Armageddon (1998 film)

Armageddon
Directed by	Michael Bay
Written by	Robert Roy Pool Jonathan Hensleigh
Produced by	Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd
Starring	Bruce Willis Ben Affleck Liv Tyler Billy Bob Thornton Will Patton Steve Buscemi Michael Clarke Duncan Owen Wilson William Fichtner Peter Stormare
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Release dates	July 1st, 1998
Running time	150 min.
Language	English

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 films 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.

Plot synopsis

Template:Spoiler Before the film’s title appears onscreen, a narrator (Charlton Heston) informs us that in the time of the dinosaurs, 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.

Disaster

While in the middle of an EVA, the Space Shuttle 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, such as Grand Central Station and parts of the World Trade Center. In one of the more famous scenes, an asteroid slices the top of the Chrysler Building off and sends it hailing into the streets below.

NASA scientists, led by Dan 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 18 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's plan

File:NASA's plan (Armageddon).jpg

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. We also find out that AJ has been intimate with Stamper’s daughter, Grace, for several months, a fact that Harry is quite furious to discover, prompting him to go after AJ with a shotgun.

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. The deadline for detonation is a distance from Earth called "zero barrier," which will allow the two halves of the asteroid to miss Earth when split apart. 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.

At the end of the training missions, a meteor penetrates the Earth's atmosphere and collides with Shanghai, annihilating the city and causing the deaths of some 50,000 people from a massive tsunami. This triggers massive press attention, and light is shed on NASA's once-covert operation as the world fixes its eyes on Stamper and his team.

Mission setback

The two crews take off in two separate shuttles, Freedom and Independence, two of the most advanced spacecraft ever built. They dock with the Russian space station Mir 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, narrowly escapes the fire with AJ and 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.

The asteroid

File:The asteroid (Armageddon).jpg

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 they've 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; they 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. NASA activates the bomb from Earth and a fight ensues on the shuttle between Sharpe and Stamper. Stamper convinces the colonel that he can make the depth of 800 feet. Colonel Sharpe and his lieutenant defuse the bomb mere seconds before it detonates.

One of Stamper’s crew, Rockhound, has a negative psychological reaction to working in space, aptly named space dementia. He causes a distraction while playing with a minigun, 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.

Sacrifice

File:Sacrifice (Armageddon).jpg

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 AJ's oxygen feed tube and forces him back into the shuttle, telling him to take care of Grace. He then rips off the mission patch on his suit and tells A.J to give it to Dan Truman.

Meanwhile on Earth, as final prayers are being made by people around the world, another large meteor breaks through the atmosphere and crashes into Paris, causing a catastrophe as the ground erupts towards the sky. The Eiffel Tower is toppled, the golden dome of Les Invalides is knocked over and crushed, and most of the city is leveled. In a shockingly realistic shot, the Champs-Élysées is seen submerged in a large crater amidst the debris.

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

File:Safely back (Armageddon).jpg

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. Right before Grace says "I do," she looks over at the portraits of her father and the other members lost on the mission and she smiles.

Reception and criticism

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. The film was lambasted for being too noisy, which contradicts the fact that there is no noise in outer space, although this is a factor often disregarded in Hollywood. Director Michael Bay has acknowledged that fire and noise cannot exist in outer space, but has indicated that he intentionally disregarded these facts for dramatic effect.

It is also often mentioned that no nuclear weapon would be able to sufficiently break up an asteroid that, according to Truman, was "the size of Texas". It should be noted that when this was said in the movie, Truman interrupted someone who was giving the actual size of the asteroid in order to speed things along; he may have just been sarcastic. If the asteroid were truly the size of Texas, its mass would rival that of the largest known asteroid in the solar system, 1 Ceres.

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."

But for audiences around the world, the movie was a hit. To promote the instant disaster film blockbuster, drapes were placed over the pyramid of the Luxor Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada: when combined, the drapes made the effect that a meteor slammed through the hotel pyramid.

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

Soundtracks

File:Armageddon - The Album (CD Cover).jpg

The Armageddon soundtrack album cover

Armageddon: The Album (Sony, June 23rd, 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

There was also an instrumental score

File:Armageddon score.jpg

The Armageddon Score album cover

Armageddon: 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

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'.
• This movie was parodied in the 1999 MTV Movie Awards as Armagedd'N Sync [1].
• In another subtitle error, when the ground crew instructs the shuttles to "Press to MECO [Main Engine Cutoff] (pronounced as "meeko"), the subtitle says "Press Demigo." (possibly a mondegreen)
• "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" soundtrack by Aerosmith, features in its music video both Liv Tyler and her father (Steven Tyler). She also appeared in the 1994 Aerosmith music video for Crazy along with mid-1990s Aerosmith music video star Alicia Silverstone.
• In the theatrical release, a crew member (Lev) makes a stereotypical remark that an object was "made in Taiwan" after it failed to work. ("American components, Russian components, all made in Taiwan!") However, this does not appear in the later versions. It may have been removed due to complaints.
• When Col. Sharp demonstrates the manual trigger to A.J., he says "lift [the cover], press [the trigger] and hold [the button]" which A.J. repeats. However, the proper sequence should have been described as "lift [the cover], hold [the trigger], press [the button]" which is what Harry does later. Also, Truman is at ground control saying, "C'mon, Stamper, press the button!" while Harry is trying to get back to the trigger.

See also

• Asteroid deflection strategies
• List of disaster films

External links

• Armageddon at IMDb
• Armageddon Script at Simply Scripts
• Criterion Collection essay on Armageddon, from a Wesleyan University professor under whom the film's director studied
• Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics review of Armageddon
• Bad Astronomy - The Astronomy of Armageddon
• Movie Tour Guide.com - Maps and directions to Armageddon Filming Locations
• The Agony Booth : Armageddon Review