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Dottsterisk t1_j2ej3ly wrote

Reply to comment by ohnourfeelings in Why people act like james cameron is a great filmmaker because his movie gross well at Box-office while also hating directors like Michael bay who do the exact same thing ? by HumbleCamel9022

I don’t know if I’d choose any Bay film over Cameron’s best, but The Rock and Armageddon are up there IMO.

Both are more than solid spectacle crowd-pleasers—and both lean more into Cameron-style earnestness than some of the crassness that can sour Bay’s later work.

I’d say Armageddon, especially, could be in the same conversation as some of Cameron’s work.

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SteffeEric t1_j2ekc04 wrote

Armageddon is not that good. The entire premise that they need to train these guys to be astronauts (which is like super difficult) is ridiculous.

Also the trope of someone having to self detonate the thing that will surely kill you was already overdone in the 90s.

It’s fine for what it is but not on the level of those two at all in my opinion.

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improper84 t1_j2el63d wrote

Ben Affleck is amazing on the commentary track for Armageddon.

"'These guys may be astronauts, but they don't know jack about drilling.' What?!? How hard can it be? You point the drill at the ground and turn it on."

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SteffeEric t1_j2em8cl wrote

I imagine the extensive training you need to drill for oil is only a step or 57 behind going to space.

Without that Aerosmith song I think Armageddon is very forgettable and I had the VHS and watched it at least 5 times.

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Dottsterisk t1_j2eltxx wrote

The premise is actually in line with how NASA operates. Mission specialists are experts in their field and are given enough astronaut training to make the flight and survive on board with the other astronauts.

And the self-detonation thing is a trope, but let’s not pretend that James Cameron is above simple storytelling or that simple storytelling is bad. That moment doesn’t work because of the surprise thrill of “Oh no! Remote detonation!” but because of the emotional payoff between those three characters: Harry, AJ, and Grace.

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