• From the blockbuster-making team who produced and directed PEARL HARBOR and THE ROCK (Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay) comes the biggest movie of 1998 -- ARMAGEDDON! Starring the explosive talents of Bruce Willis (DIE HARD), Academy Award(R)-winners Ben Affleck (GOOD WILL HUNTING) and Billy Bob Thornton (SLING BLADE), Liv Tyler (THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy), Steve Buscemi (CON AIR), and Will P

Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck. When NASA discovers an enormous asteroid hurtling toward Earth, some unlikely heroes are called upon to save mankind-a rowdy gang of oil drillers, who will plant a nuke in the middle of the asteroid and blow it up before it can hit and destroy Earth. 1998/color/150 min/PG-13.

The commentary includes interesting details, including background information on the characters and filming locations. Note: The commentary is raw and sometimes laced with profanity, although the movie itself is rated PG-13, for reasons explained in the commentary.

Although it's not much, this collection is also a Director's Cut and has a couple scenes added, notable of which is Harry Stamper's character visiting his father before launch. Some other scenes are cut slightly differently, adding some depth to the story.

The Gag reel on the second disk is extremely funny, raw, and not your typical "behind-the-scenes" documentary.

The second disk also features a tremendous amount of information on the special effects and includes many different trailers and promo material. The Aerosmith song video is also included.

While the story can be nit-picked, it's still very exciting and enjoyable.

Overall, if you liked the movie, the Criterion Collection release is the DVD to have.

16 of 18 found the following review helpful:


Let's go for a ride. . .  Feb 27, 2006 By D. Mikels "It's always Happy Hour here"
Hey, lighten up, oh puckered product reviewers who can't seem to blast this flick enough. Can we all agree the very premise of this movie--along with all the wacky, physics-defying pseudo-science--requires a suspension of disbelief the size of, say, the Milky Way Galaxy? Can't we all just get along?

ARMAGEDDON isn't a scientific treatise on how to successfully stop an asteroid the size of Texas from destroying the earth; it's a white-knuckled, strap-it-on and strap-it-up, grit your teeth and enjoy the ride roller coaster. This movie delivers nonstop action like a law firm cranking out past-due statements; ARMAGEDDON's got it all, from a slingshot lunar ride, to thrills and chills with a nuclear weapon, to even one spaced-out Russian cosmonaut.

All viewers please check quantum physics at the door.

Bruce Willis, a cantankerous leader of a bunch of renegade roughnecks (roughnecks who must fly to the asteroid and drill through 800 feet of solid metal and drop a nuke in the hole, mind you), is solid. Ben Affleck reminded me of a whiny, annoying teenager; Liv Tyler had me more solid than the meteor itself. Billy Bob Thornton. . .yeah, okay. The rest of the cast works well together--they look like they had fun making this movie. Which is only fitting: I dang sure had fun watching it.

--D. Mikels, Author, WALK-ON

29 of 36 found the following review helpful:


No anamorphic version? For shame!  Apr 12, 2002 By Lance Arthur
Although I think the movie is an over-loud, completely illogical and fairly disorienting piece of Hollywood claptrap, as far as big Summer blockbusters go it's hard to beat Armageddon. But I wanted to add a large, hairy and potentially sales-limiting aside to all the other reviews. If you're upgrading to a widescreen TV thinking this DVD will showcase the new technological wonders of prograssive scan and 16x9 flat screens you'll be sorely disappointed when you find that there is no anamorphic version on this disc. That's right, friends, even with all the other extras, they couldn't be bothered to include the one feature that truly showcases the cinematography and special effects (which are, let's face it, this film's halmarks cuz it sure ain't the acting and script). On a widescreen TV, Criterion's Armageddon provides black bars above, below and side to side yielding a postcard view of the "big screen" action.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:


Lame movie. Great special effects.  May 02, 1999
This is one of the lamest movies I have seen. Lame story. Lame acting. Lame actors. Willis at his worse. Tyler should stay being famous because of her father and give up her acting career before we all see how lame she can really be. The only saving quality of this movie is the special effects and they are great. I give it 2 stars based on this fact and only this fact. If you are like me and enjoy watching movies for the sfx then you will like this. If you are deeper and need a good story, pass this one--with a wide gap.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:


Puh-leez!!!  May 08, 1999
Armageddon was the stupidest movie ever. After Ben Affleck narrowly escapes death 50 times in the first 10 minutes, the ending is so predictable. I mean, it got to the point that I actually WANTED him to die!! Plus everything else that could possibly have gone wrong went wrong, yet amazingly they overcome it all. The characters and dialogue were so stupid and the whole story was pointless, and it was completely unrealistic. Besides if those people were really hurling through space after crashing they would have exploded and no one can handle that many G's. If you want a realistic space movie, go get Apollo 13, and if you want a decent movie with Ben Affleck, get Good Will Hunting. Otherwise don't waste your money.

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