Entertainment to the max!

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2000)

I wasn't that pleased with the other disaster flick, Deep Impact, which was released earlier than Armageddon, so I wasn't really expecting it to be all that good. Although it wasn't great, Armageddon entertained me to the max, which made it for me not to enjoy.
At the obligatory scientific-military crisis conflab with NASA's director (Billy Bob Thornton) we get a refresher course in extermination events. This particular cosmic uh-oh, Asteroid Dottie, is the size of Texas and will hit planet Earth in 18 days, leaving not even a bacterium alive. Our only hope is for a rock rendezvous mission to drill a hole deep into the sucker and nuke it at the core. Hence the urgent need to locate "the world's best deep-core driller". Cue Bruce Willis as Harry Stamper, a rowdy, globe-trotting maverick inspired by famed oil well firefighter Red Adair. Harry graciously agrees to save the world - like ya do - but only if he can take his own team with him. Enter a ragtag bag of roughneck, rambunctious and ex-criminal cowboys who include Harry's calm best buddy (Will Patton), a gigantic muscleman Ving Rhames lookalike (Michael Clarke Duncan), a Zen-babbling young dude Matthew McConaughey lookalike (Owen Wilson), the handsome reckless stud (Ben Affleck) - who's in love with Harry's gorgeous, headstrong daughter (Liv Tyler) - and a wisecracking weirdo genius geologist (it could only be Steve Buscemi).
Armageddon gets more exciting, more intense every second, every minute. The actors are all fine, Bruce Willis is great as Harry, Ben Affleck is an excellent supporter and Liv Tyler is beautiful. She is the stand-out of Armageddon, her performance being Oscar-worthy and all The direction was also impressive, especially for a guy I have quite frankly never heard of! The only thing that needs a little work is the screenplay, which seems rushed at times, and silly at others.
Armageddon is an entertaining, under-appreciated little gem which deserves praise.
I rate Armageddon 7 out of 10.