At least it's honest

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 1999)

You know, looking at what people here have to say about this movie, I think there are two problems. One, some people have no tolerance for pure entertainment. Not every movie has to explore the depths of humanity, and teach us new things about ourselves. Some of the greatest movies aver hardly do that. On the other hand, there are variances in entertainment. Those who proclaim Armageddon to be the greatest action movie ever are generally those who, last summer, said the same about Con Air, and the year before, said the same about Independence Day.
Now, Armageddon is slightly better than the absolute mediocrity and "one-time-in-the-theater-but-only-with-a-big-screen-and- digital-sound" kind of summer hit that we usually see, but by two virtues only.
The first is its blunt honesty. It promises no plot, no characters, little reason to care, etc. It does promise all the visceral pleasures you can get your fill of, if you're up to it. And on that level, it aims, and hits the target with style. I wouldn't see it more than a couple times, I wouldn't buy it except to test my DVD surround setup, but I do find much of it to be decent escapist fun. And then some of it is also extremely boring.

On full-screen VHS with TV sound and the lights on, and the expectation of anymore than a purely technical film experience, it's not worth the time.
And one more thing: I, for one, appreciate the extreme care that went into Armageddon. The technical skill required to make it happen were far more impressive than most movies of this type. If the pace made it hard to follow, try paying more attention, because had it not been made as it was, it would have been even more boring. I wish, though, that it lived up to the superiority of The Rock.
Oh, and by honest, I'm largely comparing to the shallowness of Deep Impact. This one delivered everything it said it was going to, and didn't try to trick us into thinking it was any more.