Do they give out Oscars for fun movies?

Rating: 10/10 (16 August 2001)

May be spoilers
I think people become delusional after they have seen a film one to many times. How this film rates a 5.8 on the IMDb is beyond me. Armageddon was probably the best summer film in 98 and it holds that lofty opinion in my mind because it was as entertaining as they come. Jerry Bruckheimer has been making hits since the 80's when he gave us Beverly Hills Cop and he just keeps churning them out.
When an asteroid is about to hit Earth, NASA calls on the best deep core drilling team in the world. This is comprised of Harry Stamper, Bear, Rockhound, AJ, Max and Chick and a few others that die early in the film. But what we have here is a colorful assortment of characters. But what these colorful assortment of characters bring to the table is perhaps what makes this film a few notches better than many other films that are similar to it, either with an asteroid plot or as a disaster film. Armageddon is head and shoulders above similar offerings like Deep Impact and the much inferior Canadian film, Last Night.
I think the writers of this film deserve much of the credit for writing some very emotionally galvanized scenes that range from global despair, young love, family love, love lost that may rekindle and plenty of humour. Much of the humour is provided by two actors that have really come into their own since doing this film. Those actors are Steve Buscemi and Michael Clarke Duncan. Buscemi was quite famous before this film but his impeccable timing and perfect delivery of lines like, "Yea, I've seen this one. Isn't this when the coyote sat his ass down in the ACME rocket and chased the coyote? No really, isn't it? Because it didn't turn out too good for the coyote." And "Isn't it nice to know that if the space program fails, you'll always have a job at Helga's house of pain?" And Bear is played perfectly by Duncan. His best scenes are when he shows his vulnerability. Duncan is a massive man, about 6'5 and over 300 pounds so when you see him crying and asking for hugs, it accomplishes perfectly what the writers and director were aiming for. There are many seemingly flawless scenes in this film and sandwiched somewhere in between the humour and the action are some very powerful scenes with Harry and his daughter Grace and even with Chick and his former wife and son that doesn't know him. Bruckheimer and Bay wisely included a wide palette of emotions to keep everyone interested and it worked as Armageddon grossed about 500 million dollars on a world wide scale.
Armageddon is a perfect summer film and it is one worth owning. Every once in a while throw the film into your VCR or DVD player and sit back and be entertained. There are few films that are better at pure entertainment. This is a grand movie on the scale of a Titanic. It is not quite as good as the sinking ship saga but it is certainly not as bad as many asinine critics will have you believe. There is enough action to please those from the Raiders of the Lost school, enough comedy to accommodate those from the Beverly Hills Cop school and enough romance and tear jerking situations to please those from the Pretty Woman school. There is really very little wrong with this film and if you haven't seen it, you have no idea what you are missing.
9.5 out of 10-- The best summer film of 98!