Olympus Has Fallen
I wanted to see an action movie, and I didn't mind if it was mindless. This movie definitely lived up to both, and the latter is not a compliment at all.
Gee, let me count the ways the movie failed any reality scale:
1. I suppose the President does have some sway on who would be in his Presidential Secret Service detail, so kicking the main character out of it for not saving his wife I guess is at least plausible. I'll let this one go. This is the only one I'm letting go.
1. I don't believe for a second there is only *one* anti-aircraft missile battery in/around DC.
2. Likewise, there must be several buildings that have Secret Service on rooftops with shoulder-launched antii-aircraft missiles
3. I can't believe (this is going to be a common thread) that that many Secret Service personnel just walk out the front door of the White House to get gunned down like sheep.
4. In the armed assault on the White House, almost none of the terrorists were checking their six (the area behind them)? The main character picks one by one of them off, seemingly at ease, and manages to make it to the front steps of the White House before they do? Wow.
5. As a non-active Secret Service person, how does the main character still have access/password rights to the White House security computers? Also, you are telling me he can disable computer functions in the Presidential bunker just with his account?
6. When the main character finds the President's son behind a secret panel in one room, the terrorists just happen to know/figure out that is the one room with wood walls over the original stone ones and start firing their guns into the wall?
7. The President keeps telling his staff to give up the codes to the self-destruct mechanism for our nukes. Way to go there Mr.President - let's risk hundreds of thousands of lives for 1-2 people. Same thing for the acting President - caving into the terrorists demands and giving the order to pull back our troops/ships.
8. Why, oh why, is nearly 50% of the movies that have a bad guy acting like a good guy betray him/herself by blurting out the name/location/action of the main bad guy? Do bad guys really purposely try to avoid hiring anyone with a college degree? :)
I saved the last 5-10 minutes of the movie until the end of this post because that is where the most egregious, nonsensical, and complete plot failure happens. I'm almost not even sure where to begin....
8. Why hood the President if he never was going to be walked to the helicopter with all the other hostages/terrorists (minus the main bad guy of course) to purposely get blown up?
9. Did the other hooded terrorists know they were on a suicide mission? One could argue the main bad guy didn't tell them but remote activated a bomb, but then as a fellow terrorist, you have to wonder why your boss isn't coming along with you :). Also, they made a point of showing one of the terrorists strapping on a backpack (likely with the bomb), so one could logically think at least that guy knew what was up.
10. The terrorists are going to set off all of our nukes inside their silos, but somehow get away with the President through abandoned/closed off tunnels in under 5 minutes (the time the nukes are supposed to go off)? Without getting killed in the initial blasts or nuclear fallout afterwards?
11. The acting President says it should take days to break all the codes for the program to set off the nukes, but since two of the staff members gave them the codes, it takes less than 1/2 day to break one of them (the Presidents)? With that kind of math, it should only take 1 1/2 days total to break all three. Plot fail.
12. After the nuke program is disarmed, the main good guy is really going to help walk the *injured* President out of the White House instead of calling for a medical team to carry him out on a stretcher?
I really can't put too much blame on the plot holes/ridiculousness, because the film producers obviously put the films budget into special effects, not hiring quality script writers. I neither recommend or am telling you to avoid this movie. It was worth the ticket price for me.
Gee, let me count the ways the movie failed any reality scale:
1. I suppose the President does have some sway on who would be in his Presidential Secret Service detail, so kicking the main character out of it for not saving his wife I guess is at least plausible. I'll let this one go. This is the only one I'm letting go.
1. I don't believe for a second there is only *one* anti-aircraft missile battery in/around DC.
2. Likewise, there must be several buildings that have Secret Service on rooftops with shoulder-launched antii-aircraft missiles
3. I can't believe (this is going to be a common thread) that that many Secret Service personnel just walk out the front door of the White House to get gunned down like sheep.
4. In the armed assault on the White House, almost none of the terrorists were checking their six (the area behind them)? The main character picks one by one of them off, seemingly at ease, and manages to make it to the front steps of the White House before they do? Wow.
5. As a non-active Secret Service person, how does the main character still have access/password rights to the White House security computers? Also, you are telling me he can disable computer functions in the Presidential bunker just with his account?
6. When the main character finds the President's son behind a secret panel in one room, the terrorists just happen to know/figure out that is the one room with wood walls over the original stone ones and start firing their guns into the wall?
7. The President keeps telling his staff to give up the codes to the self-destruct mechanism for our nukes. Way to go there Mr.President - let's risk hundreds of thousands of lives for 1-2 people. Same thing for the acting President - caving into the terrorists demands and giving the order to pull back our troops/ships.
8. Why, oh why, is nearly 50% of the movies that have a bad guy acting like a good guy betray him/herself by blurting out the name/location/action of the main bad guy? Do bad guys really purposely try to avoid hiring anyone with a college degree? :)
I saved the last 5-10 minutes of the movie until the end of this post because that is where the most egregious, nonsensical, and complete plot failure happens. I'm almost not even sure where to begin....
8. Why hood the President if he never was going to be walked to the helicopter with all the other hostages/terrorists (minus the main bad guy of course) to purposely get blown up?
9. Did the other hooded terrorists know they were on a suicide mission? One could argue the main bad guy didn't tell them but remote activated a bomb, but then as a fellow terrorist, you have to wonder why your boss isn't coming along with you :). Also, they made a point of showing one of the terrorists strapping on a backpack (likely with the bomb), so one could logically think at least that guy knew what was up.
10. The terrorists are going to set off all of our nukes inside their silos, but somehow get away with the President through abandoned/closed off tunnels in under 5 minutes (the time the nukes are supposed to go off)? Without getting killed in the initial blasts or nuclear fallout afterwards?
11. The acting President says it should take days to break all the codes for the program to set off the nukes, but since two of the staff members gave them the codes, it takes less than 1/2 day to break one of them (the Presidents)? With that kind of math, it should only take 1 1/2 days total to break all three. Plot fail.
12. After the nuke program is disarmed, the main good guy is really going to help walk the *injured* President out of the White House instead of calling for a medical team to carry him out on a stretcher?
I really can't put too much blame on the plot holes/ridiculousness, because the film producers obviously put the films budget into special effects, not hiring quality script writers. I neither recommend or am telling you to avoid this movie. It was worth the ticket price for me.