrenaline and emotion, cruising along on that slick, hyper real sensationalist action fever that only Bay can sustain for 3 freaking hours straight. Call the guy what you will, there's just no denying the fact that he has incredible skill in forging spectacle and large scale disaster scenes of heart thumping magnitude. Yes, Armageddon spends some of its time in the cheese drawer, and some of it us flag waving, melodramatic hallmark Bay, but for me thats excusable, when you look at the sheer achievement in sound and fury on display. Not to mention the touching love story (cynics and cinephiles everywhere hate me right now lol). Who doesn't tear up at Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler's scenes. I know I can't look at animal crackers or listen to 'Leaving On A Jet Plane ' without thinking of the two of them. Also, forget about the science or logic with the plot, just sit back, flip the snob switch off and enjoy three blissful hours of popcorn movie enchantment. Bruce Willis is his roughneck self as Harry Stamper, oil drilling prodigy who is drafted by NASA (in the earnest form of Billy Bob Thornton) to fly up and drill a hole in a giant asteroid that's on a collision course with earth and threatening to destroy all mankind. They're to drill the rock, plant a nuke inside it and blow the sucker up. NASA is appalled at the rowdy nature of Harry's crew, and race to get them flight ready in the small window of time they have before the asteroid gets too close. Meanwhile, the world panics and awaits the result of their mission. Harry's crew is a wild bunch of dudes, including hotshot AJ (Affleck), horn dog Rockhound (Steve Buscemi), giant man child Bear (Michael Clarke Duncan, RIP) and Chick (Will Patton, just so moving in scenes with his family). Harry's daughter Grace (Liv Tyler) and AJ fall hopelessly in love and provide a huge emotional core for the story, Tyler in particular gives quite the performance. The scenes on the asteroid have have a sharp, shredding quality as the team navigates a nightmarish rocky terrain, directed by with crisp class and efficiency. The cast is a positively biblically epic lineup of recognizable faces including Keri Russell, Keith David, Jason Isaacs, Grace Zabriskie, Owen Wilson, Udo Kier, Charlton Heston, Eddie Griffin, Peter Stormare as a ridiculous Russian astronaut and William Fichtner in a standing ovation worthy turn as a troubled flight specialist. Anyone who's who a big enough fan of this knows of Arrowsmith's music video of their song 'Don't wanna Miss A Thing' and how it wrenches open tear ducts upon each new viewing. There's also a stirring score by Trevor Rabin that gets me every time.This is a film where you have fun. Not pick apart every artistic detail and complain about all the bombastic overkill. That stuff is half the fun. The film critic/cinephile is a preening, pretentious cat, sitting on a fence and surveying cinema to scoff at movies like this that don't any of their precious subtext or lofty themes. Armageddon is a big, messy golden retriever that runs up and playfully bats the cat right off the fence into a pile of action movies, reminding it what movies were meant for in the first place: entertainment. And in that category, boy does this baby deliver.