Ben Affleck Ripped Armageddon's Story Apart For The Movie's Commentary, And It Was Glorious

It has never been a secret that Michael Bay's blockbuster "Armageddon" was one of the silliest and most scientifically inaccurate movies ever made (even astronomers have said so). But it's rare that the prestigious ensemble cast like this action-sci-fi had — Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Steven Buscemi, etc. — be so unabashedly open about it. Nobody dared to push the envelope further than Affleck, who mocked Jonathan Hensleigh and J.J. Abrams' script to death on the DVD commentary.

If you can't remember, "Armageddon" is about a group of working-class oil drillers who are trained for 12 days by NASA to become astronauts, go into space, and destroy a gargantuan asteroid rapidly speeding toward Earth, with the possibility of wiping out the entire planet. It doesn't get much more high-concept than that when it comes to sci-fi blockbusters. It's a foolish and implausible premise — audiences knew that, the actors knew that, everybody knew that. Yet Bay might've been the only one who actually believed it was a completely rational idea that made sense on every level.

However, a 25-year-old Affleck — a fresh Oscar-winner already on his way to becoming a global superstar — was more than happy to point out what utter nonsense that plot was. He said (via Deadline), "I asked Michael why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers, and he told me to shut the f*** up. So that was the end of that talk. [Does Michael Bay voice] 'You know, Ben, just shut up, OK? You know, this is a real plan.' I was like, 'You mean it's a real plan at NASA to train oil drillers?' And he was like, 'Just shut your mouth!'"

Michael Bay may not be known for making smart and elaborate movies that explore profound themes, but it's sure as hell he can deliver ones with a stupendous entertainment factor. His peak as a director was in the '90s/early '00s, and "Armageddon" has been a tentpole of his work, no doubt. It didn't matter how ridiculous the story was because audiences were distracted by the pathos, coolness, and magnetic charisma the characters emitted thanks to some of the legendary actors who portrayed them.

You can still watch the film today and be in awe of the sheer scale of its epic production that wasn't concerned with the legitimacy of its science or whether it made any sense. It was sexy, heroic, and funny, as a true crowd-pleaser should be. So it's no surprise that it blew up the box office, grossing over $553 million worldwide against its $140 million budget. It was another huge victory for Bay after he captivated moviegoing audiences with his previous action extravaganzas "Bad Boys" and "The Rock" a few years earlier, and he couldn't care less whether critics bought into his latest or not (for the record, they didn't).

So Affleck can mock "Armageddon" all he wants and even be proud of it, but he shouldn't forget the fact that he was one of its stars, which boosted his career immensely and helped him get a bunch of lead roles in the coming years. But his commentary and Bay's reaction are indeed a funny little piece of trivia from the '90s.