Armageddon (1998)

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

Director:

Michael Bay

Writers:

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

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 27 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 | nasa | drill | nuclear | astronaut | 

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Taglines:

It's Closer Than You Think.

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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 - Das jüngste Gericht

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$89,000,000 (Non-US) (7 August 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

Michael Bay thinks Armageddon is his worst film. "I will apologize for Armageddon, because we had to do the whole movie in 16 weeks," he told The Miami Herald in 2013. "It was a massive undertaking. That was not fair to the movie. I would redo the entire third act if I could."

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Goofs

Grass is clearly visible at the edge of the cliff when the Armadillo comes to a rest after jumping the canyon.

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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

Portions of the video of Grace Stamper and A.J. Frost's wedding are shown during the final credits.

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Connections

Spoofed in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)

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Soundtracks

"What Kind Of Love Are You On"
Written by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw
Performed by Aerosmith
Courtesy of Columbia Records

User Reviews

The All Time Popcorn Movie

People always seem to be flaming this movie left and right because it's stupid or long or it has no logic... Everyone has something to hate about this film but the movie wasn't intending to be 'Gone With The Wind'. This is the essential Friday night movie.

Not Saturday Night but Friday Night. Sure, a lot of it is illogical and Michael Bay graduated in the MTV style of directing college but, at it's heart, it's just a great entertaining popcorn movie. Even Bay has admitted that was what he was aiming at. And for a popcorn movie, it's a very strong movie indeed. The acting is impressive with Bruce Willis making you cry for real in that last scene of his where he proves to be the ultimate superhero and he doesn't even have to say "yippee ki-yay". Ben Affleck is doing his nice hammy acting in this film but he gives a really genuine performance in a lot of the scenes. Liv Tyler is stunning and excellent as Bruce Willis' daughter and Ben Affleck's fiancee. Billy Bob Thorton has a nice little role at the NASA headquarters. Steve Buscemi is the best part of the film. Funny yet still a great actor, this is one of his best performances. Michael Clarke Duncan is light in his role as one of the astronauts / oil driller and Owen Wilson lights up the screen just like in 'The Royal Tenenbaums'. That's only some of the cast that I'm going to list and those are the most recognizable names in the list. The script by 'Die Hard With A Vengeance' scribe Jonathan Hensleigh and 'Roadkill" and upcoming 'Superman' writer J.J.

Abrahams is fun and enjoyable with some real quirky dialogue and real funny bits. There are also some genuine moments of suspense and drama. The look of this film is obviously special effects orientated with the New York asteroid shower opening sequence and the destruction of Paris standing out. Of course, this film is just an enjoyable popcorn film and is actually deserving of it's place in "The Criterion Collection" of DVDs since it's that enjoyable kind of film that only comes along once in a while. But add to that the fact that there are some real sad moments and great acting in there and, there you have it, the perfect ingredients for a Friday night movie.