Armageddon vs. Deep Impact

When discussing the movies Deep Impact and Armageddon separately its rather challenging to not end up comparing the two.   Deep Impact was released just a month before the similarly themed Armageddon, but took the journey into a different direction - where Armageddon was about great men doing great things to save the planet, Deep Impact is about people trying to survive, although the great men do feature.  Both are really bad movies, but at the same time both are really great as well.

In the long run, I think Deep Impact is the better movie.  There are a lot of flaws behind it, both in the general plot and the way that the film itself is conveyed to its audience, but it's still a good movie.  It's heartwrenching and devastating and depicts more than just the people saving the world - it's also about the people being saved, or not saved.  The science also seems a lot better in this movie, it all makes just a bit more sense.  The one big issue is the whole idea that there's only one ship being sent up into space, with just one pack of nukes - you would hope that they'd send as many ships up with as many bombs as possible, but whatever

Armageddon, however, is the movie that's stood the test of time better.  There is a lot about Deep Impact that reveals itself as a product of the nineties, from the technology used to the sheer appearance of a lot of the cast.  The first time that Jon Favreau's character shows up on screen I had to do a double take - he looks so much younger.  I did a similar double take with Bruce Willis in Armageddon - he has hair! - but there's a lot more of it in Deep Impact.  In general, there's also a lot more about Armageddon that feels almost, although not entirely, timeless.  It feels as though it could be set during any period between when it was released (and even a few years earlier) to now.  Deep Impact, however, is firmly stuck in the ninties.