Armageddon (film)

Armageddon

Directed by Michael Bay
Produced by Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by Robert Roy Pool
Jonathan Hensleigh
Starring Bruce Willis
Ben Affleck
Liv Tyler
Billy Bob Thornton
Will Patton
Steve Buscemi
Owen Wilson
Michael Clarke Duncan
Music by
Cinematography {{{cinematography}}}
Editing by {{{editing}}}
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Released July 1, 1998
First Screened {{{screened}}}
Running time 150 min.
Language English
Budget $140 million
Preceded by {{{preceded_by}}}
Followed by {{{followed_by}}}
IMDb profile

Armageddon is a 1998 disaster/science fiction film about a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. It was directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and featured Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler. The film's tagline is For Love. For Honor. For Mankind.

Armageddon was released during a period when disaster movies were seeing a comeback. Another asteroid impact movie, Deep Impact, was made the same year, along with a reprise of Godzilla. The previous year saw a few volcano-based disaster movies.

The soundtrack featured the song "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith (fronted by Liv Tyler's father, Steven Tyler) which was the first number 1 hit of the band's career.

A DVD of Armageddon was re-issued by The Criterion Collection, which releases what it considers to be "important classic and contemporary films"; the film also received the Saturn Awards for Best Direction and Best Science Fiction Film (where it tied with Dark City).

C. Bolin wrote a novel based on the screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and the story by Jonathan Hensleigh and Robert Pool.

Contents

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Plot Synopsis

Before the film’s title appears onscreen, a narrator (Charlton Heston) informs us that 65 million years ago a six mile-wide asteroid struck the earth causing catastrophic damage to Earth’s ecosystem. We are also informed that the probability of a similar disaster in our time is very high.

While in the middle of an EVA, the Atlantis is struck by thousands of tiny asteroids and explodes in space. Shortly after, an area of Earth from Finland to the southeastern United States is bombarded by more meteors. Several destroy landmarks and skyscrapers in New York City.

NASA scientists, led by Will Truman, determine that the smaller asteroids were forced towards Earth by a much larger one the size of Texas. The team also determines that it will strike the Earth in 17 days causing total destruction of all life. They work frantically to develop a plan to stop it. Most scenarios are dismissed because of the size and speed of the object.

NASA then decides to recruit Harry Stamper, reputed to be the best deepcore driller in the world. They find him on an oil platform in the South China Sea where he is in the process of drilling for a Japanese company and firing one of his lead crew members, AJ Frost, for insubordination. (Harry also goes after AJ with a shotgun.) We also find out that AJ has been dating Stamper’s daughter, Grace, for several months, a fact that Harry is quite furious to discover.

Harry agrees to take the job of destroying the asteroid. The plan is to approach the asteroid from behind and land on it, drill to 800 feet, plant a nuclear bomb in the shaft and detonate it remotely after evacuation. Harry recruits a motley crew made up of his best workers and they prepare for the mission through rigorous space travel drills, modification of their equipment and pointed psychological tests to determine if they are able to work in space. Near the conclusion of the training phase Rockhound borrows money from a loan shark and is later arrested in a strip club. Chick attempts to make amends with his estranged wife and their son. AJ proposes marriage to Grace and she accepts. They will marry when (and if) he returns from the mission.

The two crews take off in two separate shuttles, Freedom and Independence, the most advanced spacecrafts ever built. They dock with a Russian space station (most likely Mir, although the name is never mentioned onscreen, it is referred to in the track list in the film score) to load the shuttles with fuel to make the final flight to the asteroid. During the fuel transfer an equipment failure sparks a fire in the space station. The crews are forced to evacuate the station, which explodes. The cosmonaut that was manning the station, Lev, takes refuge on the Independence.

The shuttles increase their speed to match the asteroid's velocity by flying at high speed around the dark side of the moon. On their approach, debris from the asteroid's tail strikes the Independence, causing massive damage. The shuttle crashes on the surface of the asteroid and only AJ, Lev and Bear are left alive. They pile into their drilling vehicle, the Armadillo, and head out in search of Harry’s crew.

Harry’s crew lands safely on the asteroid despite damage to the shuttle. Communications are out, leaving the crew with no way to contact Earth. They also determine that have overshot their landing site and are sitting on an area comprised of iron, making it extremely difficult to drill. The crew starts their project anyway and quickly figure out that the drilling will be nearly impossible; the destroy one drill bit and a transmission in the first two hours.

Their troubles are compounded when the shuttle commander, Colonel Sharpe, informs NASA that they will not be able to complete the mission on time. The President decides that the nuclear bomb will be detonated early in the hopes that it will deflect the asteroid’s path enough to miss Earth. A fight ensues on the shuttle between Sharpe and Stamper. Stamper convinces the colonel that he can make the depth of 800 feet.

One of Stamper’s crew, Rockhound, has a negative psychological reaction to working in space. He causes a distraction while playing with a machine gun, nearly shooting a few crew members. While they attempt to bring him under control, the drilling vehicle hits a gas pocket, blasting it off the asteroid, taking crew member Max with it. On Earth, the media report that the mission has failed.

As they wait out their ultimate fate, the crew discovers that AJ has survived the crash of the Independence and has arrived at the drilling site in the second Armadillo. They continue the operation and despite some arguments between AJ and Harry, drill to 800 feet. Following a few more mishaps, including AJ being trapped in the shaft, they plant the nuke and prepare to evacuate. However, the bomb has been damaged and remote detonation from a safe distance is now impossible.

The remaining members of Stamper’s crew draw straws to see who will stay behind and activate the bomb. AJ draws the short straw. As he and Harry return to the drilling site, Harry pulls out his oxygen feed tube and forces him back into the shuttle, telling him to take care of Grace.

The crew manages to fix the shuttle and they take off leaving Harry behind. Harry contacts Grace at NASA headquarters and they exchange last goodbyes. Harry is rocked by several quakes but manages to reach the detonator. His last thoughts are of Grace as he pushes the button. The asteroid is blasted in half and the two pieces miss colliding with Earth.

The Freedom crew lands safely back on Earth and are met by NASA officials and Grace. She and AJ are reunited and the final scenes of the film are of their wedding.

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Criticisms

While Hollywood science fiction films often bend the rules of science in order to create a more compelling plot, science critics blasted Armageddon more than most for its poor adherence to the laws of physics. They argued that if the asteroid were to be split into two parts by detonating a nuclear device in the asteroid's core, the two pieces would be several thousand feet apart when it impacts the Earth. Additionally, the film was lambasted for being too noisy, which contradicts the idea that there is no noise in outer space.

The movie was nominated in seven categories for the 1998 Golden Raspberry Awards, but only one was awarded: the Worst Actor award was given to Bruce Willis for his Armageddon performance, along with appearances in Mercury Rising and The Siege. It was also on the list of Roger Ebert's most hated films. In his original review, he stated: "The movie is an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained."

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Box Office

  • Budget - $140,000,000
  • Marketing cost - $100,000,000
  • Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $36,089,972
  • Total Domestic Grosses - $201,578,182
  • Total Overseas Grosses - $352,131,606
  • Total Worldwide Grosses - $553,709,788
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Soundtrack

The Armageddon soundtrack album cover
The Armageddon soundtrack album cover

Armageddon: The Album (Sony, June 23, 1998):

  1. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith
  2. Remember Me - Journey
  3. What Kind of Love Are You On - Aerosmith
  4. La Grange - ZZ Top
  5. Roll Me Away - Bob Seger
  6. When the Rainbow Comes - Shawn Colvin
  7. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
  8. Mister Big Time - Jon Bon Jovi
  9. Come Together - Aerosmith
  10. Wish I Were You - Patty Smyth
  11. Starseed - Our Lady Peace
  12. Leaving on a Jet Plane - Chantal Kreviazuk
  13. Theme from Armageddon - Trevor Rabin
  14. Animal Crackers - Dialouge by Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler; vocals and piano by Steven Tyler

There was also an instrumental score

The Armageddon Score album cover
The Armageddon Score album cover

Armaggedon: Original Motion Picture Score by Trevor Rabin (Sony, 1998):

  1. Armageddon Suite
  2. Harry & Grace Make Peace
  3. AJ's Return
  4. Oil Rig
  5. Leaving
  6. Evacuation
  7. Harry Arrives At NASA
  8. Back In Business
  9. Launch
  10. 5 Words
  11. Underwater Simulation
  12. Finding Grace
  13. Armadillo
  14. Short Straw
  15. Demands
  16. Death of Mir
  17. Armageddon Piano
  18. Long Distance Goodbye/Landing
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Trivia

  • The film was released on Liv Tyler's 21st birthday.
  • Liv Tyler turned down the role of Grace Stamper twice before she finally accepted.
  • This is the second film that depicted a fictional shuttle launch using actual launch footage. The first was SpaceCamp (1986).
  • When asked what was the worst movie he's ever done solely for the paycheck, Billy Bob Thornton said "Armageddon".
  • The DVD has an error in the subtitles. At the opening section with the Space Shuttle Atlantis, when there is dialogue between the Astronaut who is on EVA, and NASA ground control, the word 'Dennis' appears when onscreen it is in fact 'Atlantis'.
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See also

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External links