Brace For Impact
Armageddon is about a Texas-sized asteroid that’s on a collision course with Earth. The impact would be world-ending, destroying Earth and everything on it. With twenty days to prepare, NASA concocts a plan to get Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) and his deep core drilling team to train a team of astronauts. But Stamper doesn’t trust this imperative operation to anyone else, so he demands he and his own crew go through basic astronaut training and perform the operation themselves. The goal is to drill massive holes into the asteroid and drop a couple of nukes in them. Then, when safely away, remotely detonate them effectively splitting the asteroid in half and sending the halves safely around Earth.
The first hour of the film introduces nearly all of the major characters and viewers are put through the standard gamut of cliched scenes. It can be a tough hour to get through for anyone that’s seen it more than a couple of times, or anyone who is tired of these type of feel good movies (because a lot of them overlap). Expect a variety of generic characters — the overweight guy, the super-strong guy, the genius, and so forth. These roles are made up by actors like Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi, Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Will Patton. Other well known actors with big roles include Liv Tyler, Billy Bob Thornton, William Fichtner, Peter Stormare, and Keith David. They mesh rather well and the actors all turn in a great performances, even through the cliched scenes of drama and comedy that develop them.
With the drilling machinery outfitted, the nukes prepped, and the team trained, it’s go time. The film takes a more
consistently serious tone at this point, but still leaves room for quick comedic relief. Steve Buscemi’s character, Rockhound, is the source for much of this comedy, just like in some of his other roles in movies like Con Air.
A series of trials and triumphs is basically what this film boils down to, somewhat from the start, but definitely during the final hour and a half. Without trying to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen it, a number of issues arise, including direct orders from Washington to detonate the bomb early, before the team finishes the job. Tension between team members, mechanical issues, and the harsh environment all challenge the team and threaten the mission, and therefore the fate of mankind. In true Michael Bay fashion, everything comes down to the wire with only seconds to spare, making for a predictable but nonetheless intense experience, at least the first time around.
Clearly, this isn’t taken directly from the Blu-ray itself =)
Smashing Onto Blu-ray
The Blu-ray release of Armageddon arrives in a standard case. Several trailers will greet you upon startup of the disc, including one for the upcoming Prince of Persia film. Personally, I wish Blu-ray releases wouldn’t include trailers for other films, especially unreleased movies. Trailers not associated with the film that is on the disc are out of place and take away from the quality of the release as far as I’m concerned.
Speaking of quality, I thought Armageddon looked and sounded great. This isn’t the best quality I’ve seen on Blu-ray, partly due to the CG quality of the time and also because it isn’t technically as amazing as more recent releases, but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I didn’t see any grain or artifacting, or any signs of compression, even during the many darker scenes. Colors are vibrant and edges are sharp, and I never got the impression that I was watching anything less than a finely translated HD video. The DTS-HD 5.1 audio impresses, and those with D-BOX can utilize its motion abilities with this disc, too.
The extra features though, are far less impressive. Included are the teaser and theatrical trailer, and the music video from Aerosmith’s popular “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” song. The teaser trailer runs three minutes and is in SD, and the theatrical trailer is two minutes and SD. The music video — which you may not even watch — is about five minutes and in SD as well. Other than some HD trailers for other films, that’s it, which is sure to sour a lot of hopes for fans of the film wanting a more definitive release.
Ultimately, outside of an impressive presentation, Armageddon on Blu-ray doesn’t do anything special. The extra features are forgettable and the film is still good, but not great, and something I can only bear to watch every few years. That makes it great for a rental, but hard to recommend for an outright purchase.
To the summary…