I'd like to take you back in time to a simpler era. A time when the thought of the impending new millennium caused mass hysteria and forced many a cubicle worker to re-code bank software from two-character years to four-character years. A time when America had a President who could pronounce the word "nuclear" correctly. A time when Ben Affleck was considered a matinee idol - an A-lister, if you will.
The time was 1998 - specifically summer of that year. The first strike was made by estrogen. On May 8, Deep Impact was released into theaters. The plot? A comet is headed for earth and will be here in a matter of weeks. How will the people of earth prepare? Will Tea Leoni rise to the position of network anchor? Will a senior citizen be able to cope in space? Will anyone care? These questions and many more were answered.
What was not answered - at least, not at its time of release, was whether or not Deep Impact would be a bigger, better film than the suspiciously similarly plotted Armageddon, directed by Bad Boys helmer Michael Bay, and exec produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the master of subtlety.
Armageddon (stay with me) follows a group of kickass drillers who must rocket themselves into space to break up an asteroid (not a comet, mind you) that is headed straight for earth.
So which was the bigger film? Though not a landslide, the victory belonged to Bay and company, with Armageddon grossing just over $200 million, while Impact managed just $140 million.
But the battle for the title of "the better film" could not be decided by box office alone. Nor has IMDb solved the debate, as each film rates a stellar 5.8/10. Let's look at some other categories:
Cast
Though Armageddon features really only one woman in its cast (the unbearably annoying Liv Tyler), it's really not a close race. Impact's big names are Robert Duvall and Morgan Freeman, but there's a significant drop off after that, with Jon Favreau, Elijah Wood, and Tea Leoni being the next biggest names (and don't forget Helen Hunt, Jr. - er, Leelee Sobieski). Armageddon, meanwhile, features Bruce Willis, Owen Wilson, Billy Bob Thornton, Steve Buscemi, Benaflek, William Fichtner, and Peter Stormare. On second thought, it's closer than I imagined, but Willis and Co. are certainly the more entertaining bunch.
Article comments
1 - Media Tycoon
A time when the president of the United States was impeaced for perjury and obstruction of justice. Man those were the days.
2 - daryl d
Deep Impact was FAR better. Till this day, I think the film says a lot about humanity. Armageddon was fun to watch, but had the plot of a porno. If that's not bad enough, Ben Asslick was in it.
3 - Fletch
Aw c'mon, MT - you can't tell me you don't miss Billy! ;)
Impact was certainly more ambitious in terms of being realistic and dramatic, but it had more than its share of corn and unnecessary plot devices (the network anchor job opening, much of the inner drama with the astronauts - the blinded one, the old one, etc.).
4 - Media Tycoon
lol...ok maybe i do miss billy.
at the time i would ahve told you armagedon was better, but now by defaut, I have to say deep impact was much better.
5 - Jason
who wrote this.. [Gratuitous vulgarity deleted by Comments Editor.] Armageddon was by far the better movie. it had a better cast, story line and well music. the acting was much better in it as well. so whoever wrote that idiotic article knows crap all about good movies. his favorite is probably Bambie.
6 - thinkabout it
Jason - you're kidding, right? Please tell me you;re kidding??! Better story line? Better cast?? Ben Affleck was in it for crying out loud! and wooden doesn't even come close to describing his performance!
7 - JeeWizz
Why does it matter that Ben Affleck was in Armageddon. Its not like he did a bad job in the film. Besides whatever crap movies he did after Armageddon shouldnt take away from the awesomeness of the film. Deep Impact was just as awesome but elijah wood and the whole teenager bit was a lil overdone. But the film still conveyed the sentiment it was trying to get across and the special effects in both films was superb.
8 - JeeWizz
The story lines of each film were fine, if you wanna get realistic, NASA only scans 10% of the sky at any given time. So its not unlikely that an asteriod could show up out of nowhere. So again while both films had their corniness they both were films which present realistic and absolutley stunning visual effects. Oh and why is there so much hate against Bay, he makes cool movies. So whats the problem?