Rent Armageddon (1998)

Great Entertainment - Armageddon review by GI

America saves the world.....again. Only here it's done with real panache in a thoroughly entertaining adventure epic, pure hokum but genuinely good fun. It's unashamedly a flag waver, although the Russians get a look in although treated comically. Indeed the entire film is one big comic book story especially in the characters. There's some misfires along the way especially Steve Buscemi's sex pest redneck played as a harmless funny guy but who is actually very sleazy and the need to have machine guns in space! The bringing of these two things together at one point is really pointless. The story is essentially a disaster film narrative set in the science fiction genre where a massive asteroid ("the size of Texas") is detected heading towards Earth. The US heads the mission to destroy it which involves landing on it, drilling a big hole in it and blowing it up with a nuclear bomb. The trouble is they need drilling experts and pick on Bruce Willis and his crew of n'er do well redneck oil riggers to do the job. The film has some great set pieces and tense action scenes, a touching romance smack in the middle (with Liv Tyler & Ben Affleck), a great theme song from Aerosmith, and has laughs, scares and brilliant special effects. It's also implausible, preposterous, riddled with mistakes and daft but cinema often gives us a piece of pure entertainment that just thrills and satisfies. This fits that description perfectly. Great cast too including Billy Bob Thornton, Keith David, Jason Isaacs and Owen Wilson. Just right for a relaxing afternoon in front of the TV.