Years Later, Rewatching Armageddon with My Kids

(The following contains plot details of the film Armageddon; if you mind spoilers, please read at your discretion.)

Tonight I rewatched Armageddon—this time with my kids.

It’s an old movie of nearly two and a half hours, and I’d figured they might not be able to sit through it, but to my surprise they watched it all the way to the end.

Some Things Have Aged, Some Haven’t

A lot of it looks dated now. The effects do, and so does the pacing of the plot.

But some things don’t date so easily. Things like a clear mission, a group of people forced to face a crisis, and the choice that, in the end, someone always has to bear.

When I watched this movie as a kid, what I remembered was NASA, the space shuttle, the asteroid, the drilling, the explosions, and Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, and that strip club. Watching it again now, I feel instead that what really stays with you is the ending.

It Gains Its Weight Because Someone Doesn’t Come Back

If the story had no sacrifice at the end, this movie would probably just be another rousing disaster flick. It’s precisely because someone doesn’t come back that it gains its weight.

Years later, having watched it through with my kids, I’m left with a very subtle feeling in my heart. Back then I sat in front of the TV alone, drawn in by the movie; now I watch my kids sitting beside me, watching to the end that story I found so thrilling as a child.

The same movie, watched again after all these years—what’s changed isn’t just the movie, but the person watching it, and those few small figures who’ve since appeared at my side.