Armageddon Time

Hollywood has produced many rites-of-passage films through the years, whether it be through a biopic or someone striving to 'make it' in an otherwise difficult situation. While "Armageddon Time" is a rites-of-passage film, it is basically seen through the eyes of the one going through the process in his life.

This is a deeply personal coming-of-age story in 1980 about the strength of family, particularly that of the Graff family, Irving (Jeremy Strong), his wife, Esther (Anne Hathaway), their son, Paul (Banks Repeta), their other son, Ted (Ryan Sell) and grandpa, Aaron Rabinowitz (Anthony Hopkins), and involving the generational pursuit of the American Dream. This is seen through the eyes of Paul Graff, the 16-year-old of the family as he's struggling to fit in at school, his family and the world.

Others to round out the cast are Jaylin Webb as Johnny Davis, friend of Paul's, Tovah Feldshuh as Grandma Mickey, John Diehl as Fred Trump, Andrew Polk as Mr. Turkeltaub and Jessica Chastain as Maryanne Trump. 

This was grittingly and intensely directed by James Gray ("Little Odessa" '94, "The Yards" 2000, "We Own the Night" '07, "Two Lovers" '08, "The Immigrant" '13, "The Lost City of Z" '16, "Ad Astra" '19) plus TV and shorts. Gray is not only a talented director, but especially with films that are heavy-laden as with this film. Watching these actors is so realistically portrayed that it appears like you're eavesdropping on people living their lives, and that's talented directing. It was also equally well executed by writer James Gray ("Above resume plus "Blood Ties" '13). Although the plot is about the struggles of a family where we've seen films with this premise in the past, the way it's written makes this a cut above films as this. Another film that had a premise we had seen before and after was that of "Kramer vs Kramer '79 with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. It had a seemingly unremarkable plot, but the way it was written (by Robert Benton),  became this incredible, poignant film that contained so many nuances of subtlety that no wonder it won the Oscar for best writing. This is the same in that the subtlety is amazing in this film--the better part of 2 hours long, it moved right along and this is all about the writing. Other than a couple of very small places of inconsistencies, and I mean very small, this was a spot on script. This proves that even if the premise of a film isn't necessarily original, if it's written with enough pathos, subtlety and finesse, it can excel as a powerful film as with "Armageddon Time".

If intense, powerful, but subtle films are something you like, this is the film for you. It's a small independent film about life from a struggling family. If you're looking for fine acting, look no farther. Anthony Hopkins is stunning as the patriarch of the family and could be courting a supporting actor nod come Oscar time. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                         Rated: R                                                   114mins.