Armageddon

Michael Bay did it!!! I didn't know there was a film that, with its simple pathos, could trump Emmerich's mega-babbling Independence Day. However, Bay scored in a manner so vehement that he broke through the net and beat the spectators in the back of the stands. The first minutes, however, do not suggest any extreme performance, but rather it smoothes everything out into a decent action sphere with good actors and a certain sarcastic perspective; however, at the latest when the President of the USA unpacks his messianic hit and the anonymous mother personally declares to me one of the stupidest sentences in the history of cinema: "He's not a salesman, that's your daddy," Armageddon begins to have the right zest. This is followed by a somewhat weaker passage, where the film goes full-tilt action, everything explodes, is spoiled, corrected... until it turns into slightly boring fireworks. But there's also an excellent ending, where you can finally see some nice compositions with American flags (the actors certainly have them on their shorts) and to hear pearls like "You were the best, Harry!" Bay literally explodes with an orgasm of pathos, cheese and stupidity that knows no bounds. It's an orgasm as powerful as an asteroid explosion, backed up by famously arranged shots and especially (how many times is that now?) an excellent screenplay that has such verbal and stylistic power that it gave me a headache. Don't be angry with me about this waste. It's gourmet waste, the kind of waste I'll probably carry in my heart all the way to my personal Armageddon. I'm just praying something else doesn't beat him. What's that in your pocket, Roland??? (06/11/2005)

This is truly an all-time favorite full of quality humor and characters. I'd be hard pressed to find a better elite. Bruce Willis' charisma is unbeatable, I can't get enough of Ben Affleck, the "Rat" Steve Buscemi made me laugh too much, and M.C. Duncan always adds that much-needed missing touch to a film. Perfect direction, a bombastic script, and I have a big soft spot for the music from this film. 100% for me. More than enough laughs and tears. (13/02/2011)

I've probably seen the legendary Armageddon before, but I really watched it properly just now. Willis and Bay! The best combination. The master of explosions also once let loose in space and delivered such an epic spectacle that we've come to expect from him since The Frighteners. PS: Those movie references are just superb - 1) My Godzilla is being eaten! - year 1998 both films... 2) Chewbacca!? Have you even seen Star Wars!? ...90% (18/08/2014)

Clichés, clichés and then some more clichés. Add to that a hearty dose of patriotism and boredom, and the result is Armageddon. I don't want to be biased and so: the introduction with meteorites is decent, the training on the NASA base has flair and wit. The rest, on the other hand, is what I say above. (11/05/2003)

I watched it for so long I definitively fell in love with it. A controlled dose of absolute patriotism with lots of romantic pathos and catastrophically tuned action scenes. Here Michael Bay let loose his megalomaniac destructive imagination for the first time and created the best disaster movie I have ever seen. Bruce Willis has never been such an adored hero. (23/07/2007)