Armageddon Review

The premise is famously backwards, and Ben Affleck's own commentary track making that joke is more honest than anything in the script. Training roughnecks to be astronauts rather than astronauts to drill is a decision the film makes because it wants a crew of characters, and then it does not bother to write them past one trait each. Bay's editing here is the most aggressive of his career, with an average shot length so short that during the asteroid sequences you cannot tell where anyone is standing, what is above or below, or which vehicle just exploded.

Space becomes a strobe. And yet. The film understands sentiment better than it understands physics, and Willis putting his hand on the glass and telling Liv Tyler to take care of his daughter for him is a beat that works on audiences who spent the previous two hours laughing. Steve Buscemi is enjoying himself. The animal crackers scene is indefensible and memorable. A vulgar, effective, exhausting machine.