Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: WILLIS,BRUCE
EAN: 9786305311461
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 6305311463
Label: Touchstone / Disney
Manufacturer: Touchstone / Disney
Number Of Items: 2
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: Touchstone / Disney
Region Code: 1
Release Date: April 20, 1999
Running Time: 150 minutes
Sales Rank: 9278
Studio: Touchstone / Disney
Theatrical Release Date: July 01, 1998
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Description:
Bruce Willis and and an all-star cast of roughneck oil drillers blast off on a mission to save the planet in Michael Bay's doomsday space epic.
Amazon.com essential video:
The latest testosterone-saturated blow-'em-up from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys) continues Hollywood's millennium-fueled fascination with the destruction of our planet. There's no arguing that the successful duo understands what mainstream American audiences want in their blockbuster movies--loads of loud, eye-popping special effects, rapid-fire pacing, and patriotic flag waving. Bay's protagonists--the eight crude, lewd, oversexed (but lovable, of course) oil drillers summoned to save the world from a Texas-sized meteor hurling toward the earth--are not flawless heroes, but common men with whom all can relate. In this huge Western-in-space soap opera, they're American cowboys turned astronauts. Sci-fi buffs will appreciate Bay's fetishizing of technology, even though it's apparent he doesn't understand it as anything more than flashing lights and shiny gadgets. Smartly, the duo also tries to lure the art-house crowd, raiding the local indie acting stable and populating the film with guys like Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Owen Wilson, and Michael Duncan, all adding needed touches of humor and charisma. When Bay applies his sledgehammer aesthetics to the action portions of the film, it's mindless fun; it's only when Armageddon tackles humanity that it becomes truly offensive. Not since Mississippi Burning have racial and cultural stereotypes been substituted for characters so blatantly--African Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Scottish, Samoans, Muslims, French ... if it's not white and American, Bay simplifies it. Or, make that white male America; the film features only three notable females--four if you count the meteor, who's constantly referred to as a 'bitch that needs drillin',' but she's a hell of a lot more developed and unpredictable than the other women characters combined. Sure, Bay's film creates some tension and contains some visceral moments, but if he can't create any redeemable characters outside of those in space, what's the point of saving the planet? --Dave McCoy
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Bad Reviewers
It's really sad to see so many brainiacs trying to decipher the movie. No wonder they can't enjoy the movie. They are too busy trying to find every single scientific mistake, instead of relaxing and enjoying the movie. It's a sci-fi Hollywood picture and not a physics test. Most Americans don't care if the gravity was accurate or not. They made us believe the rotation of the asteroid gave a certain amount of gravity. It's a movie and not a documentary. If I wanted to be bored about scientific facts, I would tune into the PBS channel. The people who gave bad reviews are the same people, like my wife, try to figure out the ending and looking for every flaw. Just relax and watch the movie. Stop being such a nerd! Stop comparing a movie to the book version. Stop writing reviews because you have nothing better to do with your time. I assume you are those boring people on dates or an unpleasant spouse. You might enjoy the twists at the end like 6th Sense and The Village if you weren't trying so hard to examine the movie.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. This was a very fun and entertaining movie. The cast did a great job! It was action packed and suspenseful. Special effects and sound effects were out of this world. I can't wait to get this in blu-ray.
Note: For all those smart as# reviewers out there. Please look up the definition of science fiction. There is no need to bash one of my favorite movies. Drink a beer and try watching the movie ... Read More
Rating: - Masculine counterpart of Deep Impact
Armageddon is the masculine counterpart of the feminine Deep Impact, which emphasizes human relationships and serial sacrifices. (For that reason, I suspect that males tend to rate Armageddon highly, but females don't.) The story is well conceived and written, and the ending pays off, if a bit perfunctorily once back on earth. Steve Buscemi and Will Patton stole the movie. Willis was a tad hysterical; Affleck, a bit of fluff added as chick-bait. All in all, a satisfying evening's entertainment.
Rating:  - Roughnecks in Space
Earth is in trouble once again. An asteroid the size of Texas is headed straight for our planet. Life will be extinguished once it hits. Every plan that NASA or any government agency from any country seems futile. Except one. The plan is to drill 800 feet into the asteroid and drop a nuke down there to blow up the asteroid from the inside and hopefully ejecting the pieces far enough from each other to completely miss Earth. Though NASA is trained in many things and are geniuses at many things, drilling is just not their forte. So they look for the number one driller in the country... Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis). Harry runs an oil rig out in the ocean with his rag tag crew along with his daughter. Wherever he goes, they go. So when NASA proposes/begs for Harry to help them, he says he'll do it as long as the rest of the crew comes with. With only 17 days until the asteroid hits, they have 12 days to train and then launch into space along with actual astronauts to dig a hole into a rock and blow it up.
Michael Bay, whether you love him or hate, can put some crazy action scenes together. Sometimes they are really good, and sometimes they are edited just enough to where you can't really see what's going on. I am a sucker for a Michael Bay film though. I'll watch them all. I might not like them all, but I will watch them all. I liked Transformers, yet I hated it also. And I'll definitely see Transformers 2. I know the man isn't the best director in the world but I'll go into his movies every ... Read More
Rating: - Awesome movie!!
This is delightfully jingoistic movie, great to watch with dad or son. A gaggle of white working class Americans and a token black guy save the world....again!
Rating:  - Look out! Space Rock!
Armageddon (1998) I think that title's short for "Armageddon sick and tired of overly adrenalized adventure movies where every piece of mechanical equipment breaks down when it is most needed." Well, maybe not, but in any case we got oil man Bruce Willis and his colorful crew of rowdy roughnecks trying to save us from a giant asteroid headed right for Earth. They are hired to shuttle out to the big space rock, drill a deep hole, and chuck in a nuclear bomb in order to split the asteroid in two and save the day. But that's after a lengthy and fairly amusing NASA training session for the lovably wacky oil guys. Finally, they take off to intercept the giant pet rock from hell, but unfortunately, this is where the overabundance of prefab crises overwhelms any entertainment value the movie had in the early reels. At two and a half hours, the audience has way too much time to think about implausible action scenes; lightning fast editing that makes the implausible action scenes difficult to follow; and to ponder questions like "why are there big giant machine guns mounted on the space rock dune buggies?" So, I'd chalk this one up as a loss. Also with Ben Affleck (Phantoms), Liv Tyler (Empire Records), and Steve Buscemi (Con Air).
Browse for similar items by category:
|
