Something struck me as being remarkable yesterday morning as I awoke to find that both Variety and Hollywood Reporter had reviewed ARMAGEDDON, now usually I wouldn't be dumbstruck by this, but it was the results that got me. Both Duane Byrge (Hollywood Reporter) and Todd McCarthy (Variety) are good critics, and usually they have about the same things to say about the same films.
But this time they were exact polar opposites. Duane loved ARMAGEDDON and Todd seemed to hate it. What struck me was how many exactly opposite sounding things they pointed out.
"An asteroid the size of Texas is heading toward Earth in "Armageddon," and when it hits next week, a boxoffice explosion will erupt way beyond Texas dimensions.
The summer's first you-gotta-see-it blockbuster is a dazzling, warp-speed extravaganza featuring Bruce Willis in one of his most appealing portrayals of a John Wayne-/John McClane-style hero. If you recall Fourth of July weekend two years ago, think "Independence Day" numbers for Buena Vista's rip-charging, special effects disaster movie.
Just because you're big does not mean you're not brainy, and this smart, polished entertainment crushes the notion that fx/disaster films run only on low-octane dialogue, lowest-common-denominator narrative and the lowliest instincts of tie-in marketeers"-----DUANE BYRGE
While Todd McCarthy says---
The second and, mercifully, last of the season's nuke-the-asteroid-or-bust pre-millennium spectaculars is so effects-obsessed and dramatically benumbed as to make "Deep Impact" look like a humanistic masterpiece.
Despite its frequently incoherent staging and an editing style that amounts to a 21/2-hour sensory pummeling, $150 million sci-fi actioner nonetheless has the Willis juice, Jerry Bruckheimer-Michael Bay bad-boy ingredients and Disney marketing muscle going for it to launch it into high commercial orbit.
Only question mark relates to the unexpected endurance "Deep Impact" has demonstrated, and whether the Paramount hit, the biggest 1998 release thus far, will indeed have a "Dante's Peak"/"Volcano" dampening effect on want-see for this more elaborate and expensive, but even sillier and less engaging, production.
These seem to be two totally different films. One is a film to hold as an example for big budget effects filmmaking that will smash box office records, and the other is a lowly film, that won't even crawl out of the shadow of Deep Impact.
Take for example what each of them had to say about the scripts for this film.
the writing team has slicked together a perfect concoction of refined and crude story including scientific fact, personal drama, romance, humor and a gusher of off-the-wall additives that torque this formula brand to its max. Scripts, not size, matter: Highest praise to credited screenwriters Jonathan Hensleigh and J.J. Abrams as well as the team of uncredited contributors (Paul Attanasio and Robert Towne among them) for the expert scripting----DUANE BYRGE
While Variety had this to say....
It took five credited writers, and four more named in the press materials, to concoct this high-concept but otherwise staggeringly unimaginative tale, which parallels "Deep Impact" quite closely in its basic trajectory, if not in its details, tone and selection of characters.
Earlier release, while hokey and directed like a careening train, at least took a thoughtful approach to the idea of impending global mortality; in "Armageddon," doomsday is approached like a giant videogame. ----TODD McCARTHY
Todd seems to be disparaging ARMAGEDDON for a similar plot as DEEP IMPACT, but I know from talking to some people that worked on Deep Impact that allegedly there were last minute changes to Deep Impact's script late in the game, that brought it closer in tune to what happens in Armageddon. Now I don't have a before and after draft, but I was contacted by a reporter for PEOPLE magazine that was hearing the same story. Seems both of us could never find the earlier draft. BUT... chicken and egg issues to the side, there is a major difference of opinions on the scripts demonstrated here. I mean when one person calls the script a 'perfect concoction' when the next says it's a 'staggeringly unimaginative tale'.
Then we have the opinions on the direction of the film by Michael Bay.
In this tightly packed big impacter, director Michael Bay kicks in all the afterburners with turbo-thrust, quick-cut momentum. Incredibly, while "Armageddon" blazes at warp speed, its cadence is masterfully modulated: Assaultive action scenes, jaw-dropping outer space shots and small, personal moments orbit in narrative harmony under Bay's confident hand. ---Duane Byrge
Meanwhile VARIETY retorts with...
director Bay's visual presentation is so frantic and chaotic that one often can't tell which ship or characters are being shown, or where things are in relation to one another.
Much of the confusion, as well as the lack of dramatic rhythm or character development, results directly from Bay's cutting style, which resembles a machine gun stuck in the firing position for 21/2 hours.----Todd McCarthy
Do you see a pattern here? I do. It's freaky. I mean they don't agree on anything. And I can't say the VARIETY guy obviously has a biased opinion, any more than I can say the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER guy does, because in the fan reviews I've seen everything from the Hallenbeck orgasmically delirious proclamation of greatness to a rather strongly worded anti-Bay/Bruckheimer side. I do know that I am getting more positives (by far) than negatives, but still there doesn't really seem to be any middle ground. This film will either be "One of the best cool films ever" or it'll be "One of the suckiest suckfest that ever sucked a suck".
So what are you to do? Well, the way I see it, is any movie that has a chance of being either of those two things must be seen. Tonight, Glen, Robogeek, El Cosmico, Johnny Wad and Copernicus, will be going to see ARMAGEDDON here in Austin. I've made it clear to them that I want their reviews. Knowing these people as well as I do, I'll have a real good barometer on how to judge this film. Why am I not going? Well, I will be attending the World Premiere in Florida on Monday, and since I only had 5 passes, I decided to give my seat and my father's to Johnny Wad and Copernicus.... awwwwwwwww, ain't I a sweetie?
For my opinion, you'll have to wait till Monday night/Tuesday morning.
