Ever since Jaws ushered in the summer blockbuster concept all the way back in 1975, it had been one of the biggest focuses in Hollywood. These days, superhero movies seem to dominate the season, providing fans with the big action spectacle and humor that people want to see this time of the year. But one of the more underrated summer blockbusters that delivered on these audience expectations long before the MCU existed is Michael Bay's wild disaster movie, Armageddon.
Just the title of the movie causes many people to snicker and roll their eyes. The movie has become infamous for being the kind of big, expensive, and dumb action movie that is easy to make fun of. But that is a big part of why it is such a perfect summer blockbuster.
Starting with the premise, it is admittedly very dumb. The idea is that there is an asteroid heading to Earth that will cause complete global destruction, which has become a common premise for disaster movies. The minds at NASA decide that the best plan for saving humanity is to send up a team of deep core oil drillers to drill a hole in the asteroid, place a bomb inside and blow it up before it reaches Earth. Ignoring the fact that a plan to save the world is handled exclusively by the American government, even star Ben Affleck pointed out that it would be a lot easier to teach astronauts to drill than to teach drillers how to be astronauts. Such flawed logic in the movie could derail the whole thing immediately. However, Armageddon knows how to be just dumb enough.
A big part of what makes the movie work even with such an obviously flawed premise is Michael Bay as a director. Much like Armageddon itself, Bay is an easy target for critics and has been derided many times in the past, sometimes for good reason. But Armageddon is the movie that shows Bay will not let a mindless story idea stop him from delivering a very fun movie. The premise of the possible end of the world is about as high-stakes as you can get and Bay does a great job of using that impending threat as momentum for the movie.
Within the first few moments of the movie, New York City is devastated by a meteor shower that allows Bay to tease the kind of big spectacle destruction he is going for with this movie. It has become a bit of a joke how many explosions occur in a Bay movie. Such mindless destruction felt out of place in the Transformers movies, but it helps to keep the tension in Armageddon. Bay is very good at delivering those pulse-pounding action beats and he gets plenty of opportunities to show off here, from the disaster at the space station to the crash-landing on the astronaut. They are big, loud, and exciting moments that audiences love.
Of course, there are plenty of movies that do the big action and dumb plot well without it resulting in a truly memorable movie. Godzilla vs. Kong is a good example of this as it was a movie that featured plenty of big action that everyone praised but the overall movie felt a lot less enjoyable than it should have been. The problem was that when there wasn't any action, the audience was forced to hang out with some truly dull human characters.
Building strong characters has never been something Bay's movies have been known for and it would be a big stretch to say these are three-dimensional characters in this movie. However, he manages to assemble a really fun group of characters together, each with their own personality, who the audience can easily like, cheer for, and mourn when they start dying off. It is that kind of ensemble dynamic that The Avengers movies do so well, allowing these characters to have fun with each other rather than just deliver exposition dialogue.
It also helps that the cast is genuinely great with Bruce Willis leading a crew filled with indie actors of the era. Long before Ben Affleck was Batman, he was the guy from Good Will Hunting and Clerks appearing in his first Hollywood blockbuster. And while they also went on to success, Billy Bob Thorton, Steve Buscemi, and Owen Wilson were starring in much smaller roles. It added an interesting dynamic with these unique personalities who could stand out in supporting roles.
There are a couple more elements that help to make this movie the ideal summer blockbuster, even if these elements are always as well done. The first is the movie's humor which has always been a tricky area for Bay. He seems to understand that a well-placed joke in an action movie can work wonders. The problem is that he doesn't have very good comedic timing for a director. He often lingers on jokes too long or goes overboard with them which can derail the momentum of the movie. His sense of humor is often problematic as well with his jokes being criticized as juvenile at best and racially insensitive at worst.
Luckily, with Armageddon, Bay seemed to be reined in a bit more with the humor so it just adds a nice relief to all the mayhem without being distracting. There aren't any jokes fans will likely be repeating for years to come, but it keeps the tone just light enough. Another aspect that adds just enough is the love story. And just the mention of the infamous animal cracker scene between Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler will likely make some people groan. It is cheesy and cliché, but it is a romance that the audience can buy into without taking too much time away from the fun. It adds that emotional element to the story that makes it even more of a crowd-pleaser even if the crowd insists it was unnecessary.
Armageddon is the rare kind of movie that knows what it is but doesn't let that stop it from trying any harder. The so-bad-they-are-good movies really don't work as well as people pretend they do, so when a movie has a silly premise like Armageddon, it has to be sure the rest of the movie makes up for the dumbness. With a great cast, a well-balanced tone, and an effective action director, Armageddon delivers that kind of movie that makes the summer blockbuster season so fun.