William Goldman argued in Adventures in the Screen Trade, his scathing
indictment of the motion picture industry, that "nobody in Hollywood knows
anything." And now we have proof positive once again. How in the world did the
nimknobs in Lala-land think Godzilla was going to be this summer's
biggest hit when Michael Bay's Armageddon was already in the can and
scheduled to open for the Fourth of July weekend? That's not to say that
Armageddon is any good. It isn't. But it's no good in the world-saving
tradition of Independence Day, and I'm predicting it's going to be no
good in front of more people than any other picture this year. And this despite
the fact that it's the exact same picture as Deep Impact, only more
so.
Somebody rushed out and rebuilt the Chrysler Building that was
leveled twice this summer already in Godzilla and Deep Impact,
but it gets blasted right back to the pavement in a meteor shower. That's
just a little drizzle of fiery rocks compared to what's coming, however, namely
an asteroid as big as Texas. As Billy Bob Thornton makes sure we know, even
bacteria have to be afraid of this hunk of granite. Well, Robert Duvall managed
to save us from that itty-bitty comet in Deep Impact, but it's gonna
take a younger, buffer buckeroo this time. So call in Bruce Willis. True, he's
not an astronaut, but he is the world's best oil driller. And he and his team
of grease-smeared felons are just the guys to save old Earth from the ash heap.
Yep, just like Duvall and his guys, they'll just Space Shuttle up to the
asteroid and blow it to bits with a trusty old nuke that has nary a Russkie to
be concerned about anymore anyway. Now here's what they call inventiveness in
Hollywood. See, in Deep Impact, they just nuked the itty bitty old
comet. In Armageddon, Bruce and the boys are gonna have to drill a hole
first. You won't believe what happens (unless you've seen Deep
Impact, that is).
So why is this picture gonna be a cash cow? Because it has Steve
Buscemi along to make a bunch of genuinely funny wisecracks. And because Bruce
has got a beautiful daughter (Liv Tyler) who loves him like the dickens and
also loves his young Bruce-to-be sidekick (Ben Affleck), who you know is gonna
come through in the clutch. So you laugh and cry and feel gosh-darned good that
all those tax dollars you spent on those nukes have finally paid off in the
end.
--Rick Barton
Full Length Reviews
Armageddon 
Armageddon 
Armageddon 
Armageddon 
Capsule Reviews
Armageddon 
Armageddon 
Armageddon 
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