by JACK VASVARY
When I came out of the theatre after seeing Armageddon I was almost in tears. This was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I saw it twice in one week. With the combination of great acting, beautiful special effects, and imagery, Armageddon kicked ass.
I think one of Armageddon's strongest points is its characters. This was due to good writing and great acting. Each character was well developed. Every actor in this film had a very memorable part in the film. Bruce Willis played one of his best roles ever. The selflessness of his character was amazing. He made the ultimate sacrifice to make sure his daughter and the entire world were safe from the asteroid. Steve Buscemi was absolutely hilarious and probably one of my favorite characters in the film. I particularly liked when he gave the money to the guy in the strip joint and told him to go buy himself a neck. Billy Bob Thornton was great as Dan Truman. His character was so brilliantly portrayed that I was emotional just watching him. Another actor that stood out in this movie was Liv Tyler. I had never seen her in a movie before but from what I saw, she definitely has a bright future in acting. Ben Affleck also gave a great performance. I'd like to go on with all of the other people in the movie, but I'd be typing all night. Lets just say, everyone did a great job.
This film had some great imagery with only minor flaws. I liked several of the shots of people all over the country waiting to see wait their fates would be. There was also a scene with a kid running around with a toy space shuttle. I know that doesn't sound like much but it was a good shot. When Paris was destroyed my jaw hit the ground. The only thing left standing was the Eiffel Tower. The opening scene with the meteor shower from hell was breathtaking. The Crystler building gets demolished and you see people falling to the ground along with the top of the building. There is also a great scene where a dog tears up a Godzilla toy (Hey, lets make fun of the competition). Even another great series of shots shows the miners going through training. There are some great moments here. The only bad thing about the imagery was in some of the action scenes in space. The camera was too jerky and at times, it was difficult to tell what was going on.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the effects. Though they were amazing, the movie was so well done, the effects were only a small part of the film. Usually a summer blockbuster relies on great effects to carry the film. This time around you have both and the movie actually outshines the effects. Hopefully, film makers will take this into consideration and produce films with equal amounts of story, character development and effects.
This movie had one of the most intense and tear jerking conclusions I've ever seen. You don't know how its all going to turn out until the very end. I'm not going to spoil it for you but this is where the actors give some of there best performances in the film. If you see this movie, don't leave until you watch the credits. There are some scenes during them that you don't want to miss.
So go see Armageddon this weekend. It will be playing in McGuffey Hall Friday through Monday at eight. Its absolutely worth a dollar. I'm sure I'll see it all four times.
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by BRIAN KORTE
Armageddon was one of this summer's hottest blockbusters, and for good reason too. A combination of incredible special effects and actors who can actually act make "Armageddon" a soon-to-be classic. Many have criticized the lack of writing talent in this movie. I say this movie has what every action movie intends on doing but never gets to do.
Let's face it. Action movies are normally weak in plot and effects. Normally, the special effects outweigh the real "guts" of a movie. In this case, "Armageddon" delivers with a combination of an interesting story line and an incredible array of special effects.
The story follows a somewhat simple and often duplicated concept: A large asteroid is headed straight for Earth. Upon impact with the earth, life on the planet will cease to exist. When none of the US Government's contingency plans work out, the final resort is to find the world's best driller to blast off, connect to the speeding meteor, drill a huge hole, and drop a nuclear bomb down the foxhole. Okay. I know what you might be thinking. "What kind of plot is this?" I thought the same thing when I was at the theater. Instead of dwelling on what went on, I focused on how they pulled off such a far-fetched story. When taking that approach, this movie excels over its rival movies (like "Deep Impact").
With Bruce Willis taking the lead as Harry Stamper, the world expert in drilling, "Armageddon" effectively proved worthy of being a summer blockbuster. Other supporting roles were Liv Tyler, playing Stamper's daughter, Grace, Ben Affleck as naive and cocky A.J. Frost, and rising in cinema popularity, Billy Bob Thornton, who in my opinion, stole the show as NASA leader Dan Truman. The four actors above were responsible for the majority of the storyline, and there was comic relief provided by Steve Buscemi.
The special effects in "Armageddon" were quite special indeed. It is more than obvious that millions upon millions of dollars were spent on digital imaging and special effects. There's not much I can say about this -- just watch the movie!
A lot of things come to mind when I think back about my favorite movie of the summer. When I think back on "Armageddon," I think of classic blow-em-up action, composed of intense action, thrilling suspense and tear-jerking drama. Sure, the movie had some drawbacks, (what movie doesn't?) but overall, it was superior.
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