Armageddon

Camera orgies reaching indescribable dimensions, one of the best soundtracks ever created for a film, captivating action, beautiful Bruckheimer-like filters, sharply contoured image composition and perhaps the most exquisite coloring I have ever seen, excellent dynamic direction, romantic scenes alternating with the most action-packed ones, with at least every other shot carrying an emotional charge that doesn’t leave a moment to catch your breath, great voiceovers, and Bay’s stylish and indispensable low-angle. Bruce Willis delivers a magnificent and restrained performance, brilliantly complemented by the rest of the cast, and the screenwriter deserves praise for the wonderfully structured and diverse characters. For nitpicky film student it will be rubbish, for the ordinary viewer, divine entertainment and literally burning filmmaking, showing what can be done nowadays. As Bay himself once said, “I didn't come to cure cancer, but to entertain people.” It is holy truth. (10/25/2003)

This is truly an all-time favorite full of quality humor and characters. I'd be hard pressed to find a better elite. Bruce Willis' charisma is unbeatable, I can't get enough of Ben Affleck, the "Rat" Steve Buscemi made me laugh too much, and M.C. Duncan always adds that much-needed missing touch to a film. Perfect direction, a bombastic script, and I have a big soft spot for the music from this film. 100% for me. More than enough laughs and tears. (02/13/2011)

I watched it for so long I definitively fell in love with it. A controlled dose of absolute patriotism with lots of romantic pathos and catastrophically tuned action scenes. Here Michael Bay let loose his megalomaniac destructive imagination for the first time and created the best disaster movie I have ever seen. Bruce Willis has never been such an adored hero. (07/23/2007)

I avoided this movie for a long time. Still, you can't deny that it's sufficiently action-packed, excellently executed in terms of special effects, mostly has great scenery, and is a fantastic tearjerker. Then you might forgive Bay here and there for those Bay-esque absurdities he stuffs into every movie and the ridiculously far-fetched plot that pretends to be extremely believable. But a crisis situation indeed calls for crazy solutions. And this is really crazy. Great actors, carried by Bruce Willis. (10/20/2014)

Clichés, clichés and then some more clichés. Add to that a hearty dose of patriotism and boredom, and the result is Armageddon. I don't want to be biased and so: the introduction with meteorites is decent, the training on the NASA base has flair and wit. The rest, on the other hand, is what I say above. (05/11/2003)