History Film / Armageddon1998

The film also stars Creator/BillyBobThornton as Dan Truman, Will Patton as Chick Chapel, Creator/KeithDavid as General Kimsey, Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan as Bear Curlene, Creator/PeterStomare as Lev Andropov and Creator/SteveBuscemi as Rockhound.

Although they have some of the best scientific minds in the country at NASA, [[ThisAintRocketSurgery they simply aren't as attuned to the job as the best oil drillers]]. So NASA makes some calls and sends for the best -- [[FullNameBasis Harry Stamper]] (Creator/BruceWillis), a lifelong oil rig operator considered to be the best deep sea driller in the world. Harry brings his daughter Grace (Creator/LivTyler) with him because he disapproves of her romance with rebellious hotshot A.J. (Creator/BenAffleck), whom Harry fired for having "hunches" that repeatedly damage Harry's equipment (and potentially his reputation) and could get people killed. On hearing what's at stake, Harry agrees to head into space to lead the drilling project, but only on one condition -- he brings in his own team. NASA now has to gather a group of lawbreaking blue-collar roughnecks and get them trained ''in two weeks'' to go up to drill the meteor and break it into two pieces that will miss the Earth, or everyone dies.

Also, this movie is part of Creator/TheCriterionCollection. [[https://www.criterion.com/films/578-armageddon No joke.]]

Although they have some of the best scientific minds in the country at NASA, [[ThisAintRocketSurgery they simply aren't as attuned to the job as the best oil drillers]]. So NASA makes some calls and sends for the best -- [[FullNameBasis Harry Stamper]] (Creator/BruceWillis), a lifelong oil rig operator considered to be the best deep sea driller in the world. Harry brings his daughter Grace (Creator/LivTyler) with him because he disapproves of her romance with rebellious hotshot A.J. (Creator/BenAffleck), whom Harry fired for having "hunches" that repeatedly damage Harry's equipment (and potentially his reputation) and could get people killed. On hearing what's at stake, Harry agrees to head into space to lead the drilling project, but only on one condition -- he brings in his own team. NASA now has to gather a group of blue collar, lawbreaking roughnecks and get them ''trained in two weeks'' to go up to drill the meteor and break it into two pieces that will miss the Earth, or everyone dies.

In 1998, Hollywood almost destroyed the Earth from space. [[DuelingMovies Twice.]] This is about the one that didn't [[Film/DeepImpact involve Morgan Freeman]].

The plot: a peaceful summer afternoon in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] is disturbed by meteorites falling, destroying all the recognizable buildings and [[WhatMeasureIsAMook killing a bunch of characters we're not supposed to care about]]. UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} reveals -- to themselves -- they're the pebbles before the boulder -- a meteor ''the size of Texas'' is going to hit Earth in 18 days, and nothing, not even bacteria, will survive. The big brains at NASA have come up with a plan to save the world: land a shuttle on the asteroid and drill far enough into it to place a nuke inside and split it like an apple.

Although they have some of the best scientific minds in the country at NASA, [[ThisAintRocketSurgery they simply aren't as attuned to the job as the best oil drillers]]. So NASA makes some calls and sends for the best -- [[FullNameBasis Harry Stamper]] (Creator/BruceWillis), lifelong oil rig operator considered the best deep sea driller in the world. Harry brings his daughter Grace (Creator/LivTyler) with him, because he disapproves of her romance with rebellious hotshot A.J. (Creator/BenAffleck), whom Harry fired for having "hunches" that repeatedly damage Harry's equipment (and potentially his reputation) and could get people killed. On hearing what's at stake, Harry agrees to head into space to lead the drilling project but only on one condition, he brings in his own team. NASA now has to gather a group of blue collar, lawbreaking roughnecks and get them ''trained in two weeks'' to go up to drill the meteor and break it into two pieces that will miss the Earth, or everyone dies.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Truman claims that "not even bacteria" would remain after the impact. This would be pretty impressive, since bacteria is by far the single most adaptable and unkillable lifeform on Earth. Bacteria can survive in space, miles beneath the sea floor, and in radioactive zones. Covering the earth in nuclear radiation wouldn't be enough to kill off every single bacteria, so an apocalyptic winter doesn't stand much of a chance.

* BrickJoke: After Rockhound is selected for the mission, we see him receiving a huge amount of cash from a loan shark. Later, he mentions offhandedly that he's not looking forward to returning safely to Earth because he blew it all on a stripper named Molly Mounds. The real payoff comes at the end, though, when Miss Mounds (who is [[GagBoobs well-named]]) [[TheGlomp greets]] Rockhound as he comes off the shuttle.

* HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure: Truman does not beats around the bush when the President asks for the size of the asteroid and interrupts a scientist that was going to give a precise figure to [[BluntHonesty bluntly state]] "it's the size of Texas, sir." The picture ''that'' supplies floors the President before Truman goes on to explain that the thing [[StoryboardingTheApocalypse will annihilate all life on Earth of if hits]].

%%* InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace: ZeroContentExample

* LetMeGetThisStraight: Done twice.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: the Roughnecks

** During the docking scene with the space station they decide to spin the station in order to create ArtificialGravity! Aside from this not being how centrifugal force works, docking is a very difficult maneuver to begin with. Docking with a rotating station would probably be straight-up impossible, as the ship would have to orbit the station at exactly the right speed, and, even if they pulled that off, the torsion would likely break the docking "tube" almost immediately.

** Why on Earth would they want to make the Russian space station ''rotate'' before they started docking with it? It'd just make the docking maneuver that much more complicated, and the ArtificialGravity you generated would be directed radially -- toward the outer edge of the rotation -- not top-to-bottom as was shown.
*** Well, given NASA seems to have mastered ArtificialGravity inside its space shuttles (note the unrestricted movement of crew members ''inside'' the shuttle as opposed to ''outside'' the shuttle on the asteroid) maybe this had something to do with it.

* {{Eagleland}}: Type I of course.

* HilariousInHindsight: The Russian cosmonaut mentions that U.S. and Russian components are all made in Taiwan. In 2022, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, captured Russian equipment was [[https://twitter.com/lfx160219/status/1593863298700972032 shown to have components made in Taiwan]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Ridiculous as it may seem, one of NASA's actual real life [[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-has-plan-if-astronauts-lose-it/ protocols]] when someone "loses it" in space is to tie them down on a chair with duct tape.

* MemorialPhoto: Glossy poster size photos of Oscar, Freddie, Max, Gruber and Harry, the roughnecks who didn't survive the mission, are placed on the altar at the wedding of Grace and [=AJ=].

* UpToEleven: What the movie takes RuleOfCool up to.

** On the other side, [[CensoredChildDeath they did show many kids]] playing in Paris and Shanghai before these cities fell to RocksFallEveryoneDies...

** HesitantSacrifice: Downplayed, but after committing to it, [[spoiler:Harry]] comments "[[SarcasmMode Well, this was a real good idea]]."

* LaughingMad: After Rockhound goes quite nutty in space, Rockhound, during the dig, ends up utilizing a Gatling gun and starts shooting indiscriminately while laughing.

* RaisedByDudes: Grace was raised by the drilling team, but [[SubvertedTrope stil grew up to be a well-adjusted and surprisingly feminine young woman]].

** Stanley Anderson played the President in Bay's earlier film ''Film/TheRock'', and the demeanor of both Presidents is highly similar.

* GatlingGood: Both of the Armadillo vehicles are armed with these, one of which Rockhound starts shooting wildly when he goes loopy from so-called 'space dementia'.