Nobody goes into a massively expensive and effects-driven Hollywood blockbuster expecting scientific accuracy – unless Christopher Nolan is involved – so everyone knew their brains had to be left firmly at the door when Michael Bay’s Armageddon came to town.
It worked a treat for all involved after the epic apocalyptic extravaganza handily defeated Deep Impact in the battle of 1998’s asteroid-enhanced adventures, with Bay’s stupendously stupid tale ending up as the highest-grossing release of the year once it had hoovered up an impressive $554 million at the box office.
Of course, scientists and scholars were left up in arms by virtually everything that unfolded onscreen, to the extent NASA has been reported to use the film as part of its training program to test prospective new employees on just how many things it gets wrong, with the proven inaccuracies numbering well above 150.
One of Armageddon‘s most underrated elements didn’t even happen in theaters, either, with Ben Affleck’s DVD commentary a work of genius. The actor can barely contain his incredulity at virtually everything that unfolds, and upon asking Bay why they wouldn’t just train astronauts to drill because it would be easier and cheaper, he was promptly told to shut the f*ck up.
That’s the sci-fi spectacular in a nutshell, though, and one of the many reasons why it remains so popular a quarter of a century on. To underline that sentiment, Armageddon has been on a collision course with the streaming charts all weekend per FlixPatrol, which has revealed the calorific slice of cinematic cheese as the seventh most-watched feature on Amazon around the world.