An irritating joke with a ridiculous direction

Rating: 1/10 (21 May 2001)

If you are a rational person, you will go crazy when you watch Armageddon. This movie is way beyond the poetic justice of Science Fiction and sometimes I wonder how the studio approved such a script. I mean we are not talking about a B-movie here, this is a multi-million dollar project that was advertised as the Sci-Fi event of the decade.
Apart from the craziness of sending a bunch of unqualified people on a mission to save the world, there is the well known Michael Bay celebration of the US military forces ('The Rock'). There's also a sad statement that the whole planet depends on USA to find a solution in a crisis. You see, this drilling thing is such a sophisticated procedure that all the nerd astronauts of the world are unable to perform, so Bruce Willis' 'American' oil drilling team were asked to save the day.
But what's even more irritating than the script, is Michael Bay's direction. He behaves as someone who's just learned all those cool trick shots and tries to show them off through the entire movie. There isn't one static shot in the movie! Literally! When he's zooming in to a character he uses those trademark Spielberg/Rodriguez techniques and he doesn't know where to stop. Those shots should be used in order to emphasize a line or a critical moment, but he does this all the time! The whole thing is like an enormous music video and after some time it becomes really bothersome.
Just a few days before Michael Bay's US military trilogy is completed with the official screening of 'Pearl Harbor' I have one thing to ask: How can a cult personality like Steve Buscemi star in Armageddon?