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Cover Art Criterion Collection:Armageddon
Criterion/Buena Vista
2.35:1/Dolby Digital 5.1
153 Minutes
Layer Change At About - 1 hour, 7 minutes, 20 seconds into the movie.
31 Chapters
Subtitles:English
Rated:Unrated
Region:1
Dual Layer:
Disc One:Yes
Disc Two:No

[ Jump to: Movie Review | Image Review | Audio Review |Extras Review | Menu Review | Final Grades | A List Of DVD For Sale In Association With Reel.com ]


THE FILM:
Well, the "other" asteroid film is here, and it's not too bad, thankfully. Directed by Michael "Let's make an edit after every frame" Bay, "Armageddon" is just another step into the world of producer Jerry Bruckheimer's films, where the sun's rays make the world glow a perfect amber; testosterone rules, and everything is a sensory overload.Director Bay has brought his style from his early commercial work: everything is always in screaming, full-throttle motion. Edits come flying forward at a rate of simple seconds and everything is, if it all works, pure adrenaline. If not, a style like Bay's can become extremely annoying quickly.

Much like this year's other asteroid film "Deep Impact", an asteroid is headed this way, and we've got to send a team of people to send a bomb into the asteroid's core. But the similarities end there. "Armageddon" is pure Hollywood; where "Deep Impact" tried but failed to be human drama, "Armageddon" is pure force. Explosion after explosion, and the special effects that "Deep Impact" promised, but never came up with until the very end.
That definitely doesn't mean it's flawless, though. After an excellently done scene destroying New York City, the plot of Willis and his team of oil drillers kicks in(NASA needs a team to drill to the asteroid's surface). We then get numerous scenes of the ragged group of drillers going through numerous asteronaunt training tests, as well as an embarassingly stupid sequence where each of the team talks to a NASA Psychologist.

Most of these scenes are unnessessary and dull and don't do much to forward the already small plot. It's also strange to watch the oil drilling team party during and after the tests. I was waiting for one of them to smack their forehead and go "Oh yeah, we're all going to die in 10 days if we fail!"
In terms of acting, it's strange that the very best acting in "Armageddon" is on the outer edges. Liv Tyler is a pleasant sight as always, even though she's not called on to do much, but she gives her best. Billy Bob Thornton blows everyone else out of the film in terms of performance with an excellent, emotional performance. Thornton is the center of the film emotionally.

It's unfortunate that I can't say the same about the main actors. Bruce Willis gives an unfortunately weak performance; nowhere near the energy or emotion or wit of his John McClane character from the "Die Hard" series. Some of Willis's dramatic line readings are very laughable in this film.

My main problem with the film is that it's simply too long. There are many scenes, especially in the middle before the launch, that could have been taken out on the editing floor. At two hours and thirty minutes, "Armageddon" runs about twenty minutes too long.

Editing also becomes a problem during a scene in a Russian Space Station that's about to blow; the editing is so fast the scene becomes a fried mess. I couldn't figure out who was where and what was what. It became a slew of quick edits and speedy handheld shots. Bay has always been known for his quick edits, but this was part of a series of scenes in this film that were edited far too fast, and it began to take me out of the movie. Towards the end I began to count the space between edits and it was usually about three seconds. A lot of the time it was even down to one second.

I've been ranting mainly about what doesn't work in "Armageddon", but there are actually a few things that work very well. The specials effects are generally excellent. It may be a film without much of a brain, but "Armageddon" tries it's hardest to entertain. The film is never really unwatchable. It's fast, passable Summer entertainment that won't dissapoint. It likely won't blow your mind, especially if you've went through the same plot with "Deep Impact" earlier this year. If you go in with little expectations, you will likely be satisfied by "Armageddon". I guess I can partially thank the makers of "Godzilla" for my enjoyment of this film. Walking out of "Armageddon", I said to myself, "Hey, at least it wasn't as bad as 'Godzilla.'"

THE DVD:
Video Quality: This is the director approved transfer and I think it looks better than the Buena Vista DVD. Images are darker and more contrasty throughout and colors are fuller and more enjoyable to watch and although this isn't a great word to describe the look of a movie like this, for some reason, this image quality looks more "realistic." There was nothing really wrong with the Buena Vista image quality, except I always thought it looked a little too bright at times. The images here are slightly sharper as clearer as well. Contrast is perfect throughout. Color saturation here still is excellent; there are no instances of bleeding in the colors. It looks as if there are really no artifacts here at all, aside from some very slight ones during the smoky and dark asteroid sequences. Keep in mind there are a few deleted scenes added here, including a scene with Bruce Willis's character and his father right before Harry Stamper leaves. The scene looks good in terms of image quality and is no different in terms of image than the rest of the film. Colors are still phenomenal here; beautiful blues, deep and vivid oranges and reds; and flesh tones are excellent looking.

It's not an anamorphic transfer, but I think it still is definitely an excellent transfer; it's impressive enough that it improves upon the already very good transfer from the earlier Disney disc; it certainly is very close in presenting the quality of image that I saw in the film's theatrical release.

AUDIO:Simply thunderous. The bass will shake the room, especially during some of the more impressive action scenes(chapter 2 for example). It's an extremely active sound mix, with plenty of direction and impact, especially during the scenes where the shuttles are flying through space. Dialogue is clear and crisp, which is pretty impressive since the dialogue is being spoken over constant explosions. Definitely a demonstration disc for any DVD fan. The sound mix engulfs the viewer for a strong sensory experience. Trevor Rabin's score sounds very full and rich.

EXTRAS

EXTRAS Review MENU: Click On One Of The Selections To Jump To That Point In The Extras Review:
DISC ONE:

[ Click to Jump to: Deleted Scenes Added Into The Film | Commentary One | Commentary Two |Disc Booklet Notes | ]
DISC TWO:

[ Click to Jump to: Trailers | Gag/Blooper Reel | Additional deleted scenes | Storyboards | Special Effects Documentaries |Production Design Documentary | Aerosmith Music Video/Interviews| ]


DISC ONE

Deleted Scenes Added In: A talk between Harry(Willis) and his father before he leaves, a little bit more added into the talk between the Willis and Thornton characters before Harry leaves for space and a couple of other very short moments added here and there into the movie. All in all, the added footage only makes up a couple of minutes. Nothing very major, but it's very nice to see the whole film as the director originally intended. There are other deleted scenes by themselves that are added onto the second DVD and I will talk about them later in this review in detail.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

COMMENTARIES:

Commentary Note: In the commentary menu you can look through a menu that will take you directly to a certain conversation.

COMMENTARY 1:
Commentators:
Michael Bay,Director
Jerry Bruckheimer,Producer
Bruce Willis, Actor
Ben Affleck, Actor

Michael Bay is the main leader on this commentary track and I really enjoyed what he had to say about the film. Bay is a natural at commentary; he gets to the point of the subject well, which is something that I don't think a lot of commentators do. One of the most enjoyable stories to hear about is in the begining, where Bay talks about working with a young writer whose task was to rewrite the film's opening sequence. Jerry Bruckheimer(producer, "Enemy Of The State" and "Armageddon") is also on this commentary track and his talks are just as interesting as Bay's, talking about such stories as having "Godzilla" fail, then having the press decide to come after "Armageddon". Bay also talks a lot about the special effects and the danger of some of the stunts in some of the film's opening sequences. I enjoyed this commentary because it's fun, fast and interesting. A lot of commentaries have people who don't seem to have too much to say about what's going on, so they basically tell you what's going on on the screen, and that technique gets dull. Jerry Bruckheimer talks about something that I think is a problem with a lot of movies lately and that's that they don't get to the point of a scene. Personally, that's my number one problem with a lot of films- they wander around before getting to the point.

We also get two other people joining this first commentary, Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. I didn't notice too much in the way of dialogue from Willis during the commentary, but Affleck is just as funny as he was in the "Good Will Hunting" commentary, if not more so. Bay and Bruckheimer seem to be here to provide the more technical details of this particular film; Affleck seems to be the comedic side. This commentary is also very well edited and although these people were not all together at the same time, there are some places where it's edited so well it almost sounds as if the commentators are in the same room. Affleck is hilarious here, doing perfect impressions of Billy Bob Thornton's character from "Sling Blade", among other very funny and sarcastic comments, taking the movie apart piece by piece and making a whole lot of fun of the movie and event films in general. He's honest about the kind of plot of the film in his jokes and it's incredibly funny to listen to his observations.Affleck does have a lot of stories to offer as well, but his jokes and comments making fun of the film had me laughing throughout.

I liked this commentary because it covers all aspects of what I want to hear in a commentary. Bay and Bruckheimer are there to talk about the more technical aspects as well as parts of the story; Affleck is on hand to provide stories and hilarious comments. The commentary contains not only the stories from the set that are informative and very funny, we are lead through the technical aspects such as the special effects. It covers both very well. The commentary is almost non-stop, with very few pauses. It goes into great details throughout the movie and I think a lot of people will be very pleased with what this commentary has to offer. There are commentaries that are phenomenally technical like Robert Rodriquez for "Desperado" and there are commentaries that tell a lot of stories and are fun to listen to. This commentary has equal parts of technical talk and fun and I think a lot of people will enjoy the opportunity to hear Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer talk. And for those who don't like Bay's work, maybe they will enjoy hearing him explain his work. There were a few things that I definitely didn't like in terms of scenes such as the confusion in the first space station scene and I think Bay explains his intentions as to why scenes are like they are very well. That's why I find commentaries so great. I can look at a movie and not understand why a director did something they did at all. Then you can listen to the commentary and begin to understand why the director did what they did in that scene in the picture. And again, Affleck is so funny. Even Willis makes a joke or two.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

COMMENTARY 2:
Commentators:
Joe Allen, Astronaunt Consultant
Ivan Bekley, Asteroid Consultant
John Schwartzman, Cinematographer

Definitely the more technical commentary about the details of space. Astronaut Joe Allen and asteroid consultant Ivan Bekley are featured on this track. I liked the addition of cinematographer John Schwartzman talking on this track; he gives the addition of a cinematic perspective along with the more scientific aspects of the information that both Allen and Bekley talk about. This is definitely an educational and interesting experience. We got the perspective of the filmmakers during the first commentary track; here we get the scientific background that went into all of this material. Bekley and Allen are very good commentators and I found them consistently very interesting to listen to. Allen is able to fill us in on the information about the functions of NASA and Bekley is able to take us into the world of asteroids and the science behind them.

Schwartzman is fascinating to listen to, talking about working on the scenes and going into where these scenes were filmed and how the production team of "Armageddon" turned streets into an action film set. He also talks about planning and organization, which is essential in a film that's this large and has this many special effects. He also talks about the way that scenes were lit and filmed in a way that is technical and yet easy to understand and entertaining. He also talks about the way the film was made in general quite a few times, not just the way the movie was filmed.

This commentary also has very few instances of silence, it's a non-stop commentary. Although the commentators were not in the same room together when this commentary was recorded, I still found that the commentary was easy to listen to and edited together very, very well. I really enjoy what Criterion has put together here in terms of commentary. We are lead through every aspect of this production. In the first commentary, we are lead through the filmmaker, producer and actor's view of the project. On this commentary, the questions are answered in terms of a scientific perspective in terms of what NASA might do in terms of if an asteroid would be coming towards Earth; the scientists also talk about what parts of the film are more "Hollywood" and what comes closer to being accurate. We also get yet another cinematic perspective from John Schwartzman, who is able to cover a lot of the aspects besides cinematography in terms of how the film was made in terms of the concepts and stories behind the filmmaking. Schwartzman also talks a lot about what it was like to work with Michael Bay as well, which was quite interesting to listen to. Apparently, Schwartzman worked with Bay on Bay's work in commericals as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this second perspective on the picture. I think that it was fascinating to learn how scientifically accurate this picture was, if at all. Not only do we learn about the picture in terms of accuracy, but I found the talks by both Allen and Bekley about what is an asteroid and what do they look like and do very interesting.

I think that people will enjoy both of these commentaries; they're technical, but not too technical and always entertaining. I think that people wanting to learn about film or filmmaking will find this informative and entertaining; it takes the viewer through the making of all of the features of a major, major production.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

Booklet: There is a small booklet included that has a chapter listing, talks about who put the DVD together and has a small three page essay on Michael Bay by Jeanine Basinger, who is a professor of film studies as Wesleyan University.
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DISC TWO

Gag Reel: Director Michael Bay's reel of gags that is absolutely hilarious. Scenes include Billy Bob Thornton doing an impression of his "Sling Blade" character and a few very funny Bruce Willis lines. There are a lot of R-rated comments, though. Still, a lot of it is very, very funny. Billy Bob Thornton is especially funny. This Reel runs 6 minutes and 52 seconds.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

Additional Deleted Scenes: A reel of extra deleted scenes; none of them are very major. They include some additional footage from some of the space scenes that were cut out and an additional scene on the ground of the spaceships being loaded. The video quality is very good and this deleted scenes reel runs about 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

Special Effects Documentaries:
DOCUMENTARY ONE:
We are lead through(in narration) by Richard Hoover through the history of the production of the asteroid and we see everything from a napkin drawing to a lot of the storyboards that were put together to get an idea of what would go into the making of the asteroid's character and how to make it look effectively evil looking. On this suppliment we also see the models being built of the asteroid and it's fascinating to watch the artists work on this giant model and all of the details that go into the making of this asteroid. After looking at the model being built, we are then taken through job that the computer had to do to make this asteroid look more animated, adding details to the model through computer effects. I found this supplement very interesting and informative. Not only does Hoover take us through the technical details, but he takes us through the ideas that went into the details and concepts of the asteroid in the movie. He also goes into the way that the shuttles were integrated into the scenes where they were landing on the asteroid or going through space and he also talks about using both model and digital shuttles in some of the space scenes. One the aspects of this presentation that I found most fascinating was watching the different elements added into the scene digitally. Hoover's presentation runs about 15 minutes and 30 seconds.

DOCUMENTARY TWO: There is also a presentation by Hoyt Yeaman on the making of the Paris asteroid sequence. Hoyt, in narration, takes us through a look at the concepts to the final product of the sequence. There is an incredible part of this presentation where we go live on a location where the explosion itself was filmed.The presentation then goes through the concepts and ideas of how the rest of "Paris" was built and generated and how the explosion was added into the shot using computers. Yeaman's presentation runs about 8 minutes and 30 seconds.

DOCUMENTARY THREE:
In this documentary we are lead through the job of a special effects supervisor by Pat McClung, who was the visual effects supervisor on "Armageddon". This documentary is a general look at what a special effects supervisor does, from working with the director to working with the storyboard artists to production and more. I really enjoyed this interview with McClurg because it wraps up and covers all of the concepts that were presented in the first two documentaries and leads us through all of the general work that is done on the set by the visual effects supervisor. In the first two documentaries, we were lead through by narration. In this documentary, the majority of the time is an on-camera interview with Pat McClung, who also did the special effects for films like Dante's Peak. McClung's presentation runs about 8 minutes.

Documentaries: Overall Notes
All three documentaries have incredible quality and detail to them. These are not something that was thrown together at the last moment; these are documentaries that are very well produced and edited and I think they're really the very best documentaries I've seen as supplimental material on DVD. I found them extremely informative and fun to watch.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

Production Design Documentary: This is an on-camera interview with production designer Michael White talking about what it took to bring a major, major effects film to life. This documentary generally leads us through how a lot of the sets were built and designed and what were the concepts and ideas that went into making the details of these sets come alive. There are some concept sketches and storyboards included as well on this documentary. Where the documentaries on the special effects took a look at how the special effects were built and added, this documentary takes a look at building the sets that the effects were added into, such as the asteroid set. Michael White's presentation lasts about 7 minutes.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

Storyboards: There are storyboard galleries for both the "Armadillo Jump" sequence and the "Rock Storm" sequence. The storyboards are really well drawn and very enjoyable to look through.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

Trailers: There are the theatrical and teaser trailers along with the Superbowl TV trailer. There are also a series of about 7 30 second TV spots and a series of about 6 15 second TV trailers. These trailers play one after another in their series.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

Music Video:: There is the Aerosmith video "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" and interviews with band members.
Click Here To Go Back To The Top Of The Extras Menu

Menus:
Menus: Criterion has done a really nice job on the menus of both of these discs. Both discs have animated main menus that are really well done with various animation and sound on the film disc and various pieces of the extras playing in the background on the disc with extras. The more specific menus are also designed very well, such as the menu for the commentaries where the user can jump to a specific scene in the commentary. Really phenomenal work.

Overall:: I think that Criterion has done a wonderful job on this 2 disc set. The audio/video are both really excellent and I did like the video quality on this edition more than the previous Buena Vista release. The extras are phenomenal, leading us through every detail of building a production like this. I especially enjoyed both commentaries. It took me a little more than nine hours to review this disc and write up this review and I enjoyed every moment of it and I hope this review gave you an idea of what is included here. I hope you enjoyed reading this review as much as I did writing it and I think if you enjoyed the movie, you're definitely going to enjoy this disc.

The Grades:
The Film:80/B- = (400/500 possible points)
Video Quality:96/A = (384/400 possible points)
Audio Quality:95/A = (380/400 possible points)
Extras:100/A = (300/300 possible points)
Value:95/A = (285/300 possible points)
Menus:90/A- = (180/200 possible points)
Presentation: 95.25/A = (95.25/100 possible points)

TOTAL POINTS:2024.25/2200
Overall Grade:92.07%/A

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