Day 40: Armageddon (1998)
What can certainly be said, now 40 days into this blog project,” is that the Criterion Collection is generally not a place for blockbuster films. With the exception of “Robocop,” the collection thus far have been mostly foreign gems, rarely seen my the majority of moviegoer, but today that mold is broken- or blown up as director Michael Bay would surely prefer. The most blockbustery of the blockbusters, Bay’s “Armageddon” was a smash hit summer popcorn flick that brought tons of energy to the screen and remains one of the best in a string of 1990′s disaster films.
In “Armageddon,” the world finds itself under attack and in peril when meteors fall from the sky, destroying entire cities. But, the terror has just begun as a rock at the size of Texas is a mere 18 days away from crashing into the planet and obliterating everything known to mankind. To prevent such cataclysmic devastation, NASA estimates it will take a team of highly talented astronauts to launch into space, land on the rock as it passes the moon, and then drill deep into its center, where a nuclear missile will be set to blow the meteor apart, preventing its impact.
But the art of drilling isn’t easy and it’s soon realized that the best men for the job might be the worst for space- a ragtag group of famous oil drillers lead by Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis). After a mix of mildly successful training and shear chaos, Stamper and his team are set up into the skies, while NASA’s head of control, Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thorton), and Harry’s daughter, Grace (Live Tyler) watch and hope from the ground. But, once on the meteor, the trouble really begins as the drilling team realize the ground they’re attempting to burrow through is as thick as iron and the equipment they have will barely meet the need. With the clock ticking and the world on the line, it will take Harry and his boys working at their best to beat the meteor even if someone will have to make the ultimate sacrifice to make that so.
Though “Armageddon” could be ignored as just another disaster movie amongst the 1990′s genre spree, including “Deep Impact,”Independence Day,” and “Dante’s Peak,” it stands out for several reasons, including the lightening quick pace of the editing and the absolute scale of the productions set pieces. It has been calculated that director Michael Bay held a shot for an average of only 1.5 seconds and this zipping pace never allows the eyes to rest from start to finish. Even in the most mundane of expository scenes, which truly their are few, Bay keeps things moving visually in a way that, not only solidifies his style as a director, but redefines how an editing pace can set the mood for a scene or, in the case, an entire film.
Also, as is Bay’s custom, this film enjoys a wide supply of massive set pieces for which he gets to film. For “Armageddon,” Bay certainly lucked out as NASA decided to allow the film to shoot in the normally restricted agency, including the use of their sixty-five-million-gallon, forty-foot-deep pool, used to train astronauts for weightlessness, and two ten million dollar space suits. The crew was also allowed to shoot shoot sequences at the top of a real launch pad with an actual space shuttle docked under the condition that they wouldn’t enter the shuttle, which star Ben Affleck claims to have done anyway. (Can you blame him?)
“Armageddon” is an edge of your seat thrill ride that continues to shine thanks to a great pace, beautifully shot action, and Bay’s indefinable way of making even the most ridiculous of circumstances seem plausible on the silver screen.
To learn more about, “Armageddon,” check out Criterion’s page.
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