Armageddon (1998)

R4 DVD

Walt Disney Studios

Looking at classic science fiction films Armageddon is a surprisingly successful comet disaster film from 1998. Harry Stamper is played by Bruce Willis with a team of top actors including rebellious A. J. (Ben Affleck); gambler Chick (Will Patton); sex-addict Rockhound (Steve Buscemi); Bear (Michael Duncan) and larger than life Max (Ken Hudson Campbell), Liv Taylor plays Stamper’s daughter and A.J’s love interest. She, of course, adds a sweet tone to the whole film which becomes more than a little saccharine.

Armageddon mixes together top notch special effects, hokey American patriotism, lots of sentimentality (including the mandatory love interest and a reuniting of separated father, wife and child) and way too much testosterone. It is a film which dated before its time due to 9/11, while disaster films were very popular in the Nineties when real disaster struck in the forms of terrorism images of New York being hit by a comet become rather difficult to stomach for many.

There are a lot of underlying motifs in Armageddon, the most obvious is the use of Biblical and religious imagery; the film is called Armageddon and even the President talks of Biblical prophecy. There is also a strangely ambiguous attitude towards science and technology. NASA is depicted as bungling and out of touch and while their rocket may get the team into space, it is real blue collar workers who dig the hole and save the day.

The theme of the “great American dream” is emphasized especially with the mining team. Here are average, blue collar men who have drinking, drug and gambling issues but when called on are able to literally “save the world”. After a while the Americanism of the film does begin to grate, especially with the way that sentimental images of family and churches etc are all used to bolster the great success of the “average man as hero”. If you can overlook these overused images and try to enjoy the film as a work of science fiction it is actually a damn good film which keeps you interested for the whole running time of 2 ½ hours.

The space shuttle Atlantis is destroyed by a meteor shower and in short order New York City comes under attack, not from weapons but from the same shower that destroyed the shuttle. Since NASA is underfunded, it has not seen that a large asteroid, the size of Texas is going to hit in earth in a very short time. As NASA debates what can be done they come up with a novel solution. Since an atomic weapon placed on the surface will not deflect the asteroid, they will send a team to drill 800 feet into the surface and place an atomic device into the hole, blowing it from the inside. Everyone is not convinced and a secret secondary plan is put into place to set off the device remotely if the drilling fails.

A team of rowdy oil drillers led by Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) is chosen to undertake the task. At first Harry is asked to lead a NASA team but he refuses as he does not trust anyone but his own team of talented but wayward misfits. Soon they are on the way into space but not before medical tests, training and an unfortunate night on the town. The team is divided into two and they rocket into space with NASA pilots and technical support.

Landing on the asteroid disaster strikes and the second team seems lost. Confrontations occur when the military attempts to pre-emptively set off the bomb but finally the hole is drilled, but not without great cost.

As many have noticed this is film which while having some environmental message i.e the importance of NASA and the danger of comets, is essentially a very macho experience. Bruce Willis as Stamper is the super male, shotting at A.J for loving his daughter, shooting golf balls at Greenpeace and degrading NASA for their lack of skills. In many ways Stamper is the ultimate phallic image, with his huge drill he can drive into the greatest threat the earth has even seen and save the day. A triumph for the average male transformed from an uneducated oil driller into a hero.

It is also to be noted that it is an American male who saves the day, while a Russian is on board as well (only by accident when the space station is blown up) he is shown as a buffoon. No other country, not even the Europeans, can get anyone into space to save the world except the heroic Americans.

While there is certainly way too much testosterone, sugar and gloss, there is also an amazing array of superb special effects. Even though this was made in 1998, it stands the test of time pretty well and looks great. The world on the asteroid does remind me of 1950’s sci fi but it looks realistic enough that it works and the meteor showers hitting New York, India and Paris are very well done.

There are some scenes which are just plain ridiculous; the space vehicle using the difference in gravity to fly over an asteroid version of the Grand Canyon stretches credibility to breaking point. But then drilling on an asteroid after 12 days training to save mankind does much the same; you need to suspend critical functions to enjoy this film.

Armageddon is a strange film which a lot of viewers had an instant reaction to; it was loved and hated in nearly equal amounts. It really depends on how you wish to view the film, it you accept it as a science fiction fantasy and ignore some of the more hokey even preposterous content then it is an enjoyable romp into space. For better or worse it does have a place in any sci fi lovers film library.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No.1 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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