9 Movie Plot Holes Confirmed By The Creators
2. Why Didn't NASA Train Astronauts To Become Drillers? - Armageddon
The Plot Hole
Michael Bay's legendarily bombastic sci-fi disaster flick sees NASA sending a team of working-class deep-core drillers into space to destroy an asteroid before it collides with Earth.
Armageddon never purports to be a smart movie, but its endearingly nutty premise does nevertheless require the audience to overlook one glaring logical deficiency.
Why on Earth would NASA train a squad of drillers to become astronauts rather than, you know, train a group of astronauts to become drillers?
Clearly one of those things is less physically and mentally taxing than the other, and given the limited time window available, would be far easier to achieve.
The Confirmation
On the hilarious DVD commentary for the movie, Ben Affleck actually mentions that he illustrated this plot hole to Bay, who promptly urged him to "shut the f*** up."
If that's not an admission of wrongdoing, what is?
Again, this is one of those high-concept "because movie" plot holes, and because the film's overwhelming stupidity accounts for 90% of its entertainment value, it's more-or-less forgivable enough.