Armageddon (1998)

After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact Earth in less than a month, N.A.S.A. recruits a misfit team of deep core drillers to save the planet.

Director:

Michael Bay

Writers:

Jonathan Hensleigh (screenplay), J.J. Abrams (screenplay)

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 35 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	Harry Stamper
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Dan Truman
Ben Affleck	...	A.J. Frost
Liv Tyler	...	Grace Stamper
Will Patton	...	Chick
Steve Buscemi	...	Rockhound
William Fichtner	...	Colonel Willie Sharp
Owen Wilson	...	Oscar Choi
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Bear
Peter Stormare	...	Lev Andropov
Ken Hudson Campbell	...	Max (as Ken Campbell)
Jessica Steen	...	Co-Pilot Jennifer Watts
Keith David	...	General Kimsey
Chris Ellis	...	Flight Director Clark
Jason Isaacs	...	Ronald Quincy

Storyline

It is just another day at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a few astronauts were repairing a satellite until, out of nowhere, a series of asteroids came crashing into the shuttle, destroying it. These asteroids also decimated New York soon thereafter. Then, NASA discovered that there is an asteroid roughly the size of Texas heading towards the Earth, and when it does hit the Earth, the planet itself and all of its inhabitants will be obliterated, worse, the asteroid will hit the Earth in 18 days. Unfortunately, NASA's plans to destroy the asteroid are irrelevant. That is when the U.S. military decides to use a nuclear warhead to blow the asteroid to pieces. Then, scientists decide to blow the asteroid with the warhead inside the asteroid itself. The only man to do it, is an oil driller named Harry Stamper and his group of misfit drillers and geologists. As he and his drill team prepare for space excavation, the asteroid is still heading towards the Earth. When...

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Plot Keywords:

asteroid | astronaut | outer space | bomb | meteorite | 

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Taglines:

Prepare to Fight Like There's No Tomorrow.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi disaster action, sensuality and brief language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Indonesian

Release Date:

1 July 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Armageddon

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Theatre - 615 S. Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$36,089,972 (USA) (3 July 1998)

Gross:

$201,573,391 (USA) (4 December 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Valhalla Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

151 min 153 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Footage from this film (namely the destruction of the Atlantis space shuttle) was utilized in a hoax which purportedly featured actual satellite photographs of the February 1st, 2003 destruction of Space Shuttle Columbia.

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Goofs

There are numerous errors in the depiction of the physics of space and microgravity and of asteroids (their characteristics, their behavior and their effects). See trivia.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Camera shoots past the moon to slowly zoom in on the Earth]
Narrator: This is the Earth, at a time when the dinosaurs roamed a lush and fertile planet.
[From behind the camera, a giant asteroid appears, speeding towards the Earth ahead of it]
Narrator: A piece of rock just 6 miles wide changed all that.
[Blazing through the atmosphere, the asteroid impacts with a spectacular display of fire and destruction]
Narrator: It hit with the force of 10,000 nuclear weapons. A trillion tons of dirt and rock hurtled into ...

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Crazy Credits

All initial UK '12' Certificate videos came with the full promo video for Aerosmith's: "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" before the film started. The video only came with the limited widescreen or even more limited 'double feature' boxed video with 'The Making of Armaggedon' as a bonus video. Also some outtakes (1 per character) were featured at the very end of the credits with text underneath saying 'In loving memory of who gave his life saving our planet.' (The outtakes only came with the initial copies on video.)

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Connections

Spoofed in Futurama: A Big Piece of Garbage (1999)

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Soundtracks

Leaving on a Jet Plane
Written by John Denver
Performed by Chantal Kreviazuk
Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment (Canada) Inc.

User Reviews

Entertaining and Models Nobility

Spoilers Ahead:

I love this movie. Yes, it has silly scenes but underneath Bay has a solid moral foundation and it models nobility. Not a bad idea for the kids in the age of Sin City: Slime to Flush For. Willis gives a great performance; though Buscemi as Rockhound steals the movie with some great funny lines. Bay forges a good supporting cast including the always great Childs, into a cohesive unit that we care about and root for. This is what separates the great older films from today's action bore fests. Introduce your characters let us get to know them then later, if you are good, we will blow everything up for you, we promise. If you want to really appreciate this film watch DEEP IMPACT which is fading with every passing year while this movie's following grows.

It is the moral depth to the movie; it models nobility or giving of yourself for others within one of the most narcissistic periods of American History. It also dared, even for 1998, to invoke God within the new age bring the light, sending you positive energy current crappola. I admired Bay for having Truman say God be With You and Willis looking out into space when all seems lost,"..just a little help here, God." Leder's Deep Impact devolved into a sappy soap opera quite boring and lost sight of the global nature of the threat. Bay works to include the whole globe; Leder is trapped in her little country. Nobility from ordinary people asked to do extraordinary things risking all for others earns this 4 stars from me before I even view it.

Does the film have flaws? You bet it does awful acting, as usual, from Liv Tyler and Owen Wilson. The leaving on a jet plane sing along is a 9 on the cringe meter. Please, lose this scene over time. If the price of Aerosmith scoring the film was Steven's no talent daughter in the picture, next time Bay hire another composer? Her scenes with that blank stare; please pull the camera back, quickly. Yet, the film is non stop entertainment with really funny and likable characters. The cost of the endeavor is more realistic and very lifelike. It does not need to squeeze tears from you like DEEP IMPACT; it builds up the characters, we care about them; when disaster strikes I love the understated grief not up in your face like IMPACT.

For all its action, humor and intensity, it is a deeply moral film that models nobility a rarity, within this zeitgeist, that is so refreshing. Trust me, this is what you want your kids watching. These are not super heroes, nobility is always a choice; it is there within every single one of us.