There are plenty of great Ben Affleck-led movies, on which he’s worked both in front of and behind the camera as a director. However, few have endured in pop culture quite like Michael Bay‘s 1998 sci-fi disaster epic, Armageddon. It’s loud, it’s ridiculous and, though it’s one of the best ’90s movies, it also embodies the nonsensical blockbuster filmmaking of the era. And, apparently, Affleck’s kid can’t stop clowning him for it.
Ben Affleck recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his 2025 movie schedule release, The Accountant 2. Amid the chat, he talked about what it was like having his kids attend the film’s premiere. According to the actor-turned-director, it was the first time they looked at him as if he had done something cool. That wasn’t exactly the case when he tried to show them one of his big ’90s blockbusters. Apparently, he revisited Armageddon with his family, thinking it would be a fun, nostalgic bonding moment — until his kids, especially his son, Samuel, started absolutely tearing the movie apart:
During COVID, all the kids were around the house, and I was like, ‘Hey, let’s watch a movie.’ And I thought, ‘Hey, maybe the kids will like Armageddon.’ Almost immediately. It was like, ‘This is so stupid! Are you kidding me?’ My son was like, he said, ‘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.’
If you’ve seen the iconic disaster flick, which was released in 1998, you know exactly what he means. The movie’s entire premise of sending blue-collar oil drillers into space to stop an asteroid falls apart under even the slightest bit of scrutiny. However, who is turning into Armageddon to focus on science, besides Neil deGrasse Tyson? Its absurd earnestness is kind of the charm, right? It’s a popcorn movie through and through that’s built on big explosions, Aerosmith ballads, overtly cinematic patriotism and star-studded hero shots in slow motion.
Still, kids today have been raised on a steady diet of more “grounded” sci-fi, from Interstellar to The Martian, where realism (or at least a reasonable facsimile of it) is part of the deal. So it’s not exactly shocking that Affleck’s son had questions. A lot of them.
What’s great is that the former Justice League actor doesn’t seem remotely defensive about it. If anything, he seemed genuinely entertained by how much his kid roasted him. It’s the kind of self-awareness that has endeared him to fans over the years. Affleck has talked about his experience making the Michael Bay film before, most notably during a legendary DVD commentary track where he openly mocks the movie’s logic. (If you’ve never heard it, do yourself a favor and check out the clip below. It’s pure gold.) So it’s not like he’s suddenly pretending it was high art.
In a career that’s spanned everything from Oscar-winning dramas to superhero blockbusters, Armageddon remains a time capsule of a particular moment in Hollywood, one where physics, science, and plausibility were all secondary to “How cool will this look on screen?” To be quite honest, I love that. Yeah, it’s outrageous, but it’s also the kind of movie that’s just a blast to watch, whether you’re laughing with it or at it. Apparently, in the Affleck household, it’s a bit of both.
Ben Affleck’s latest action blockbuster, The Accountant 2, is now in theaters. Check your local listings for showtimes.
