Product Description

When an asteroid the size of Texas is headed for Earth, a ragtag team of roughneck oil drillers are sent to drop a nuclear warhead into its core.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 25-JAN-2005
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1083 in DVD
• Brand: WILLIS,BRUCE
• Released on: 1999-01-05
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 151 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The latest testosterone-saturated blow-'em-up from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys) continues Hollywood's millennium-fueled fascination with the destruction of our planet. There's no arguing that the successful duo understands what mainstream American audiences want in their blockbuster movies--loads of loud, eye-popping special effects, rapid- fire pacing, and patriotic flag waving. Bay's protagonists--the eight crude, lewd, oversexed (but lovable, of course) oil drillers summoned to save the world from a Texas-sized meteor hurling toward the earth--are not flawless heroes, but common men with whom all can relate. In this huge Western-in-space soap opera, they're American cowboys turned astronauts. Sci-fi buffs will appreciate Bay's fetishizing of technology, even though it's apparent he doesn't understand it as anything more than flashing lights and shiny gadgets. Smartly, the duo also tries to lure the art-house crowd, raiding the local indie acting stable and populating the film with guys like Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Owen Wilson, and Michael Duncan, all adding needed touches of humor and charisma. When Bay applies his sledgehammer aesthetics to the action portions of the film, it's mindless fun; it's only when Armageddon tackles humanity that it becomes truly offensive. Not since Mississippi Burning have racial and cultural stereotypes been substituted for characters so blatantly--African Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Scottish, Samoans, Muslims, French ... if it's not white and American, Bay simplifies it. Or, make that white male America; the film features only three notable females--four if you count the meteor, who's constantly referred to as a "bitch that needs drillin'," but she's a hell of a lot more developed and unpredictable than the other women characters combined. Sure, Bay's film creates some tension and contains some visceral moments, but if he can't create any redeemable characters outside of those in space, what's the point of saving the planet? --Dave McCoy

From The New Yorker
"The Right Stuff" meets "The Dirty Dozen" in a frenzy of special effects and ear-shattering detonations. An asteroid "the size of Texas" is speeding toward our fair planet, and unless it's nuked within eighteen days we'll all be saying good night, world. NASA's executive director (Billy Bob Thornton) devises a plan to drill a hole in the asteroid and blast it from the inside. Enter Bruce Willis, as Harry S. Stamper, "the world's best deep-core driller" and a maverick with a heart of patriotic mush. Harry recruits a crew of roughnecks, including A.J. (Ben Affleck), a hot-rodder who's in love with Grace (Liv Tyler), Harry's babe of a daughter, and Rockhound (Steve Buscemi), who likes hanging out with strippers. Willis, with his imperturbable gaze and incessant little smirk, doesn't seem a natural choice for even a scruffy hero like Harry, but Affleck demonstrates a sexy Paul Newmanish charm and is clearly bound for stardom. The surprisingly witty script was worked on by a squadron of writers, including Robert Towne. -Daphne Merkin
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A celebration of excitement and excess
Michael Bay's films are an odd addition to the Criterion collection, until you recall the Criterion Collection's mission statement reads "All we ask is that each film in the collection be an exemplary film of its kind."

Armageddon is ultimate distillation of Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer's commercial action movie formula, a formula that they introduced in Bad Boys (Special Edition), improved upon in The Rock - Criterion Collectionand finally, post-Armageddon, ran into the ground in Pearl Harbor. Later Bay films like The Island and Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition)are informed by this formula, but none of them come close to this masterpiece of 1990s action.

As you almost certainly know, the plot of Armageddon involves a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with the Earth. The only ones who can stop it are a rag-tag crew of oil drillers, who hitch a ride with some astronauts on a pair of fighter-jet space shuttles to blow the rock to bits with a well-placed nuke. Sounds silly? It is, and the film has a couple of winking acknowledgements of its own silliness. Mostly though, the film believes in itself, and it is easy to become caught up in the (false) grandeur of the undertaking.

Lots of people will bad-mouth this film, but those people are movie snobs. Armageddon was one of the most popular movies of 1998, and it was a defining element of the popular culture of the time. Ignoring it just because you dislike its style or story is to put on cultural blinders.

Personally, I felt that Armageddon's most interesting cinematic characteristic is Bay's use of a kind of cinematic short-hand. Much of Bruce Willis' character is defined by previous Bruce Willis movies, creating a kind of ready-made character who already feels familiar when he first appears. Likewise, the sequences involving the military are largely understandable only because you know how the military acts in this sort of movie.

But the best example of this shorthand is the character of Billy Bob Thorton. At one point he mentions that he was formerly in the astronaut program, but dropped out. There is a very short, perhaps less than 1 second, shot of a pair of leg braces. With just this flash of visual information, Bay has established an entire history for the character. Anyone who says that Bay is lacking in cinematic skills is ignoring his great gift at conveying information in a fast, visual way. A great example of showing, not telling.

This Criterion DVD has all the usual extra features you might expect, and they are as good as you might expect. The DVD commentary is entertaining and informative, and Bay is quite open about his commercial and pragmatic sensibilities, such as the story he relates that a certain beauty shot of a car was included so that the car-maker would give him money to build a bizarre set that was not included in the budget. Many of the cast members also contribute to the commentary; Ben Affleck is the highlight, obviously well trained from doing Kevin Smith commentary tracks. Bruce Willis is as laconic as his reputation would suggest, but his few comments are sometimes hilarious. This version of the movie is also slightly extended, with some scenes involving Willis' character's father, and a few slight extensions that add character beats to some of the minor scenes. Nothing major.

The second disc has lots of interesting features on the making of the movie, a collection of deleted scenes and a few bloopers. Most of the deleted scenes are comedy bits with the actors riffing in character, and all of them are entertaining but it is easy to see why they were cut out. The best blooper is an appearance by Michael Eisner (Disney's Touchstone division produced the film), who tells Willis that his casting isn't working out and the studio is replacing him with Kevin Costner.

All in all, this is a fantastic DVD of a highly entertaining movie. Don't let the movie snobs shame you into not getting it. If you enjoyed this movie back in the late 90s, you'll find plenty to still enjoy here. It has aged very well, and, from a film history standpoint, this DVD set is almost a time capsule of the bloated studio action pictures of the time.

This movie has great entertainment value
I have to admit that this is one of my favorite movies of all time. There are very few movies that even try to touch on almost every emotion and this one does it well in my opinion. For those who didn't like it, I am guessing that they were trying to relate it to reality. Movies like this aren't meant for that. They are meant for their entertainment value and this is full of it. There is action, comedy, drama, suspense, and a little horror. Awesome!

watch this and forever hate Bruckheimer/Bay
I watched this movie in the theater 10 years ago, and I remember it as clear as day.

This movie was the first and only movie I've ever seen that made me so angry as to make me seek out who was responsible for it. "Michael Bay" and "Jerry Bruckheimer" have been etched in my brain ever since, and I avoid their stuff like the plague.

I think what made me most angry about this particular disaster was that it was so long. It was absolutely hollow, it did not make me care about any of the characters in the slightest. The movie went off on these annoying distractions, like the stupid Bruce Willis character chasing the other guy around over his daughter forever. There wasn't one reason for that. There was absolutely no suspense or pacing of any kind. It was nonstop motivational speeches and a crescendo of dramatic save-the-world music every 2 minutes for every little thing.

Without exaggeration, this was the most horrible experience I've ever had at the theater. I just wanted it to end so bad, but it went on and on and on and on. I was emotionally exhausted from sheer absolute hatred and resentment at the filmakers for putting me through that experience, and vowed to forever take responsibility for what I saw in the theaters after that.

Did I mention I hated this movie?

On the other hand, if you're a film student, then this is a *must see* film. Seriously, it will give you that boost of confidence in your abilities you've been looking for. Plus, if, someday, you ever need to figure out the most efficient way to take millions of dollars and turn it pound for pound into sheer hatred toward you, this would be the richest material you could find.

And to top-it-off, I log into Amazon, and find the movie averages 3 1/2 stars in user-ratings.

Wow, I mean wow. Some would argue this is the most quintessentially, universally despised movie of all-time, the one movie that all decent people would attempt to save their fellow humanity from enduring, and someone who might not know better might log into Amazon and see the 3 1/3 stars and unsuspectingly BUY this movie.

And while I'm at it, I've also never been able to understand why so many people went to see Pearl Harbor. Everyone inexplicably went to see it and then complained about how terrible it was... as if there were the chance of there being any other possible outcome? I'd have thought the first disaster exposed enough people to Bay and Bruckheimer to end their careers, but both careers have endured.

There's something seriously wrong here. I feel like I'm going crazy.