Armageddon (1998 film)

Armageddon
Directed by Michael Bay
Produced by Michael Bay
Jerry Bruckheimer
Gale Anne Hurd
Written by Screenplay:
Jonathan Hensleigh
J.J. Abrams
Story:
Robert Roy Pool
Jonathan Hensleigh
Adaptation:
Tony Gilroy
Shane Salerno
Starring Bruce Willis
Ben Affleck
Billy Bob Thornton
Liv Tyler
Will Patton
Michael Clarke Duncan
Owen Wilson
Peter Stormare
Steve Buscemi
William Fichtner
Keith David
Jason Issacs
Jessica Steen
Ken Hudson Campbell
Music by Trevor Rabin
Harry Gregson-Williams
Studio Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Valhalla Motion Pictures
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s) July 1, 1998 (1998-07-01)
Running time 150 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $140 million (estimated)
Gross revenue $561,709,788[1]

Armageddon is a 1998 American science fiction disaster film, film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and released by Disney's Touchstone Pictures. The film follows a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers sent by NASA to stop a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with Earth. It features an all-star cast including Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Owen Wilson, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, Michael Clarke Duncan and Steve Buscemi.

Armageddon opened in theaters only two-and-a-half months after a similar impact-based movie, Deep Impact, which starred Morgan Freeman. Astronomers described Deep Impact as being more scientifically accurate,[2] though Armageddon fared better at the box office.[3] Both films were equally received by critics. Armageddon was an international box-office smash, despite mixed to negative reviews from critics. It became the "highest-grossing film of 1998" worldwide, surpassing the Steven Spielberg war epic, Saving Private Ryan.

Armageddon is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc format.

Contents

Plot

When a meteor shower destroys the Space Shuttle Atlantis and bombards parts of New York City, NASA discovers a gigantic asteroid will collide with Earth in 18 days, creating another extinction event. With the military, NASA scientists plan to embed a nuclear device hundreds of feet within the asteroid that, when ignited, will split the asteroid in two parts that will both safely fly past the Earth. NASA contacts Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis), one of the best deep-sea oil drillers in the world. Harry returns to NASA along with his daughter Grace (Liv Tyler) in order to keep her away from one of his young and more rambunctious drillers, A.J. (Ben Affleck), who has fallen in love with her much to Harry's dismay. Harry and Grace learn of the critical issues of the asteroid, and Harry explains he will need his team members, including A.J. to help advise NASA. Once they have been rounded up, Harry's team offers to help but only after being assured of being rewarded from an esoteric list of demands.

Harry and his team reoutfit the mobile drillers NASA plans to use on the asteroid, and Harry comes to realize that his crew needs to be part of the mission to assure success. NASA puts Harry's crew through a shortened rigorous training schedule. When fragments from the asteroid wipe out Shanghai and Paris, NASA is forced to reveal its plans to the world; they soon launch two military Space Shuttles, Freedom and Independence. Once in orbit, the shuttles dock with a Russian space station manned by Lev Andropov (Peter Stormare) to refuel. A.J. encounters a problem while trying to stop the fuel pumps, and the station is evacuated before it explodes, with Lev and A.J. safely aboard the Independence. The shuttles continue the plan, slingshoting around the Moon in order to land on the backside of the asteroid. However, while traveling through the debris field behind the asteroid, the Independence is punctured by debris and appears to crash onto the asteroid. Grace, watching from NASA headquarters, becomes distraught over A.J.'s apparent death.

Freedom safely lands, though they find they have overshot their target area and now are facing hard iron plate to drill through. They lose a significant amount of time and spare equipment in their attempt, and then lose their entire driller and another crew member when they strike a gas pocket. When they report their failure to NASA, Harry's team learn that the military had implemented a backup plan of igniting the bomb on the surface of the asteroid regardless of the team's safety. Both Harry and Dan work to disable this option, knowing it would have no effect on the asteroid's path. They all soon discover that A.J., Lev, and "Bear" (Michael Clarke Duncan, another of Harry's crew) made the Independence crash alive, and have driven the other driller to the drilling site. Harry puts his trust in A.J., who is able to drill to the required depth for the charge.

As the asteroid moves dangerously close to the earth, it begins to heat up and make the surface conditions extremely dangerous. When they try to plant the bomb, the triggering mechanism is damaged, and one person will be forced to stay behind to trigger it manually. A.J. draws the short straw, but as he and Harry descend to the air lock, Harry rips part of A.J.'s suit and tells him that he trusts him well enough now to marry Grace, and then takes the responsibility of detonating the bomb. Harry contacts Grace and says his last goodbyes, then recounts his life as the Freedom moves to safe distance, before triggering the bomb. The asteroid, as predicted, breaks into two and both halves miss the Earth. The Freedom lands, and the surviving crew are treated as heroes. The film ends on credits over A.J. and Grace's wedding, with photos of Harry and the other lost crew members present in memorium.

Cast

Reception and criticism

The film was given mixed to negative reviews and, although it was an international box office success, it received a large amount of criticism from film reviewers. On Rotten Tomatoes it scores 41%;[4] on a similar website, Metacritic, it similarly scores 42%. The film is 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".[5]

The film was nominated for four 1998 Academy Awards: 'Best Sound', 'Best Visual Effects', 'Best Sound Effects Editing', and 'Best Original Song (I Don't Want To Miss A Thing performed by Aerosmith)'. The film received the Saturn Awards for Best Direction and Best Science Fiction Film (where it tied with Dark City). It was also nominated for seven Razzie Awards[6] including: Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actress (Liv Tyler), Worst Screen Couple (Tyler and Ben Affleck) and Worst Original Song. Only one Razzie was awarded: Bruce Willis received the Worst Actor award for Armageddon, in addition to his appearances in Mercury Rising and The Siege, both released in the same year as this film.

Despite the general critical disdain, a DVD edition of Armageddon was released by The Criterion Collection, a specialist film distributor of primarily arthouse films that markets what it considers to be "important classic and contemporary films" and "cinema at its finest".[7] In an essay supporting the selection of Armageddon, film scholar Jeanine Basinger, who taught Michael Bay at Wesleyan University, states that the film is "a work of art by a cutting-edge artist who is a master of movement, light, color, and shape—and also of chaos, razzle-dazzle, and explosion". She sees it as a celebration of working men: "This film makes these ordinary men noble, lifting their efforts up into an epic event." Further, she states that in the first few moments of the film all the main characters are well established, saying, "If that isn't screenwriting, I don't know what is".[8]

Scientific inaccuracies

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Michael Bay admitted that central premise of the film, "that [NASA] could actually do something in a situation like this," was unrealistic. Roy Pool, a contributing screenwriter, stated that his script, in which an anti-gravity device is used to deflect a comet from a collision course with Earth, was "much more in line with top-secret research."[9] Additionally, near the end of the movie's credits there is a disclaimer stating, "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's cooperation and assistance does not reflect an endorsement of the contents of the film or the treatment of the characters depicted therin."[10]

NASA shows the film as part of its management training program. Prospective managers are asked to find as many inaccuracies in the movie as they can. At least 168 impossible things have been found during these screenings of the film[11].

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

Following the 2003 Columbia disaster, some screen captures from the opening scene where Atlantis is destroyed were passed off as satellite images of the disaster in a hoax.[12] Also, in response to the disaster, FX pulled Armageddon from that night's schedule and replaced it with Aliens.[13]

Box office

Soundtracks

Armageddon: The Album

Armageddon
Soundtrack by Various artists
Released June 23, 1998
Genre Pop
Rock
Length 56:35
Label Sony Records
Professional reviews

The soundtrack features the song "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", performed by Aerosmith. The soundtrack also features the song "Remember Me", as performed by Journey. This song was the first studio recording with new lead vocalist Steve Augeri, who was hired to replace long-time singer Steve Perry after his departure from the band.

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" - Dialogue by Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler; vocals and piano by Steven Tyler

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1998 The Billboard 200 1
Preceded by
City of Angels (soundtrack) by Various artists		 Billboard 200 number-one album
July 18–31, 1998		 Succeeded by
Hello Nasty by Beastie Boys

Armageddon: Original Motion Picture Score by Trevor Rabin

Armageddon
Soundtrack by Trevor Rabin
Released November 10, 1998
Genre Soundtracks
Original Score
Film music
Label Sony
Professional reviews

There was also an instrumental score titled Armageddon: Original Motion Picture Score by Trevor Rabin. Rabin was formerly a member of the progressive rock band Yes.

  1. "Armageddon Suite"
  2. "Harry & Grace Make Peace"
  3. "A.J.'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"

Novelization

A novelization was written by C. Bolin, based on the screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, J.J. Abrams, Tony Gilroy and Shane Salerno and the story by Jonathan Hensleigh and Robert Pool.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Armageddon (1998)". Box Office Mojo. 1998-10-11. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=armageddon.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  2. ↑ Plait, Phil (2000-02-17). "Hollywood Does the Universe Wrong". Space.com. http://www.space.com/opinionscolumns/opinions/plait_000217.html. 
  3. ↑ "Disaster Movies". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=disaster.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-23. 
  4. ↑ Armageddon - Movie Review - Rotten Tomatoes
  5. ↑ Roger Ebert - Armageddon
  6. ↑ "1998 Golden Rasberry Award Nominees and Winners". http://razzies.com/asp/content/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=38. Retrieved 30 April 2006. 
  7. ↑ The Criterion Collection - About Criterion
  8. ↑ The Criterion Collection: Armageddon by Michael Bay
  9. ↑ Daly, Steve (March 27, 1998). "The Hype That Fell To Earth". 
  10. ↑ http://www.movie-page.com/1998/armageddon/credits.txt
  11. ↑ "New Scientist (September 1, 2007), "Feedback" p 72: ISSN 0262-4079". http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526191.500-feedback.html. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  12. ↑ "Photos of the Shuttle Columbia Disaster? - BreakTheChain.org". BreakTheChain.org<!. http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/shuttlepics.html. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  13. ↑ Font size Print E-mail Share By Sue Chan (2003-02-03). "TV Pulls Shuttle Sensitive Material, Hewlett-Packard Ad, Bruce Willis Movie Yanked From Air - CBS News". CBS News<!. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/03/entertainment/main539194.shtml. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Men in Black		 Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
1998
Shared with Dark City		 Succeeded by
The Matrix
Films directed by Michael Bay
1990s
Bad Boys (1995) · The Rock (1996) · Armageddon (1998)
2000s
Pearl Harbor (2001) · Bad Boys II (2003) · The Island (2005) · Transformers (2007) · Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
2010s
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
J. J. Abrams
Director
Mission: Impossible III (2006) · Star Trek (2009) · Super 8 (2011)
Producer
The Pallbearer (1996) · The Suburbans (1999) · Joy Ride (2001) · Cloverfield (2008) · Star Trek (2009) · Morning Glory (2010) · Super 8 (2011) · Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) · Untitled Star Trek Sequel (2012)
Writer
Taking Care of Business (1990) · Regarding Henry (1991) · Forever Young (1992) · Gone Fishin' (1997) · Armageddon (1998) · Joy Ride (2001) · Mission: Impossible III (2006) · Super 8 (2011) · Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
Television series
Felicity (1998–2002) · Alias (2001–2006) · Lost (2004–2010) · What About Brian (2006–2007) · Six Degrees (2006–2007) · Fringe (2008–present) · Undercovers (2010)
Production company
Bad Robot Productions