Armageddon | 100 Movies Bucket List

 

This was a first-time watch that I was looking forward to seeing.

I'm not usually that excited about disaster movies, but not only does this one star Ben Affleck (who I'm a huge fan of) amongst a host of amazing actors, but it's one that is spoken about a lot in pop culture - for both positive and negative reasons.

It's also the third and final Michael Bay movie on the bucket list, so I was looking forward to comparing it to Bad Boys and Transformers.

The first thing I need to mention about this movie is the amazing cast! I didn't know who was in the movie beyond Affleck and Bruce Willis, so it was such a nice surprise to see so many recognisable faces, especially because they all did a great job with their characters.

Unlike other space-based movies, I liked the fact that the movie has a significant period of time set outside of space. We actually get to know the characters and this world outside of that environment. Which was great for someone who doesn't love a space setting.

Affleck has made jokes in the past about the fact that the plot doesn't exactly make sense, and that's true. It's unrealistic, everything is exaggerated to the extreme, and obviously in the real world this would never have been done. 

And while if you're a fan of the film, knowing this doesn't really lessen your enjoyment, as a first-time watcher things do feel a bit comically ridiculous.

It gets to a point where if you closed your eyes, all you would know about the film is that there's explosions and screaming. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's definitely a Michael Bay thing!

Honestly, I didn't care that much about what was happening on screen. It was fun, but it didn't feel like there was a lot of substance. Even the romantic subplot didn't really grab me.

And to that end, I don't really understand why this film is so popular and critically acclaimed. It was fine, but it wasn't anything amazing, and not something I'm rushing to re-watch.