If you were asked to name the best thing about Michael Bay’s Armageddon, then any other answer besides “Ben Affleck’s DVD commentary” would be incorrect, because it’s a thing of beauty that’s vastly superior to anything that unfolds onscreen throughout the entire running time of the apocalyptic blockbuster.
The actor does nothing but tear the movie to shreds from start to finish, and his insights entered the realm of legend long ago. The most memorable by far comes when Affleck regales the viewer with the time he asked Bay about the biggest glaring hole in the plot, asking the filmmaker why NASA wouldn’t simply train astronauts to drill when it would be much more cost-effective and a whole lot less time consuming.
Bay’s answer – which is almost iconic as the commentary track itself – was a succinct “shut the f*ck up.” Even though Affleck’s musings on Armageddon have been widely available for years, to the extent it’s part of the film’s Criterion Collection edition, it’s captured the online imagination all over again these past few days.
Not only that, but a lot of people have now demanded that Warner Bros. pull out all the stops and have the two-time Academy Award winner give Joss Whedon’s Justice League the exact same treatment, which would be hilarious given Affleck’s well-known disdain for the turgid slog of superhero cinema that hit theaters following months of extensive reshoots.
He’s a pretty self-aware guy as his embracing of the constant memes have shown, so why not?
