10 More Glaring Plot Holes You Didn't Realise The Movie Actually Solved

There are people all over the internet that will call out plot holes in movies no matter how significant or meaningful, but when the star of the movie itself is asking the question, it must be something big. This was the case when Ben Affleck referenced an issue he brought up with Michael Bay on the Armageddon DVD special features.

As he explained, the actor who played A.J. Frost asked director Michael Bay why NASA would train oil drillers to be astronauts rather than astronauts to be oil drillers, to which he was famously told to shut up. However, the answer to his question is explained perfectly in the film itself.

Ben Affleck's complaint is actually inaccurate, as NASA weren't training the oil drillers to become astronauts, they were just training them enough to survive in space and to undertake the work needed. No spacewalking and no crazy astronaut stuff, just drilling. There were still real astronauts with them to take control of the bulk of the mission.

There is also the fact that the perceived flaw oversimplifies the role of the drillers. NASA did in fact attempt to train their astronauts how to use Harry Stamper's (Bruce Willis) drill, but the thing was so complicated that they couldn't. They make good astronauts but they don't know jack about drilling were the exact words used. With the incoming comet presenting a pretty serious deadline, the easiest and swiftest response was a mission manned by a combination of both drillers and astronauts, rendering Affleck's question moot.