Ok folks, here's the one I've been waiting for, the first full test screening on ARMAGEDDON. I've been dying to see this flick, and I have seen a lot of it so far. They had their big 26 days before the premiere screening, and it still has some more effects to finish, but it was pretty much done. I've received two full reviews, 10 minis and one NRG spy breakdown. According to my NRG goon ARMAGEDDON scored right about 90 on their charts, which is higher than THE ROCK or any other Simpson/Bruckheimer flick. They had a great audience that was highly responsive. My NRG sleuth informs me that around 95% of the folks in the Focus Group would recommend the film to their friends. But as I've come to learn the NRG numbers aren't always dead on. Sometimes they are off. The 10 minis all really liked the film. That's a good sign. Then in the full reviews (see the two below) there was a split. One loved it, the other thought that while it could be the biggest film of the summer they prefered Deep Impact. Who is right? There is no right. That's your decision to make this Fourth of July. I know I'll be in line with dear ol Dad.
Call me Jonas....I appologize if I screw up at this, I'm new at this review stuff.
OK. Here we go. Tonite, I attended a test screening of Armageddon...they told us that we're the first to see the whole thing. They probably lied. Either way...
THIS MOVIE KICKS ASS!!!!!!!
This is definitely gonna be a big hit (no pun intended) but then again, you knew that.
The Acting: I've never been a big Bruce Willis fan, but I really enjoyed him in this. Ben Affleck was really good. Brock Peters was good, and I can DEFINITELY see why he caught your eye. I agree--he should be John Coffey in THE GREEN MILE. Owen Wilson was good, and Liv Tyler was good. Billy Bob Thornton was good. Steve Buscemi was HILARIOUS...they gave him a lot of great lines! Will Patton was good, but nothing to rave about in my opinion. In short, good acting. Not gonna win an Accademy Award, but still...it was good.
The Story: Personally, I liked it better than Deep Impact. And I really liked Deep Impact. But, the thing is that the reason this movie's gonna do SOOOOOO much better than Deep Impact is that (in my humble opinion) when people go to a movie, they don't go to see people be sad & react to how the world's gonna end...they go to see a buncha shit blow up. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The story was nothing special or original...it was predictable as hell, but dangit, it was FUN!
The Special Effects: Since this was a test screening, the movie wasn't TOTALLY completed yet. Some of the the effects weren't completely done, but I couldn't tell a difference. The effects kicked ass!!!! LOTS of explosions! LOTS of noise!!! See this in a THX theater, if you can...it's worth it. The shots of Earth from the perspective of the astronauts/drillers were superb! No tidal wave in this, which was one thing I LOVED about Deep Impact, but still...really good effects.
In short, SEE THIS MOVIE!! It's not inteligent, its not gonna make you think, but DAMMIT, its a fun movie! A perfect summer movie, and a typical Jerry Bruckheimer flick, if ya ask me. Dunno whether or not its gonna be my top pick of the summer, but I doubt it. The jury's still out on that one till we see The Truman Show on Friday Morning.
Until next time...
Jonas
Ok, now obviously above we have a Bruckheimer/Michael Bay fan like me. Then below we have the non-Bruckheimer/Michael Bay fan. In the above review Jonas loves the one liners that Steve Buscemi has, and I have to admit I have seen 55 minutes of the film, and he had a lot of one liners that I liked. But the fella below didn't like Buscemi's plethora of one liners. Hmmmmmm...
I saw Armageddon tonight. Below is my review. Thanks!
ARMAGEDDON
I'm going out on a limb here by saying this, but, Deep Impact is superior to Armageddon. There I said it. I've spoken the truth (it is out there, you know). For months, if I would have heard such nonsense, I would have snickered. Not anymore.
It's okay to have comic relief in a film, but it got to a point that there was one too many one-liners, particularly by Steve Buscemi, one of the all-time great character actors. Sure, they were funny, but at the same time, overkill.
However, one scene was down right hilarious. The guy on the bike you probably saw in the excellent trailer (the "We're goin' to the top" guy), has a pitbull, who while prancing around the streets of Manhattan, attacks a Godzilla toy. It's classic.
Other attempts at humor are less engaging. After A.J. (Ben Affleck) says, "I'm Han Solo... you're Chewie," the blonde cowboy Oscar (Owen Wilson) replies, "Are you kidding? Have you seen Star Wars?" I mean, come on! Give me a break!
In this asteroid flick, you don't get emotionally invested in the characters. Frankly, Scarlet, you don't give a damn about them. The scenes between Tyler, Willis and Affleck, were unintentionally humorous. In fact, those scenes are probably the funniest scenes I've seen all year... in any movie. So if you want to laugh, forget seeing Bulworth or The Wedding Singer, go see this.
In Deep Impact, I at least felt some tension and suspense before the comet hit. I actually felt it was going to hit. Here, I don't. It's just too predicable. Too formulaic. The filmmakers take few risks, and the film suffers from it as well. One HUGE risk they do take does work out. DELETED TO SAVE THE END OF THE FILM.
At the Cannes Film Festival Jerry Bruckheimer somewhat bashed his rival disaster pick in lack of taste. But the joke is on him. Deep Impact has made a lot of money, much more than what was expected. Audiences seem to like the flick, and now part of the "ooommphhh" has been taken away from Armageddon.
Sure, it will still be a huge hit, maybe finish as the summer's number one film (in box office figures), yet maybe not. The Truman Show is likely to carry that crown, as it should.
Overall, Armageddon is a major disappointment. Go for the laughs, sleep through the thrills.
"Jack, The Boy Wonder"
