ARMAGEDDON(1998)

A great movie starring Bruce Willis as a
scientist/astronaut who is needed to save the
world from an approaching asteroid in a direct
flight path with the Earth!! B+

From a reviewer at Amazon.com:

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

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