Armageddon

Stumbled across "Armageddon" the other night on Foxtel, and with little to do and my brain reasonably empty, decided to rewatch it. When I first saw this at the cinema back in 1998, I remember thinking it was one of the dumbest films ever plus I was completely fed up with the "natural disaster" genre that was drowning society. Would time change my perception?

"Armageddon" deals with the question "what would happen if a meteor bigger than earth hit earth?". For some reason the US discovered this threat and decided they alone could come up with the answer. Their solution was to send a bunch of misfits who drill for oil into a spaceship to land on the meteor, drill a huge hole in it, then send a nuclear bomb inside it and blow it up from the inside. Genius.

NASA enlists the "world's best driller", luckily also American Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) to come and help select the best drill and a plan to get the bomb into the meteor. Harry thinks it will be easier to use his crew who he's used to working with, rather than professional astronauts and scientists. Reluctantly NASA agrees and starts training the crew for the most important job ever in the world. During and after the tests it's clear the team isn't up to it, but they go anyways. Will this cast of misfits save the world? Take a wild guess.

Worth watching for the pure comedy factor, if you can overcome the normal US arrogance and ridiculous storyline. A solid cast, given little to work with, covers a multitude of flaws, most noticeably the crappy Aerosmith theme song. Gets bonus points for Pete Stormare who plays the Russian astronaut.