Ben Affleck has a number of memorable films on his resume, with his career dating back to the early ’80s. It wasn’t until the ’90s, however, that Affleck really started to make his mark as a movie star. He appeared inDazed and Confusedin 1993, which is now a beloved cult classic, in addition to appearing in Kevin Smith movies likeMallrats(1995) andChasing Amy(1997). Then,Good Will Hunting(1997) pushed Affleck’s career to the next level.
Though a number of Affleck projects throughout the 2000s didn’t totally land, including the infamousDaredevil(2003) adaptation, he came back in a big way in the 2010s, starting withThe Town(2010). Immediately following this crime thriller, Affleck starred in and directedArgo(2012), which won Best Picture at the Oscars. Since then, Affleck appeared inGone Girl(2014), multiple DCU movies,The Accountant(2016), andAir(2023), and he’s now set toreleaseThe Accountant 2. There is one late ’90s movie, however, that remains an Affleck classic.
Ben Affleck’s Kids Weren’t Fans Of Armageddon
They Thought The Sci-Fi Disaster Flick Was “Stupid”
Ben Affleck shares that his kids criticizedArmageddonfor not making sense. Directed by Michael Bay and released in 1998, the disaster movie features Affleck starring as an oil driller who embarks on a mission to stop an asteroid from destroying Earth. The film, which alsostars Bruce Willisand Billy Bob Thornton, was a box office hit, grossing $553 million worldwide, but it has been criticized for its implausible plot, withAffleck himself memorably pointing out on the DVD commentary that it would have made more sense to train astronauts to be drillers, rather than the other way around.
During a recent appearance onJimmy Kimmel Live, Affleck reveals that his kids also had problems withArmageddon. The actor, who calls his kids “very tough” when it comes to his own projects, reveals that it didn’t take them long to notice just how silly the movie was. Check out Affleck’s comment below:
“During COVID, all the kids were around the house and I was like, ‘Hey, let’s watch a movie.’ And I though, ‘Oh, maybe the kids will like Armageddon.’ And almost immediately it was like, ‘What? This is so stupid. Are you kidding me?’My son is like, ‘This doesn’t make sense.’I was like, ‘This is not a logic-based film. That is not one of the criteria we used making this.’”
What This Means For Armageddon
The Film’s Reception Explained
OnRotten Tomatoes,Armageddonhas only a 43% score from critics, and the Bay movie was widely criticized for just being too far-fetched and more reliant on spectacle than substance. The audience-driven Popcornmeter score, however, is higher at 73%, and the $553 million box office haul suggests thatgeneral movie-goers were far more receptive to the sci-fi blockbuster. Judging from Affleck’s comments, his kids fall more into the former camp than the latter.
TheArmageddonbudget is estimated to be $140 million.
Despite the implausibility of theArgmageddonplot and Affleck’s assertions that it doesn’t make sense to train oil drillers to be astronauts,the movie remains one of the most notable disaster movies ever made. Its success also paved the way for more Bay films, including theTransformersmovies, and it helped to solidify Affleck as a leading man. ThoughArmageddonisn’t likely to be critically reappraised anytime soon, it nonetheless remains an important entry in the genre.
