I had high hopes
for Godzilla to be the summer's most entertaining picture. Armageddon
looked like an accident waiting to happen. Surprise. In most of the places Godzilla
failed, Armageddon succeeds.
Godzilla's script was lousy, derivative,
and the jokes did not work; its characters had ridiculous dialogue and gave us no reason
to care about them. Armageddon starts out admitting that, yes, its premise is
outrageous, comic-book in nature, and too extreme to take seriously. Yet, it
delivers several likeable characters, dazzles with convincing special effects and -- most
impressive of all -- the dialogue snaps, crackles, and pops with good lines. In fact, it's
an extremely talky motion picture, where even tired quips like
"It's gonna
blow!" and "We're not gonna make it!" are said with such enthusiasm it's
like hearing them for the first time.
If Armageddon had taken the end of the
world seriously, like Deep Impact did, it would have failed miserably. It starts
off with scenes of destruction in New York that are comical and shocking at the same time,
giving us permission to laugh and enjoy the movie like a big cartoon. Like Star Wars,
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Die Hard, and other action classics, Armageddon
never tries to conceal that its primary purpose is to give people a good time. And
while it doesn't match those films for originality, it does strike a similar balance of
comedy, action, introspection, special effects, characterization, and self-effacing winks
at the audience.
THE CRITICS
Critics across the nation are already bombarding Armageddon
because of its cliche-heavy action scenes, its "borrowing" from other action
movies, its gaping plot holes, its sentimentality. (See Roger Ebert's merciless,
uncharacteristically mean-spirited review.) I would usually agree with them. I agreed when
they attacked Titanic's unconvincing clumsy dialogue, Godzilla's lack of
creativity, and Deep Impact's sentimentality.
But Armageddon is different. Ebert and the
others are missing something. Armageddon differs from the aforementioned films in
that it ADMITS its own clichés, borrowing, plot holes, and sentimentality, and never tries
to hide the fact. Instead of saying, "I'm a ponderous contemplation of the end of the
world", it says, "Yes, I'm chock full o'holes, so let's just enjoy the
ride." When the clichés come, characters within the scene will admit the
cliché... and
this has the strange effect of making the scene fresh and interesting again. After all, if
we know the director (Michael Bay, maker of The Rock) and screenwriters are aware
of the conventions they're using, we anticipate that they may have something different up
their sleeves. And a lot of the time, they do.
No movie in recent years has reveled in cliffhangers
as exuberantly as this one. The usual "cut the red wire, or the blue wire" bomb defusions are here; there are several countdowns to destruction; and the interstellar
communication breakdowns of Apollo 13 are plenteous here. What is astonishing
about Michael Bay's accomplishment is that, in spite of his own rapid editing and
breakneck pace, in spite of many subplots weaving in and out throughout the film, the
audience never loses track of what is happening, where, and when.
THE CHARACTERS
Bruce Willis is Harry Stamper... a tough-skinned,
soft-hearted chief of a deep-core oil drilling crew that the government wants to send into
space to blow up an asteroid threatening earth. Reluctantly, Stamper agrees to save the
world. He and his crew know that to say "no" is to die along with the planet.
Stamper's daughter (Liv Tyler) is, at first, openly
rebellious. After all, she's been forced to live on oil rigs with a bunchy of rascally
macho-men for most of her life, and she wants to be as independent as the rest of them.
Stamper struggles to be a good father to her, as well as a sort of father to the rough
crew of oil drillers. Stamper leaves a lasting impression because of his passion for doing
the right thing, for defending the integrity of his motley crew, and for raising the
daughter he loves, in spite of his tendency for violent temper tantrums. Stamper is not
just a hero with clever one-liners; he's a hard worker with a penchant for simple,
convincing speeches. The film works hard to celebrate
working-class heroism, and yet
it avoids turning the movie into a class war. Sure, the hero speeches smack of
Hollywood sentimentality, but they work because of Bruce Willis's intensity and the
enthusiasm with which Bay and the writers indulge them.
A moment in praise of Bruce Willis: Willis proved
just how much he has earned audiences' trust when he created a cool good-natured center to
the bizarre spectacle of 1997's The Fifth Element. Here, again, it is his stoic
expression, his constant cool, his smooth command of the technology around him that makes
us relax a little every time he takes charge of a bad situation. Remember, Willis first
earned our respect for his personality, not his ability with heavy artillery, back in the
'80's TV series "Moonlighting". His sincerity and wit are as developed as his
superhero stature. Against all odds, Willis has become one of the great screen presences,
a classic movie star on par with Harrison Ford.
The supporting performances are, for the most part,
commendable. Steve Buscemi gets to be the annoying little runt of the bunch again, as he
was in Con Air, but this time his lines are consistently funny. Peter Stormare
(Fargo, The Lost World: Jurrasic Park) gives a goofy over-the-top performance as
a Russian cosmonaut who has been in space too long; he lumbers through each new tragedy
with the "What's the big deal?" attitude of a perpetual drunk. Billy Bob
Thornton (Sling Blade, U-Turn) gives one of his best performances by refraining
from over-the-top expressions, grounding the movie in the well-intentioned efforts of a
NASA executive director who has to make sane decisions in an insane environment.
(How could Ebert and the others ignore these fine
performances? I don't know....)
The young lovers -- Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler --
give the movie its only damaging scenes. Their lovesick speeches are self-righteous and
annoying in the first half of the movie, more humble and interesting in the second. They
do make a more likeable couple than DiCaprio and Winslet did in Titanic, probably
because they don't revel in their reckless and disrespectful immaturity. Although they
could use some relationship counseling, they do honor faithfulness, value marriage, and
eventually learn to care about what Daddy thinks. By the end, my best wishes are with
them.
THE HEART OF THE FILM
It is the focus on things that really matter that
gives the finale of Armageddon its big emotional punch. Without losing its humor
or its comic-book spirit, the movie reminds of things that make the world worth saving.
Even though Harry Stamper and his crew are thoroughly Hollywood heroes, they have enough
character that we care. Like The Full Monty's
heroes, these crew members have typically bad
male habits and tastes, but they are portrayed as immature rather than admirable. Instead
of celebrating rebelliousness, promiscuity, or adolescent irresponsibility, Armageddon
celebrates the nobility of loving one another, laying down your life for one another,
of being a good parent, of doing what you do to the best of your ability.
Unfortunately, the Biblical references are quite silly and do little to
elevate the tension. Equating the Armageddon of the Bible and a meteor
disaster -- a parallel made loudly in the film -- is really quite ridiculous
considering what the term really means. But the surprising number of references
to prayer kept me from being disgruntled... several characters make appeals to God before
the disaster reaches zero hour.
It's big, it's ludicrous, and laugh-out-loud funny.
I had a blast watching Armageddon
on the big screen. It's
this summer's true Godzilla-sized blockbuster--an
outrageous spectacle, without many brains to speak of, but its heart in the
right place. By keeping its tongue firmly in its cheek from the first five
minutes all the way through to the scenes playing over the end credits, Armageddon
gives the audience permission to quit worrying and enjoy the ride. In the end, in spite of
the always-perfect sunsets, the overabundant American flags, the bombastic soundtrack and
sensual overload of the special effects, it may actually earn some tears and blissful
smiles.
And to the Armageddon-hating critics: Hey,
loosen up! Michael Bay admits this is a big cheeseburger. Don't judge it like you would
fine cuisine. It's meant to be a comic book, for cryin' out loud, not a Faulkner novel!
Jeffrey's Rating:
B-
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