This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Collision Course
Plot Overview
An amateur astronomer Karl, Navy ret., names an asteroid after his bitchy wife
Dotty when he spots it knocked out of the asteroid belt by a passing
comet. A hapless New York nigger walking his
feisty bulldog “Little Richard” barely maintains
his Christian demeanor when they're narrowly missed by a meteoritic
harbinger of this planet killer. Head of NASA Dan Truman (Billy
Bob Thornton) unearths an unlikely plan to train astronauts as deep-core
drillers and land them on the hurtling rock to dig a hole in it for
insertion of a nuclear device whose timed detonation will split the
sucker in two to bracket the earth. Tasked to train them is
temperamental roughneck Harry S. Stamper (Bruce Willis)
who informs the suits that the astronauts can't be adequately trained
in the mere 18 days remaining before launch. 
Well, if Mohammed won't go to the mountain, then the mountain will
come to Mohammed. Harry's own drilling crew, “the sorriest group
of people I've ever seen,” are in for a crash course of astronaut
training. It's a plan. What can go wrong?
Ideology
One of Kenny Rogers's memorable songs
concerned a chance meeting with “The Gambler” on a train,
who offered the passenger the advice that “the secret to surviving
is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep.” The
refrain of the song goes:
You've got to know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
This wisdom of the gambling man's repartee is old as the hills and was passed on by a raconteur, Agur in Proverbs 30:1, whose four metaphors offered the same life advice as did Rogers's Gambler. That we find in, (Prov. 30:29-31) “There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going: A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any; A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.” These four themes look good on the big screen.
We have Agur's “lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any,” and we have Rogers's “know[ing] when to hold 'em.” “Armageddon” features “Mr. All-Go-No-Quit-Big-Nuts Harry Stamper”—what a name!—who's “been drilling holes in the earth for 30 years. And I have never, NEVER missed a depth that I have aimed for. And by God, I am not gonna miss this one.” Nothing mechanical, natural or human will stop him.
We have Agur's “king, against whom there
is no rising up,” and we have Rogers's “Know[ing] when
to fold 'em” A king who knows when
to give in to his subjects doesn't experience any uprising. When against
a looming deadline, Harry asked for 10 hours R&R for his men, he got it.
We have Agur's “he goat also”
and we have Rogers's “Know[ing] when to walk away.” We
get it in spades here. One of the two X–71 shuttles crashes
into the rock and the surviving crew breaks out the twelve-wheeler,
the armadillo, to drive away at walking speed from their derelict
craft, across “canyons of razor-sharp rock, unpredictable
gravitational conditions, and unexpected eruptions” to try to
connect with the other crew.
We have Agur's “greyhound”
and Rogers's “Know[ing] when to run.” When a fuel line
breech in the Russian space station interrupts their refueling operation
resulting in cascading explosions, they've got to boogie on out of
there and let the devil take the hindmost.
The gambler gave the advice:
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
It ain't over till the fat lady sings. Wait for the credits. There are some end credit scenes depicting how it all ends for various players.
Production Values
“” (1998) was directed by Michael Bay. The screenplay was written by J. J. Abrams, Jonathan Hensleigh and Robert Roy Pool as an adaptation of a story by Tony Gilroy. It stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jessica Steen and Steve Buscemi. Also featured are Keith David as General Kimsey, Jason Isaacs as Dr. Ronald Quincy, Chris Ellis as Flight Director Walter Clark and Udo Kier as a psychologist. Opening narration was done by Charlton Heston. “Armageddon” sports an impressive cast ensemble who all performed up to snuff. They were all characters, but Peter Stomare as a touched Russian cosmonaut Lev Andropov was a character and a half!
MPAA
rated it PG–13
for Sci-Fi disaster action, sensuality and brief language. The special
effects were awesome. The sound effects were great albeit intrusive
in the silence of space. The script was on the corny side, but who
cares? It had a runtime 2½ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This one could hold its own with other great disaster movies. There was enough going on that it didn't seem too long. Great adventure, this one.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Absolutely amazing special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Rogers, Kenny. Songwriter Don Schlitz. “The Gambler.” Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Pub. LLC. Web.
bibles.n7nz.org