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Armageddon: Re-mastered Edition (2 Disc Set) [1998] | ![Armageddon: Re-mastered Edition (2 Disc Set) [1998]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DE4PK0W2L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Michael Bay
Actors: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Will Patton
Studio: Touchstone Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £4.19
You Save: £13.80 (77%)
New (10) Used (15) Collectible (1) from £3.47
Rating:  70 reviews
Format: Pal, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Hungarian (Subtitled), Polish (Subtitled), Icelandic (Subtitled), Croatian (Subtitled), Greek (Subtitled)
Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region: 2
Discs: 2
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 144 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 7322190134529
ASIN: B00004CY5Q
Theatrical Release Date: July 1, 1998
Release Date: August 20, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Go on you know you want one gZoop it NOW!! All gZoop products are dispatched from the Channel Islands & take approx 3-5 working days (excluding weekends) from order to delivery.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
This 1998 testosterone-saturated blow-'em-up from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys) continued Hollywood's millennium-fuelled fascination with the destruction of our planet. There's no arguing that the successful duo understand what mainstream audiences want in their blockbuster movies--loads of loud, eye-popping special effects, rapid-fire pacing, and patriotic flag waving. Bay's protagonists--the eight crude, lewd, oversexed (but, of course, lovable) oil drillers summoned to save the world from a Texas-sized meteor hurling toward the earth--are not flawless heroes, but common men with whom all can relate. In this huge Western-in-space soap opera, they're American cowboys turned astronauts. Sci-fi buffs will appreciate Bay's fetishising of technology, even though it's apparent he doesn't understand it as anything more than flashing lights and shiny gadgets. Smartly, the duo also try to lure the art-house crowd, raiding the local indie acting stable to populate the film with guys like Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Owen Wilson, and Michael Duncan, all adding needed touches of humour and charisma. When Bay applies his sledgehammer aesthetics to the action portions of the film, it's mindless fun; it's only when Armageddon tackles humanity that it becomes truly offensive. Not since Mississippi Burning have racial and cultural stereotypes been substituted for characters so blatantly--African Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Scottish, Samoans, Muslims, French ... if it's not white and American, Bay simplifies it. Or, make that white male America; the film features only three notable female characters--four if you count the meteor, who's constantly referred to as a "bitch that needs drillin'". Sadly, she's a hell of a lot more developed and unpredictable than all the other women characters combined. Sure, Bay's film creates some tension and contains some visceral moments, but if he can't create any redeemable characters outside of those in space, what's the point of saving the planet? --Dave McCoy
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| Customer Reviews:
 Hollywood at its best/worst August 25, 2006
JW83 (Bath, UK)
19 out of 25 found this review helpful
Watched this on TV last night and feel compelled to write a review. I remember seeing this in the cinema as an impressionable teenager and thinking it was the greatest thing ever; explosions, tough nut men and funky gadgetry. Having watched it again now, I can't believe how different my opinion is.
This is the most blatant piece of American propaganda ever. A huge comet is ploughing towards Earth, and who notices it first? The Americans. Throughout the course of the film, you get the impression that the rest of the world is still living in a cave somewhere, scratching its collective head and banging a bone against a stone. Of course, only America knows that this threat is coming. Of course, only America has the technology to stop it. Of course, no other countries in the world have the slightest inkling that anything bad is happening, or come up with their own ways of stopping it, or even run away (non-specific Asian man sits eating noodles by a river, then BANG! Bye-bye non specific Asian city. Innocent looking French kids are playing around on a Citroen 2CV, probably having just finished their lunch of onions and frogs legs, when BANG! Paris gets wiped out. We then get a lovely sweeping shot of decimated Paris, because apparently the dust and debris from a comet impact settles immediately). The only other country that is credited as being capable of putting a man in space is Russia, but whilst Team America are whizzing around in their new, shiny shuttles (named "liberty" and "freedom", or some other patriotic nonsense) all Russia can muster is some drunken, insane Cosmonauts aboard their creaky, decrepit space station, which just so happens to explode as soon as America boards it. Goes to show just how much of the space race resentment is still held by America.
I won't even get started on the script; it's just dire beyond belief ("I've got just 5 words for you - Damn glad ta see ya boy!"). Some of the set pieces are well staged and look very pretty, but I can't stand films were half the characters are brought in just so they can be killed. By the time they've landed on the comet, I frankly couldn't keep up with who's dying and who's alive, and quickly got beyond the point of caring. One point of unintended humour was the fact that the guys at mission control got so distraught when one of the shuttles crashed, even though they pretty much knew this would happen anyway, that's why they sent two in the first place! ("At NASA, we don't take chances..."). And I've never seen such a drawn out ending, we knew from the start one of them was going to have to take one for the team, we don't need a seemingly endless scene where he looks all patriotic and nostalgic, just blow the damn bomb you fool!! And of course, the explosion works perfectly, and the world is saved. That is, one assumes, until the two massive chunks of comet get caught up in the nearest gravity field and flung straight back to Earth.
I know I shouldn't get so worked up, it's just a film, but it seriously worries me to think that America; a country that can't even deal with its own internal disasters (Katrina anyone?), portrays itself as the be all and end all solution to the worlds problems. Let's just hope that if a comet is about to hit, Bruce Willis and his cohort's real life counterparts are waiting in the wings to save us all. Not a one star film, because it does have a place, Im just not sure where that place is. Do yourself a favour, if you want an apocalyptic comet based film, go for Deep Impact.
 Powerful, earth shattering movie August 22, 2002
18 out of 26 found this review helpful
In my opinion, one of the best to-be disaster movies ever made. Bruce Willis stars as Harry Stamper, the best deep core driller. Billy Bob Thornton works at NASA. What evolves is a threat for existence to cease on earth. An asteroid the size of Texas is coming at over 20000 miles an hour towards earth. Bruce Willis gives a superb performance in his role as an arrogant driller, who gets a team of his men to save the planet. NASA of course think these men are the biggest mistake in the history of spaceflight.
They are sent to drill in the asteroid and drop a nuke. The teams make it to the asteroid but turbulence and rock storms plague their mission. The teams have so much to go through, very gripping to watch their struggle to drill into the asteroid. I love this movie because the soundtracks are so powerful in a way that you feel that the world is really coming to an end in your living room. The fact that makes this movie so amazing is that in 2019 an asteroid is set to hit earth. I would say this film would be scary to know that it will happen. But for the sake of Hollywood, it’s worth a view.
Excellent special effects and a huge blockbuster hit (1998 Box office charts)
 America saves the world...again February 17, 2005
dragondrums (Ingleby Barwick, United Kingdom)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
The story is improbable to say the least; an asteroid the size of Texas is going to hit the earth. Two space shuttles just happen to be ready to intercept and destroy it in a mere 18 days. The people who are chosen to blow up said asteroid are a motley crew of drillers. BUT...this is great fun. It's gung ho, fast paced, high action FUN. Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) leads his crew of oil drillers on a mission to save the world. A less likely bunch of astronauts has yet to be seen...the gang includes Rockhound, a womaniser who likes his girls young (Steve Buscemi), Oscar, a brilliant but spaced out geologist (Owen Wilson), A.J. Frost, an irresponsible daredevil (Ben Affleck) alongside an alcoholic, a gambler and so on.
Liv Tyler plays Grace, the daughter or Harry who is driven to distraction by his immaturity and Billy Bob Thornton is Dan Truman, the mission leader at NASA who defends the decision to bring in the drillers as opposed to using Americas 'finest young astronauts'.
This film is pure entertainment and doesn't pretend to be anything other than that. What you see is what you get, a high octane, action filled, special effects packed, fun film. Don't look for any deep meanings, just enjoy.
 Meteoric monstrosity! June 17, 2002
11 out of 23 found this review helpful
It's a fact, they say, that you're more likely to die as a result of a celestial impact with the Earth than you are in a plane accident. I'm not sure if that makes me feel happier to fly or not. The thing is, science matters when it comes to sci-fi. OK, maybe this movie's pretentions are more action-oriented than science fiction, but this poxy attempt at a movie simply fails to suspend disbelief.Now I enjoy action movies, such as The Terminator, etc., which require substantial leaps of technical faith from the audience, but Armageddon's special effects (which remind me of the original Flash Gordon series in places) are simply unbelievable. A space craft (notorious for their fragility) bouncing along the jagged surface of a comet would simply explode. This isn't just being boringly pedantic - the movie just looks silly. It's the horror of Independence Day all over again. Why anyone funds intentionally expensive B-movies I'll never know. Indeed, I'd much rather watch Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space than this nonsense. Whilst the other meteor film, Deep Impact, at least pretends to be serious, to be fair both films are appallingly acted. The one star is for Liv Tyler - not the greatest actress on our planet, but she sure motivates me to try to save it. Pity we couldn't have been rescued from this film by a sympathetic movie exec - it was so embarassingly bad I almost enjoyed it. Almost. Frankly, I'd rather die in an astronomical event than watch this tripe again. Avoid like civilisation depended on it.
disengage brain and enjoy! July 7, 2007
Deborah MacGillivray (US & UK)
11 out of 16 found this review helpful
This is one of those movies so bad it's great! OTT? Yep. Realistic...snort...this is Hollywood, mind. You want real? Watch Discovery Channel. I think, this movie makes it clear it's out for fun and to pull the heartstrings. A Doggie attacking Godzilla? Fix my parking tickets? Stay in the White House for six months? Tell them who shot Kennedy? If you are wanting realism, you are barking up the wrong tree. Obviously, the movie doesn't take itself serious, but is out for sheer fun.
Pop a bowl of popcorn, turn up the home movie system and kick back. It's funny, it's silly, it's corny, it defies all logic at times, but it's damn fun entertainment. I think sometimes we forget a movie is just a movie - meant to give us an escape for 2 hours or so. I laughed, sniggered, and like a sap, cried at this fluff.
Sometimes you just need B-movies to get away from it all for a while. So this one earns a place on my keeper shelf next to The Queen of Outer Space, Forbidden Planet, The Thing (both versions) and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Buscemi is worth the ticket alone!!
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