Movie review score
5
Armageddon (I) (1998)
151 min - Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi - 1 July 1998 (USA)
When an asteroid the size of Texas is headed for Earth the world's best deep core drilling team is sent to nuke the rock from the inside.
Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Jonathan Hensleigh (screenplay), J.J. Abrams (screenplay), and 4 more credits »
Stars: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck
151 min - Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi - 1 July 1998 (USA)
When an asteroid the size of Texas is headed for Earth the world's best deep core drilling team is sent to nuke the rock from the inside.
Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Jonathan Hensleigh (screenplay), J.J. Abrams (screenplay), and 4 more credits »
Stars: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck
Plot: When a meteor shower destroys the Space Shuttle Atlantis and bombards parts of New York City, NASA discovers a Texas-sized asteroid will collide with Earth in 18 days, creating another extinction event. With the military, NASA scientists, led by Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) plan to embed a nuclear device 800 feet within the asteroid that, when ignited, will split the asteroid in two parts that will both safely fly past the Earth. NASA contacts Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis), considered the best deep-sea oil driller in the world, for assistance and advice. Harry returns to NASA along with his daughter Grace (Liv Tyler) to keep her away from one of his young and more rambunctious drillers, A. J. Frost (Ben Affleck), who has fallen in love with her much to Harry's dismay. Harry and Grace learn of the critical issues of the asteroid, and Harry explains he will need his team members, including A. J., to help advise NASA. Once they have been rounded up, Harry's team offers to help but only after being assured of being rewarded from an esoteric list of demands.
Harry and his team reoutfit the mobile drillers, named the 'Armadillos', that NASA plans to use on the asteroid, and Harry comes to realize that his crew must participate in the mission to ensure success. NASA puts Harry's crew through a shortened rigorous training schedule. When fragments from the asteroid wipe out Shanghai and Paris, NASA is forced to reveal its plans to the world. NASA launches two military space shuttles, Freedom and Independence. Once in orbit, the shuttles dock with a Russian space station manned by Lev Andropov (Peter Stormare) to refuel. A. J. encounters a problem while trying to stop the fuel pumps, and the station is evacuated before it explodes, with Lev and A. J. safely aboard the Independence. The shuttles continue the plan, slingshotting around the Moon in order to land on the backside of the asteroid. However, while traveling through the debris field behind the asteroid, Independence is punctured by debris and appears to crash onto the asteroid. Grace, watching from NASA headquarters, becomes distraught over A. J.'s apparent death.
Freedom lands safely, but the occupants realize they overshot their target area, and must now drill through hard iron plate. They lose a significant amount of time and spare equipment in their attempt. Harry's team learn that the military has initiated a backup plan to remotely ignite the bomb on the surface of the asteroid. The crew is deemed expendable in this contingency. Harry and Dan work to disable this option, knowing it will have no effect on the asteroid's path. When they lose their entire driller and another crew member when they strike a gas pocket, they report their failure to NASA, but they soon discover that A. J., Lev, and "Bear" (Michael Clarke Duncan), another of Harry's crew, survived the crash of Independence and have come to help them with the Independence's driller. The survivors drive the other driller to the drilling site, and Harry puts his trust in A. J., who is able to drill to the required depth for the charge.
As the asteroid moves dangerously close to the earth, it begins to heat up and makes surface conditions extremely dangerous. When they try to plant the bomb in the deep hole, a sudden rock storm damages the triggering mechanism. One person must now stay behind to trigger it manually. The crew decides to draw straws, and A. J. draws the short one, but as he and Harry descend to the air lock, Harry rips the air hose from A. J.'s suit and shoves him back into the airlock, telling him that he's the son he never had, and he'd be proud to have him marry Grace. Harry assumes responsibility for detonating the bomb (and tells A. J. that his job is "taking care of my little girl"), and contacts Grace to say his last goodbyes. After the Freedom moves to a safe distance, Harry detonates the bomb at the last minute (and after some difficulty), and his life passes before his eyes as the bomb rips through the asteroid. The asteroid, as predicted, breaks into two, and both halves miss the Earth. Freedom lands, and the surviving crew are treated as heroes. At A. J. and Grace's wedding, photos of Harry and the other lost crew members are present in memoriam.
Harry and his team reoutfit the mobile drillers, named the 'Armadillos', that NASA plans to use on the asteroid, and Harry comes to realize that his crew must participate in the mission to ensure success. NASA puts Harry's crew through a shortened rigorous training schedule. When fragments from the asteroid wipe out Shanghai and Paris, NASA is forced to reveal its plans to the world. NASA launches two military space shuttles, Freedom and Independence. Once in orbit, the shuttles dock with a Russian space station manned by Lev Andropov (Peter Stormare) to refuel. A. J. encounters a problem while trying to stop the fuel pumps, and the station is evacuated before it explodes, with Lev and A. J. safely aboard the Independence. The shuttles continue the plan, slingshotting around the Moon in order to land on the backside of the asteroid. However, while traveling through the debris field behind the asteroid, Independence is punctured by debris and appears to crash onto the asteroid. Grace, watching from NASA headquarters, becomes distraught over A. J.'s apparent death.
Freedom lands safely, but the occupants realize they overshot their target area, and must now drill through hard iron plate. They lose a significant amount of time and spare equipment in their attempt. Harry's team learn that the military has initiated a backup plan to remotely ignite the bomb on the surface of the asteroid. The crew is deemed expendable in this contingency. Harry and Dan work to disable this option, knowing it will have no effect on the asteroid's path. When they lose their entire driller and another crew member when they strike a gas pocket, they report their failure to NASA, but they soon discover that A. J., Lev, and "Bear" (Michael Clarke Duncan), another of Harry's crew, survived the crash of Independence and have come to help them with the Independence's driller. The survivors drive the other driller to the drilling site, and Harry puts his trust in A. J., who is able to drill to the required depth for the charge.
As the asteroid moves dangerously close to the earth, it begins to heat up and makes surface conditions extremely dangerous. When they try to plant the bomb in the deep hole, a sudden rock storm damages the triggering mechanism. One person must now stay behind to trigger it manually. The crew decides to draw straws, and A. J. draws the short one, but as he and Harry descend to the air lock, Harry rips the air hose from A. J.'s suit and shoves him back into the airlock, telling him that he's the son he never had, and he'd be proud to have him marry Grace. Harry assumes responsibility for detonating the bomb (and tells A. J. that his job is "taking care of my little girl"), and contacts Grace to say his last goodbyes. After the Freedom moves to a safe distance, Harry detonates the bomb at the last minute (and after some difficulty), and his life passes before his eyes as the bomb rips through the asteroid. The asteroid, as predicted, breaks into two, and both halves miss the Earth. Freedom lands, and the surviving crew are treated as heroes. At A. J. and Grace's wedding, photos of Harry and the other lost crew members are present in memoriam.
