ARMAGEDDON Blu-ray
DVD Times announced this week a April 27th 2010 street-date for the Region A back catalogue release of Michael Bay's Armageddon on Blu-ray, an almost bare-bones high-def upgrade which carries almost no extra's, certainly non-worthwhile (a few trailers, the music video to Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing"). The release sadly omits the excellent two commentary tracks on the controversial Criterion Collection transfer but as I don't see Criterion giving the nod to a Blu-ray transfer of Armageddon anytime soon, I'd say Disney's release is a must-buy. WHAT?? - you say? Let me explain; Armageddon is memorable for a lot of reasons, not least the fact it makes so little sense it's actually an insulting experience to the senses. Roger Ebert (who REALLY had it in for the movie back in the day) called it "the first 150 minute trailer" which is amusing, and kind of apt if you watch the movie with that attitude in mind. However, I'd argue it is the one movie where everything comes together for Michael Bay in a way that he was never able to repeat since. 
Aside from John Schwartzman's stunning photography, the constant exhilarating action scenes (which thankfully don't give you enough time to wonder if they were plausible) that have an intense power to frighten and enthrall and with a Bruce Willis performance of such patriotic verisimilitude that has to be one of his more enjoyable - Armageddon unlike most Michael Bay pictures; actually has something to say. This stands the movie above Transformers, The Island and everything else his name has been attached to since. You'll probably laugh at me when I say it but Armageddon is a nostalgic harken back to America in the 1960's. Truly it is, and it's less subtle about it than you think. Armageddon, made three years before 9/11 shall we not forget - paints a portrayal of America that was longing for a national purpose, something to band people together in hope, prey and unity with their fellow neighbour. It came out a year before American Beauty and Fight Club - two movies of such superiority over Armageddon it's actually insulting to compare, but they all similar in carry this same feeling. All three movies argue, just like the great movies of post-World War II film noir, and the post-Vietnam drama's of the 70's - that America had lost national purpose in a world of peace. Watch the movie again tonight and pay particular attention to the scenes on the streets of young boys playing around in soapbox racing cars and banding together in front of the t.v. in wonder for the men in space - a portrait of togetherness that hasn't existed since the Kennedy years. Partly it's because the space race has been over for decades but also because the world is different now. When was the last time you saw kids banding together in the streets for a national event (pre-1998 when the movie was made, of course); it just doesn't happen. We blog, we facebook, we twitter during a national crisis and even in '98 before the Internet had many of those things, there was still a sense of what America was turning into. Armageddon remembers a time when this did happen and it'll probably end up being Bay's masterpiece for it. I'll be buying it on Blu-ray.
Aside from John Schwartzman's stunning photography, the constant exhilarating action scenes (which thankfully don't give you enough time to wonder if they were plausible) that have an intense power to frighten and enthrall and with a Bruce Willis performance of such patriotic verisimilitude that has to be one of his more enjoyable - Armageddon unlike most Michael Bay pictures; actually has something to say. This stands the movie above Transformers, The Island and everything else his name has been attached to since. You'll probably laugh at me when I say it but Armageddon is a nostalgic harken back to America in the 1960's. Truly it is, and it's less subtle about it than you think. Armageddon, made three years before 9/11 shall we not forget - paints a portrayal of America that was longing for a national purpose, something to band people together in hope, prey and unity with their fellow neighbour. It came out a year before American Beauty and Fight Club - two movies of such superiority over Armageddon it's actually insulting to compare, but they all similar in carry this same feeling. All three movies argue, just like the great movies of post-World War II film noir, and the post-Vietnam drama's of the 70's - that America had lost national purpose in a world of peace. Watch the movie again tonight and pay particular attention to the scenes on the streets of young boys playing around in soapbox racing cars and banding together in front of the t.v. in wonder for the men in space - a portrait of togetherness that hasn't existed since the Kennedy years. Partly it's because the space race has been over for decades but also because the world is different now. When was the last time you saw kids banding together in the streets for a national event (pre-1998 when the movie was made, of course); it just doesn't happen. We blog, we facebook, we twitter during a national crisis and even in '98 before the Internet had many of those things, there was still a sense of what America was turning into. Armageddon remembers a time when this did happen and it'll probably end up being Bay's masterpiece for it. I'll be buying it on Blu-ray.