Armageddon (1998 film)

***Armageddon*** is a 1998 American science fiction disaster film produced and directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film follows a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers sent by NASA to stop a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with Earth. It stars Bruce Willis with Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, Keith David and Steve Buscemi.

The film was a commercial success, grossing $553 million worldwide against a $140 million budget and becoming the highest-grossing film of 1998. However, the film received mostly mixed reviews from critics.

## Plot

A massive meteor shower destroys the orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis, before entering the atmosphere and bombarding New York City. NASA discovers the meteors were pushed out of the asteroid belt by a rogue comet which also jarred loose a Texas-sized asteroid that will impact Earth in 18 days, causing an extinction level event that will wipe out all life on the planet. NASA executive Dan Truman leads a team which devises a plan to have a deep core oil driller train a group of astronauts to drill a hole into the asteroid into which they will insert and detonate a nuclear bomb to split the asteroid in half.

They recruit Harry Stamper, a third-generation oil driller and owner of his own oil drilling company. Harry agrees to help NASA, but on the condition that he bring in his own team to do the drilling. He picks his best employees for the job: Chick Chapel, his best friend and right-hand man; geologists Rockhound and Oscar Choice; and drillers Bear Curlene, Freddie Noonan, Max Lennert, and A.J. Frost (who has been dating Harry's daughter Grace despite Harry's objections). Over twelve days, they train with skeptical professional astronaut Willie Sharp, who will pilot *Freedom* — one of the two shuttles to fly to the asteroid, the other being the *Independence*. Before leaving, Chick apologizes to his ex-wife for wronging her and sees his son, who is unaware of his parentage. Grace accepts A.J.'s marriage proposal.

Following the destruction of Shanghai by another meteor shower, word of the massive asteroid becomes public to the world. Both shuttles take off without incident and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir to take on the necessary fuel for the continued journey to the asteroid. During fueling, a spark ignites fuel from a leaky fuel line, causing a fire. A.J. and Russian Cosmonaut Lev Andropov are nearly killed but manage to board *Independence* before the space station is destroyed.

On approach to their landing site on the asteroid, *Independence* is irreparably damaged by debris, and the shuttle crashes, killing all on board except Lev, Bear, and A.J. They embark in the shuttle's Armadillo to find the *Freedom* crew, which landed 26 miles from its intended landing site on a plate of iron ferrite. When the drilling goes slower than predicted, Sharp reports to Mission Control that it is unlikely that Harry and his team will reach the depth necessary to split the asteroid before "Zero Barrier", the point after which the two halves of the asteroid will impact Earth. Even though it might cause total mission failure, the President of the United States decides to remote detonate the bomb from Earth. After a vicious argument where Sharp calls Harry's team the worst mistake in NASA history, the two agree to defuse the bomb and work together after Harry promises Sharp that he will reach the depth for the bomb. They make progress on drilling, but a missed gas pocket causes a blowout that destroys the Armadillo and kills Max. Just as Harry, Truman, and the world believe the mission to be a failure, A.J. and the others arrive in the second Armadillo.

A.J. succeeds in drilling the hole to the required depth, but a rock storm kills Gruber and damages the remote detonator, forcing someone to stay behind to manually detonate the bomb. They draw straws; the responsibility falls upon A.J. Harry takes him down to the asteroid's surface, and he disconnects A.J.'s air hose, forcing him into the shuttle's air lock. He tells A.J. he is the son he never had and that he would be proud to have him marry Grace. Using the Armadillo, father and daughter have their last goodbyes: Harry gives Grace his blessing to marry A.J., and Grace says she is proud to be his daughter.

After some difficulty, *Freedom* takes off, but a second blowout causes Harry to lose his grip on the detonator. Just before Zero Barrier, Harry detonates the bomb and saves the planet. NASA and the world rejoice while Truman comforts Grace. The astronauts land back on Earth safely. A.J. and Grace are reunited and Chick reconciles with his ex-wife and estranged young son. Sharp expresses to Grace his pride to work with Harry.

Later, A.J. and Grace are married with the portraits of Harry, Max, Oscar and the others lost on the mission present *in memoriam*.

## Cast

* Bruce Willis as Harry S. Stamper
* Billy Bob Thornton as Dan Truman
* Ben Affleck as A.J. Frost
* Liv Tyler as Grace Stamper
* Will Patton as Chick Chapel
* Steve Buscemi as Rockhound
* William Fichtner as Colonel Willie Sharp
* Owen Wilson as Oscar Choice
* Michael Clarke Duncan as Bear Curlene
* Peter Stormare as Lev Andropov
* Ken Campbell as Max Lennert
* Jessica Steen as Co-Pilot Jennifer Watts
* Keith David as General Kimsey
* Chris Ellis as Flight Director Clark
* Jason Isaacs as Ronald Quincy
* Grayson McCouch as Gruber
* Clark Brolly as Freddie Noonan
* Marshall Teague as Colonel Davis
* Anthony Guidera as Co-Pilot Tucker
* Greg Collins as Halsey
* John Mahon as Karl
* Grace Zabriskie as Dottie
* Eddie Griffin as Bike Messenger
* Jim Ishida as Client #3
* Stanley Anderson as The President
* James Harper as Admiral Kelso
* Ellen Cleghorne as Helga the Nurse
* Udo Kier as Psychologist
* John Aylward as Dr. Banks
* Narration by Charlton Heston

## See also

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* Asteroid deflection strategies
* List of disaster films
* List of films featuring space stations

## Notes

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## References

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1. ↑ [TBA *Armageddon* (12)]. *British Board of Film Classification* (July 7, 1998).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `bomojo`

## External links

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* TBA
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* [TBA *Armageddon*] an essay by Jeanine Basinger at the Criterion Collection

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