Subject: Review: Armageddon (1998)

From: "Nathaniel R. Atcheson" <[email-masked]>
Date: 11 Jul 1998 04:52:49 GMT

Armageddon (1998)

Director:  Michael Bay
Cast:  Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Will
Patton, Peter Stormare, Keith David, Steve Buscemi, Owen Wilson, William
Fichtner
Screenplay (story, etc.):  Jonathan Hensleigh, Robert Roy Pool, Tony
Gilroy, Shane Salerno, J.J. Abrams, Paul Attanasio, Ann Biderman, Scott
Rosenberg, Robert Towne
Producers:  Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd, Michael Bay
Runtime:  150 min.
US Distribution:  Touchstone
Rated PG-13:  disaster violence, language

By Nathaniel R. Atcheson ([email-masked])

Cinema has been around for about a hundred years now.  It's not my job
to recap this century every time I talk about a new film, but I'd like
to think that I'm beginning to understand the art more as I watch more
films from before my time.  Recently, I've seen the films of Hitchcock,
Capra, Fellini, Godard, Kurosawa, Chaplin, Lang, and many others.  
Those men were talented artists, and their films reflect their genius. 
They are likely to be remembered for . . . well, quite a while.  

I like this film, too.  Yes, it's a disaster-slash-action movie.  True,
its budget is a lot more money than I'll ever see in my lifetime.  And
there's not a doubt in my mind that the only reason it was conceived was
to make a lot of money.  In fact, I bet the producers of Armageddon
would have worked towards a lousy film, had they thought it would've
been more profitable.  I certainly don't care what their intentions
were, because Michael Bay (The Rock) is such a skilled director that I
doubt he'd ever make a film that is difficult to sit through.

Of course, skillful direction doesn't complete the package, but the
rest of Armageddon manages to keep everything together.  The story is
well-thought out (and perfectly paced to provide for an abundance of
action sequences that never feel out of place), the acting is terrific,
the script is sharp, and -- get this -- there are characters.  Yes, you
read that right.  Armageddon actually has characters you can care
about!  If you don't like this film, then you have a problem with the
genre itself:  Armageddon is as good as a film like this can be.

If you've seen Deep Impact, then you know the basic framework for the
story.  It turns out that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to
strike the earth eighteen days from the start of the film.  So, it's up
to the U.S. Government to stop it.  (Why the U.S. is always exclusively
saddled with these problems is never fully investigated.)  Their plan --
to send a group of experienced oil drillers up to the asteroid, drill
down several hundred feet, and detonate a nuclear warhead within.  

The head driller is Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis).  His group of men is
a colorful bunch, including A.J. (Ben Affleck), Chick (Will Patton), and
Rockhound (Steve Buscemi).  There's also an interesting triangle formed
between A.J., Harry, and Grace (Liv Tyler), who is Harry's daughter. 
A.J. and Grace are, of course, romantically intertwined, and dad isn't
too happy with the situation.

It's absurd to wish for a complicated story in an Event Movie or a
Special Effects Movie or whatever it is you'd like to call Armageddon. 
It's not about story -- it's about viscera and action, and
thrills-a-minute, and all that stuff.  It's incidental, really, that the
story is cohesive and even remotely believable, because most people will
be too wrapped up in the explosions to give two seconds' thought to what
actually happens.  But Bay is the one to congratulate in this case, for
he has made a film so entertaining and so visually sharp that I doubt
any director could have done it better.

I think most of the budget went to cameras alone, because Bay films
every action sequence from about thirty or forty different angles.  Take
the spectacular opening scene, for instance, in which a meteor shower
obliterates New York.  A meteor flies out of the sky and crashes into a
building, which sends fireballs erupting into the air and cars spinning
like tops upon other cars.  The action itself might take five seconds in
real life, but Bay edits so quickly that we get the same scene in six
different ways.  I like his quick-edit style, because it's abrasive and
exhausting to watch.  It's also very loud, and obnoxiously noisy at
times.  But it's fun to be obnoxious sometimes.

The special effects in this film put every other 1998 blockbuster to
shame.  Deep Impact, visually, has absolutely nothing on Armageddon, and
to offer a comparison between the quality of this film and Godzilla is
simply laughable.  Special effects are very important in a film like
this:  if they're not good, then the image is not convincing, and the
film doesn't work.  Everything here looks bright and explosive -- from
the little meteors bursting through skyscrapers, all the way to the
shots of the earth through the jutting rocks on the ominously
approaching asteroid.  The effects that don't look totally real are
still a pleasure to behold, and I credit everyone involved for creating
the first blockbuster so nice-looking that it actually qualifies as art.

Of course, all of this would add up to little more than an
above-average light show, if I didn't get the feeling that Bay cares as
much about his characters as he does about his action.  The film is two
and a half hours long, and not all of that is spent submerged in numbing
action.  Much of the film is dedicated to developing the various
characters' subplots.  I won't suggest that these are complex
characters, but their problems are real, and the emotions aren't put
forth in a sentimental and overbearing way.  In fact, there are three or
four scenes here that had me pretty choked up, and that's a lot more
than I can say about Deep Impact, which was banking on the feel-good
parts of its story.

Bruce Willis is terrific, and I'm glad to see him bigger than life
again (recent turns in films like Mercury Rising have been very
disappointing).  Tyler and Affleck are great together, and make a
convincing couple -- all of the scenes between them work on a
comfortable level.  Patton, who is a magnificent actor, thankfully is
not wasted here, and the minor subplot revolving around his ex-wife and
son is very moving.  The comic relief from Buscemi and Peter Stormare
(who plays a crazy Russian astronaut) is nifty, and keeps the film
lively and funny.

I wasn't challenged to think real hard while watching Armageddon, and I
don't mind too much.  But the film doesn't insult my intelligence --
it's pitched perfectly to entertain, which is what all it really wants
to do.  It's not mindless and escapist, but well-crafted cinema.  It
might have been created for the wrong reasons, but men like Michael Bay
have my respect for showing me that they are interested in making
something good, in spite of the producers and the budget.  I'm not
saying that films like this are risky moves.  What I am saying is that
Armageddon is a big, loud, expensive motion picture that reminds me that
art often comes in the strangest of forms.  

***1/2 out of ****
(8/10, B+)
 
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