Armageddon

Michael Bay's films are an odd addition to the Criterion collection, until you recall the Criterion Collection's mission statement reads "All we ask is that each film in the collection be an exemplary film of its kind." Armageddon is ultimate distillation of Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer's commercial action movie formula, a formula that they introduced in Bad Boys (Special Edition) , improved upon in The Rock - Criterion Collection and finally, post-Armageddon, ran into the ground in Pearl Harbor. Later Bay films like The Island and Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition) are informed by this formula, but none of them come close to this masterpiece of 1990s action. As you almost certainly know, the plot of Armageddon involves a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with the Earth. The only ones who can stop it are a rag-tag crew of oil drillers, who hitch a ride with some astronauts on a pair of fighter-jet space shuttles to blow the rock to bits with a well-placed nuke. Sounds silly? It is, and the film has a couple of winking acknowledgements of its own silliness. Mostly though, the film believes in itself, and it is easy to become caught up in the (false) grandeur of the undertaking. Lots of people will bad-mouth this film, but those people are movie snobs. Armageddon was one of the most popular movies of 1998, and it was a defining element of the popular culture of the time. Ignoring it just because you dislike its style or story is to put on cultural blinders. Personally, I felt that Armageddon's most interesting cinematic characteristic is Bay's use of a kind of cinematic short-hand. Much of Bruce Willis' character is defined by previous Bruce Willis movies, creating a kind of ready-made character who already feels familiar when he first appears. Likewise, the sequences involving the military are largely understandable only because you know how the military acts in this sort of movie. But the best example of this shorthand is the character of Billy Bob Thorton. At one point he mentions that he was formerly in the astronaut program, but dropped out. There is a very short, perhaps less than 1 second, shot of a pair of leg braces. With just this flash of visual information, Bay has established an entire history for the character. Anyone who says that Bay is lacking in cinematic skills is ignoring his great gift at conveying information in a fast, visual way. A great example of showing, not telling. This Criterion DVD has all the usual extra features you might expect, and they are as good as you might expect. The DVD commentary is entertaining and informative, and Bay is quite open about his commercial and pragmatic sensibilities, such as the story he relates that a certain beauty shot of a car was included so that the car-maker would give him money to build a bizarre set that was not included in the budget. Many of the cast members also contribute to the commentary; Ben Affleck is the highlight, obviously well trained from doing Kevin Smith commentary tracks. Bruce Willis is as laconic as his reputation would suggest, but his few comments are sometimes hilarious. This version of the movie is also slightly extended, with some scenes involving Willis' character's father, and a few slight extensions that add character beats to some of the minor scenes. Nothing major. The second disc has lots of interesting features on the making of the movie, a collection of deleted scenes and a few bloopers. Most of the deleted scenes are comedy bits with the actors riffing in character, and all of them are entertaining but it is easy to see why they were cut out. The best blooper is an appearance by Michael Eisner (Disney's Touchstone division produced the film), who tells Willis that his casting isn't working out and the studio is replacing him with Kevin Costner. All in all, this is a fantastic DVD of a highly entertaining movie. Don't let the movie snobs shame you into not getting it. If you enjoyed this movie back in the late 90s, you'll find plenty to still enjoy here. It has aged very well, and, from a film history standpoint, this DVD set is almost a time capsule of the bloated studio action pictures of the time.

Awesome movie

Great movie, took time to come in but a great Christmas gift.

I am surprised that I found this on Amazon seeing how Google said it was nowhere to be found

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 time shutting my brain completely off and enjoy the heck out of some crazy intense action scenes. The first time I saw Armageddon was about 5 months after I had joined the military. Group of us went to see this in the theaters, and every one of us sat back and enjoyed the ride. All the action, the funny lines, the military/NASA scenes, space, explosions, and hot women were everything us boys were looking for in a movie. Even today, while I've grown up over those last 11 years, it's still a fun ride. Eye rolling yes, but fun ride none-the-less. To really enjoy a Michael Bay movie, you really do have to throw reality out the window. I'll give just ONE example of what I mean. While watching this the other night, me and my friend were commenting on the `things that just aren't right' in the movie and one was fire. There was fire in outer space. One of the space shuttles crash onto the rock and pieces of it were on fire. Really? There's no oxygen, but it was burning like a camp fire. I said it, my friend laughed, and then said "let it go." And that's what ya gotta do with these types of movies. Though you can constantly pick out the bad from a Bay movie, there is just a lot that is usually good also, but people tend to try and ignore it, or just plain out don't care and just want to bash it anyways. Bruce Willis plays, once again, a great apple pie eating American hero. He's just made for it. And it works 100%. From his funny lines, to his `I won't take no for an answer' attitude, and to his sweet and protective fatherly moments... he's just the man. Liv Tyler is great as the `sort of angry at her father daughter, yet slightly shows it in her eyes that she loves him' daughter. She's great at the water works and definitely tries to pull the strings on mine when lets it go. Ben Affleck is definitely funny, but sometimes a little over the top. But it's ok with me because I'm a fan of Ben. Yeah I said it. I think he's funny. Watch some commentaries with him, especially with Kevin Smith (Silent Bob), on some movies he does, and you probably will bust out laughing. Because of his commentaries, and outtakes, and other little things he does, I've grown to like him more and more as an actor. Steve Buscemi is a god of course in just about everything he does and it's the same here. I didn't like the whole space madness thing at the end with him, but still, at least he's funny. It's not only the actors themselves that are funny, but the whole chemistry between them. Everyone just seemed like they were having a good time making this movie and it really shows when you see the groups of guys together doing whatever they are doing at that time. I didn't watch most of the extras on this Criterion, but I did watch the outtakes (I always watch those). It was pretty funny, but wow there were a lot of F bombs. I don't mind at all, but I'm sure most do, so be prepared. Most from Billy Bob...hehe. And the trailers were pretty good to. I like how you think Armageddon is going to be some love story between Affleck and Liv Tyler, and then all of a sudden, BOOM, meteorites are flying through NY tearing it to shreds. Funny trailer. In the end, if you like your popcorn summer action flicks where you don't really have to think that much, then step right up and watch Armageddon. I still love this movie to this day no matter how over the top and silly it can get. P.S. When I watched this in the theater I was without about 10 military guys. One of the guys, who was sitting a row in front of me, started to sniffle and turn his head. I said "Hey "enter name here"... you crying man?!?!" pretty loud and he said "NO!" with sniffles and tear wipes. Hilarious considering he's was one of those `I'm hard' types of guys. Also hilarious since all the people around us started laughing with us. Ah...memories.

Great movie awesome cast.

Best disaster movie ever.

Great adventure, action, and visionary movie.

Ce film sorti en 1998, a fait couler beaucoup d’encre, et il en fait encore couler beaucoup aujourd’hui, le principal reproche que beaucoup de gens font à ce film américain est d’être trop …. Américain, un comble. C’est très fort quand on y pense, les anti-américains primaires sont de sortie, anti-Willis, anti-Michael Bay, ceux qui n’aiment pas les films américains, allez voir les gentilles comédies françaises, où tout finit toujours bien et où on connait déjà la fin au bout de 5 minutes, ces films vous correspondront mieux. J’invite toute personne à se faire sa propre opinion sans se fier aux critiques de tout poil qui ont descendu ce film en flammes et le font encore aujourd’hui, juste à cause de sa nationalité, au lieu de le regarder dans son ensemble. A partir de là, l’aventure commence. On peut entrer dans l’histoire qui est racontée. Il faut également se rappeler que c’est une histoire de pure fiction qui est rapportée à l’écran. La navette Atlantis est détruite par une pluie de météorite, ce qui révèle une catastrophe majeure, un astéroïde immense va s’écraser sur la terre dans 18 jours. La NASA se décide pour une mission de la dernière chance : envoyer des astronautes qui déposeront une charge nucléaire à l’intérieur de l’astéroïde. Pour ce faire, Harry Stamper, le plus grand spécialiste des forages est réquisitionné ainsi que son équipe, ils vont tous devoir subir un entrainement adéquat afin d’être envoyés dans l’espace. Film catastrophe de par la nature de son histoire, c’est aussi un très bon film d’action, cela se déroule vite, le rythme est fluide, nerveux, les enjeux sont posés dès les premières minutes, les personnages sont présentés tour à tour. Le fim, bien que relativement long pour ce genre, puisqu’il fait quand même 2h25, passe très vite, tant on est happé par tous les événements et les retournements de situation qui ont lieu. Les effets spéciaux sont très bien rendus à l’écran et sont très spectaculaires, presque 20 ans après, ils n’ont pas pris une ride. Alors bien sûr, il y a des invraisemblances, et c’est tout à fait normal, car cela reste de la science fiction car tout est inventée, mais c’est du très bon film de divertissement. Bien que l’histoire globale se finisse bien, il y a beaucoup de personnages qui ne reviennent pas de l’aventure, après avoir trouvé une mort certaine au cours de la mission, notamment le sacrifice d’un personnage principal à la fin du film qui pourrait en surprendre plus d’un. En outre, le casting bénéficie d’une belle brochette d’acteurs. En plus de Bruce WILLIS, qui tient le rôle principal, en tant que leader de son équipe de secours, il y a Ben AFFLECK et Liv TYLER, qui incarnent A.J. Frost et Grace, fille de Harry, qui cache à son père, sa liaison avec le bras droit de la société de forage, car elle craint sa réaction, qui ne se fait pas attendre, au début du film. On retrouve également des acteurs confirmés tels que Billy Bob THORNTON, Will PATTON, Steve BUSCEMI, William FICHTNER, Jason ISAACS, Owen WILSON et le regretté Michael Clarke DUNCAN. Bref, que du très bon. En ce qui concerne le blu ray, l’image est tout simplement sublime, digne du support HD, les couleurs sont superbes et éclatantes, le contraste est très bien rendu, notamment pour les scènes sombres se passant dans l’espace, les détails apparaissent avec une fluidité remarquable. Du très haut niveau. Le son n’est pas en reste, bien au contraire, très bien mis en valeur et très puissant, il surclasse tout, les scènes contenant des effets spéciaux ressortent de très belle manière. La BO est également l’un des atouts du film, avec la chanson principale du film « I Don’t Want Miss To Miss A Thing » interprété avec talent par Steven TYLER, leader du groupe Aerosmith et également père de l’actrice Liv TYLER. Seule déception de ce BR, les bonus, qui sont bien maigres, juste des bandes annonces et le clip vidéo de la chanson principale. Il faut se reporter sur l’édition DVD collector pour voir les bonus qui tiennent une galette entière. Quel dommage !

Love this film and added Blu Ray to my collection

Excelente producto!

Spannend. Goed verhaal. Boeiende film. Veel topacteurs.

Très bon film est arriver très rapidement