Underrated, regarding the emotional aspects

Rating: 10/10 (17 April 2004)

*light spoilers*
OK, I admit, the physics of this movie are plainly ridiculous, much of the acting (Affleck) is cheesy and the story is predictable.
But this movie succeeds in creating a dense emotional atmosphere, not towards one of the characters, but to the setting itself. Best example: You don't care WHO gets to manually detonate the bomb at the end. You only care THAT the bomb is detonated so that the mission succeeds. This emotional bondage is greatly created by a very thoughtful use of slow-motion and an intensely gripping musical score.) And you feel a great satisfaction that it DID succeed, a feeling that touches your conscience so greatly that you feel deeply emotionally involved with the protagonists. I have to admit that the feeling is so intense that the final scenes brought tears to my eyes. Next to "Armageddon", only "Titanic" has ever succeeded in doing so.
I also have to disagree with quagga about the "Hail to the US"-thing of this movie. I know a lot of End-of-the-world-movies who exceed the US-patriotism, like "Independence Day".
So, this movie has many flaws, sure, but it touches even the intellectual (!) viewer on a level that he surely did not expect. And that makes it very special.
9/10