Fills the bill despite its flaws.
Oh, what the hell, Armaggedon is a popcorn movie. You park your brain at the door and then sit back and enjoy the ride. And what a ride it is. We're not two minutes into the movie where NYC is subjected to a devastating "small" meteorite shower. (And the Chrysler building, which got waxed in Godzilla , suffers a similar fate in this flick. (And isn't it amazing how the meteorites have the astounding ability to take out major cities as opposed to most likely slamming into the countryside or ploppimg into the oceans. Armaggedon has NYC, Shanghai, and Paris getting whunked.))
Michael Bey, the director, is a capable technician. He melds together the acting, the far-flung locales, and the CGI F/X into a decent movie. He could start utilizing slo-mo as a special treat rather than a main course tho. He mode seems to be, "When in doubt, shoot in slo-mo." The camera is constantly bobbing, twisting and trucking about the scenes also. He also suffers from MTV-itis where the idea of a shot lasting more than a second must be a crime against nature.
The acting is quite capable. Bruce Willis turns in a performance that he has nothing to be ashamed. Liv Tyler and her babe-o-riffic sensuous lips also does well considering the dialogue she has to spout. On the other hand, Oscar winner Ben Affleck doesn't come across too well. Billy Joe Bobby Clyde Bubba Thorton just uses his good ol' boy accent for a less than sterling effect.
The CGI F/X are jaw-droppers. The recreation of the dinosaur killer impact off Yucatan is a marvel. The shot of Paris being annilhilated is worth the price of admission itself.
And meanwhile, the laws of physics are being ignored in the usual ways: sound in space, flames burning there also, the usual. Then this flick throws in new wrinkles. Such as space shuttles diving, swooping and banking like Star Wars' X-wing fighters, the Mir station rotated to provide "gravity" (most likely cuz they were too cheap to do the weightless F/X), and simultaneous shuttle blastoffs (as if the shockwave from one shuttle wouldn't interfere with the flight of the other). So it's more of that "Hoo boy", park-your- brain-and-ignore-it syndrome.
The movie also suffers from (believe it or not) one unnecessary action sequence after another. After all, an action movie should achieve a rhythm between the sequences and the respites. Armageddon gives you no respites. I can just see a Disney suit proclaim that such-and-such had to happen in the flick. Not that it made any sense, it just had to be there anyway. Plus there are the utterly cliched aspects of the script. You sit there thinking, "I bet this happens next". And it does. Several times in fact.
But hey, it is a popcorn movie. And we both know you're not expecting Profound Entertainment. Just rock 'em, sock 'em fun. Which it delivers.
Armaggedon reminds me of The Last Action Hero. There too was a movie which was big, overblown, and savaged by the "critics". I feel Armaggedon is in the same boat--they can't wait to crap on it since everyone else is.
But hey, this movie ain't that bad (either one in fact). So the anal retentive "critics" need to get off their high horse and see the movie for what it is: a popcorn seller. Nothing more, nothing less.
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