**This opinion gives away quite a lot of the plot**
Armageddon is much like Deep Impact (which I have also written an opinion on, but I’ll stop selling myself now!!). The basis of the story is that there is an asteroid the size of Texas on a collision course with earth. If it hits earth, half the worlds population will be wiped out and the other half will freeze to death in nuclear winter in the asteroids aftermath. There is also, of course, a love story going on at the same time (hey, they couldn’t leave the love story out could they!)
Anyway, onto the film. Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) is the owner of an oil rig. He drills for oil where people have said he will never be able to drill for it, yet he succeeds as he designs his own drills and it’s a trade that’s been passed on to him through the family. He raised his daughter, Grace (Liv Tyler) on the oil rig with the help of his workers. It’s a bit like a family of workers, they all live on the oil rig and have done for some time. AJ (Ben Affleck) falls for grace and Harry finds them in bed together, soon to be followed by Harry chasing AJ around the rig with a gun attempting
to shoot him in the foot, so, you could say Harry’s not happy about it, however, Grace, now all grown up is determined to be with and marry AJ.
Fast forward a bit and there has been a sighting of an asteroid that’s on a collision course with the earth. NASA works with the US Government trying to think of a way that they can stop the asteroid in its path, therefore saving the world! The only way in which they can do this is to place a nuclear bomb on the asteroid and blow it up. However, just placing it there won’t blow it up, it will just harm the surface of the asteroid. So what do they need to do? They need to drill into the asteroid and place the nuclear bomb in the centre of the asteroid. Who better to do this than Harry! With his drilling experience and being known to drill through anything, only he is capable of drilling into an asteroid.
Fast forward again and Harry is introduced to NASA and the people he will work with to drill into the asteroid. Hang on though, they are only astronauts, no experience in drilling whatsoever, so Harry decides he needs his team of workers. He has already taken his daughter with him to the NASA headquarters as he wants her away from AJ but he now needs all of his workers! AJ is someone who thinks he knows it all, thinks he can drill further than Harry tells him and he’s always messing things up because he doesn’t follow Harry’s rules. However, he’s one of Harry’s best drillers, so he needs him on board. He doesn’t like him but he needs him.
So, along comes his team of workers, all pretty immature and up for a laugh. NASA don’t like it, but what can they do. They ask for stupid things like never having to pay taxes again if they save the world and being able to stay in a room of the white house! They’re trained and made ready to travel into space and now they are all ready to go. Of course, Grace doesn’t want to leave AJ, but Harry’s not bothered about that, he’s got more things to worry about.
I’m going to stop telling you the story now as this is the best bit and I’m going to leave it up to you to watch it. All I will say is that from here, the movie just gets better and better. If you have watched Deep Impact so thought you wouldn’t bother with this one then I would urge you to think again. This is a lot better than deep impact. The ending is quite predictable but it is a real tear jerker as you have been given enough time to really feel for each of the characters in the film. Now I don’t normally even feel like crying in a film let alone cry, its not a many thing to do is it? I did feel a lump in my throat though and a big one it was at that and my girlfriend was secretly having a little sniffle to herself.
The special effects are excellent and all the characters play their part well. Some of the characters you might have seen before are Steve Buscemi (Con Air, The Wedding Singer) who plays his part excellently. He’s very funny throughout the scene and portrays someone who typically just wants a good time and doesn’t take anything seriously. Also, Michael Clarke Duncan (That huge bloke from The Green Mile and See spot run). He play’s his part as the again, scared and big softy bloke who’s always worried about stuff but a good man who’s not worried about putting himself out to help people.
The movie, at 140 mins on VHS does lack in parts, but makes up for it in the end. I can see why it is quite a long film as you really do need to build up an understanding of every character for the movie to work. If it wasn’t or you didn’t build up an understanding it would just be another Deep Impact. What else can I say about this movie apart from if you haven’t seen it, see it. It is actually quite hard to get hold of a copy now though as there was another big film out when this one came out, plus Deep Impact came out in the same year and it didn’t quite get the attention that it deserves. A good place to get hold of a copy is HMV online where you can get t for £4.99 and for that much, it’s a steal.
This is one you shouldn’t miss!!
If you want to buy it, try www.hmv.co.uk, I doubt you will be able to rent it at either Blockbuster or Global Video. I tried without success!
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Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
When NASA's executive director Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) makes the terrifying ... more
realisation that the Earth has just 18 days before it's obliterated by a meteor the size of Texas he has only one option - land a ragtag team of roughneck oil drille...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Bang, crash wallop what a picture Disadvantages: The Cheesiest Trailer I've ever seen. Buscemi Deleted scene. girlfriend on the sideline sydrome
Pa8ax 16.11.2009 ·
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