IMDB Rating: 6.5
Wilhelm Moment: - Nope
Genre: Action / Thriller
Post 9/11 i'm a little surprised it's taken so long for a high budget terrorist-attack-on-the-white-house film. Maybe I've forgotten one somewhere.
The first 10 minutes take place 18 months before the rest of the film and sets up Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Butler) as a disgraced agent for failing to save the first ladies life (plus two agents, but they're just collateral to the plot) as lead of the president detail, but that's basically it. He's sent down to Treasury Dept. and the point is firmly made shortly after when he meets some of the current presidential detail. So much so it sticks out in the dialogue like a massive red sign with bunting and a parade, just to make sure you realised and couldn't miss it.
The biggest thing that struck me, (almost as hard as the tree hit the car) was that when the Beast crashed into the side of the bridge, at a considerable speed on an icy road, not a single airbag deployed. The First lady cracked her head on the door in the impact and bled a lot, which a curtain airbag would have prevented, but in every shot through the car, there's no safety measures deployed whatsoever. For the safest limo on the planet, at least from external threats, I find it hard to believe that they forgot to protect the people inside the tin can from the box itself when they're rattling around cracking skulls. From that point, almost ANY car made in the last 5 years is safer than The Beast, albeit not from a .50 Cal.
To main plot focuses on the North Korean threat and an attack which happens during a meeting of the leaders of America and South Korea. The first part of which is a C130 with Gatling cannons spraying around the area of downtown Washington DC and strafing the white house. The security teams valiantly fire SMGs and pistols at the plane from the ground, but I doubt they'd really do a great deal if they even managed to get a hit. Why the SAM site on the roof did't take the plane down I don't know, it wasn't even active until the plane was less than a mile away. After the plane's down terrorists on the ground start attacking, why they blow a hole in the fence with a suicide bomber when the gates have already been opened to let the staff out as the president was evacuated, I again dont know, but it happened.
Cue a ground war, lots of meetings and a president concerned for his son, who wasn't grabbed into the lift at the time.
Considering there's basically a small war on screen, there are quite a few helicopters flying around the streets. For the sake of real world security, this clearly wasn't do able so they used CGI, the problem is its really not that great. the same render used a few times doesn't look good, particularly when its noticeable it's CGI anyway.
It also looks a lot like they rebuild an entire White House lot to use and with the damage they're doing to it even in the first scene, it's probably cheaper than using CGI, and it looks better for it.
Overall there are a lot of things that you can question, and for the most part they're explained by "well they had special intel, obviously", although this doesn't really make the question go away, just force you to park the questions by the door on the way in and pick them up afterwards with little extra information.
Summary
VFX:
6/10 - They're ok, quite a lot are noticeable which makes the bard ones worse.
Plot:
6/10 - Come for the action, not for the plot.
Acting:
8/10 - All in all, the acting is pretty good throughout. Plus, Morgan Freeman.
Score:
7/10 - It's a good action score, builds and falls well. But for all that action, no Wilhelm scream.
5/10 - There are repeated things that just aren't right, the SAM site, and the Airbags are just the start.
Overall:
6.5/10 (32/50) Good old all-American action, just don't expect a few facts to get in the way.
I'm probably going to use Logic instead of Cinematography for the last catagory and if they're both relevant then split them 5/5 to keep the xx/50 total. Film Logic is something which annoys me more than crappy camera work. I Might also go back and change the ones i've done to reflect this.
