Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley Judd)

[Captaindemotion]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

^Just about, though. Tatum Channing and Gerard Butler are equally bland leads. WHD has got Jamie Foxx as the POTUS, James Woods, Maggie Gyllenhall, Richard Jenkins, Lance Reddick, Garcelle Beauvais and Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty).

Mind you, I still think that that silly-but-fun White House storyline in S7 of 24 is likely to have been mnore entertaining than both these movies put together.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

It's interesting how movies always come out in twos.

There's gotta be some corporate espionage or something going on when that happens.

Ghost/Always
Deep Impact/Armageddon
Friends with Benefits/No strings Attached
Etc/etc...

It happens all the time, and studios don't even try to be surreptitious about it.

Essentially what happens is: writer has is script and makes his pitch to the studios. They all take notes during the pitch. If more than one studio likes it, then, instead of getting into a bidding war, one will just pass the notes off to a staff writer.

Oh. And film looks terrible.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

^But wasn't Air Force One Die Hard on, er, Air Force One?!

Yeah. Sure. But at least Air Force One felt like an interesting take on the Die Hard On A... This is taking one that's already been done.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

^True, making the POTUS himself the action hero was a novel twist. And Harrison Ford on his worst, even in the likes of Firewall, is still 100 times better than Gerard Butler.

 

[Gaith]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

^Just about, though. Tatum Channing and Gerard Butler are equally bland leads.

I'm a straight dude and all, but Channing is so damn handsome even his alleged blankness can't help but be compelling to me. Like Keanu, except believable in his non-superpowered physical badassery.

Butler, OTOH, is like a poor man's Russel Crowe. He was good in Mrs. Brown, alongside Judi Dench, and he and his beard fit the hyper-reality of 300, but remove the beard and stick him in an actioner, all you've got is a cologne model.

And gah, don't remind me of Firewall! That brief shot of Indiana Jones tackling the T-1000 was in no way worth the agony, and I saw it for free with a live Ford Q&A afterwards!

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

^True, making the POTUS himself the action hero was a novel twist. And Harrison Ford on his worst, even in the likes of Firewall, is still 100 times better than Gerard Butler.

Yep. This movie will do about as well as Butler's soccer movie.

 

[throwback]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

When I saw that slow moving Hercules, as compared to a fighter plane, approach DC, I thought, where are the fighters?

I get the feeling that people who did this movie and the second Die Hard are completely ignorant about DC and the surrounding vicinity. There are two major airbases in that vicinity - Andrews and Langley. This limits the possibility of an attacking plane to hitting the WH to nil in this post-911 world.

I am curious, why didn't the film makers go for a different time setting and base on a potential scenario that happened in the past. For example, the US is involved in a second Civil War - a scenario explored in science fiction - and the WH is threatened by an advancing military force hell bent on capturing the president. Then, show the good guys getting the president out of the WH to safety, or defending the WH successfully defending the WH against attack. (The possibility of the WH and the president being attacked were real concerns in the first Civil War. However, the South blundered, lost two battles, and had to retreat quickly back to Virginia.)

I am not buying the concept behind either film. DC has been turned into a quasi-fortress after 9-11; there is no way that a North Korean military force or a paramilitary unit would be able to breach this fortress.

 

[Gaith]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

I get the feeling that people who did this movie and the second Die Hard are completely ignorant about DC and the surrounding vicinity. There are two major airbases in that vicinity - Andrews and Langley. This limits the possibility of an attacking plane to hitting the WH to nil in this post-911 world.

Passenger planes fly right close to downtown DC all the time; I'm sure they'll have some handwave line about how they fooled/hacked National Airport into thinking they were legit. Either that, or they remotely disabled all military aircraft... with hacking. It really wouldn't be more egregious than some of the stuff Skyfall threw at us, and that movie's been fairly well received.

 

[Star Wolf]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

^Just about, though. Tatum Channing and Gerard Butler are equally bland leads. WHD has got Jamie Foxx as the POTUS, James Woods, Maggie Gyllenhall, Richard Jenkins, Lance Reddick, Garcelle Beauvais and Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty).

Mind you, I still think that that silly-but-fun White House storyline in S7 of 24 is likely to have been mnore entertaining than both these movies put together.

If I was Channing Tatum I would worry about having a second movie delayed to make it 3D

I get the feeling that people who did this movie and the second Die Hard are completely ignorant about DC and the surrounding vicinity. There are two major airbases in that vicinity - Andrews and Langley. This limits the possibility of an attacking plane to hitting the WH to nil in this post-911 world.

Passenger planes fly right close to downtown DC all the time; I'm sure they'll have some handwave line about how they fooled/hacked National Airport into thinking they were legit. Either that, or they remotely disabled all military aircraft... with hacking. It really wouldn't be more egregious than some of the stuff Skyfall threw at us, and that movie's been fairly well received.

The deception plan is a lot simpler then that and there is no Red Dawn remake god device to explain how it was possible either.

 

[Data Holmes]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

I saw this one. I actually enjoyed it. There were one or two minor plot holes which felt like they were created by cutting a scene or two in the editing bay or script rewrite, but other than that it was worth seeing. I actually think they handled the concept of the attack very well.

 

[Star Wolf]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

I think it is the best Die Hard in a xxxx movie since Under Siege, or maybe Die Hard itself. Although Erika jumping out of the cake trumps Angela Bassett as the Secret Service director and Susan Saradon as the Secretary of Defense. Shallow Star Wolf I will admit to.

I saw a review talking about all the head shots. Well you had North Korean special forces/terrorist and top Secret Service agents shooting at a body armored foe with handguns in many cases. So yeah I think they are trained to go for head shots first.

 

[Admiral2]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

I liked it. It was twice as entertaining as I expected it to be. Yes, it was Die Hard with the guy from 300, but I don't think Bruce Willis could have pulled it off better.

 

[Data Holmes]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

I liked it. It was twice as entertaining as I expected it to be. Yes, it was Die Hard with the guy from 300, but I don't think Bruce Willis could have pulled it off better.

When my group was leaving the theater, we determined that the only other actors we would have liked to see play Butler's part were Jeffery Dean Morgan or Chris Evans.

 

[Star Wolf]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

One thing that Die Hard still has going for it was it lacked the character skill inflation. Thus the anyman has to do the extraordinary. We moved from just a detective in John McClain to the Navy SEAL in Under Siege and to the Army Ranger/head of the Presidential protection unit agent in Olympus Has Fallen

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

I get the feeling that people who did this movie and the second Die Hard are completely ignorant about DC and the surrounding vicinity. There are two major airbases in that vicinity - Andrews and Langley. This limits the possibility of an attacking plane to hitting the WH to nil in this post-911 world.

Passenger planes fly right close to downtown DC all the time; I'm sure they'll have some handwave line about how they fooled/hacked National Airport into thinking they were legit. Either that, or they remotely disabled all military aircraft... with hacking. It really wouldn't be more egregious than some of the stuff Skyfall threw at us, and that movie's been fairly well received.

In answer to both your comments about the USAF response and how it was handled...

Spoiler: The Attack

The AC-130 gunship (not a normal one though, this one is unique to the film) is escorted by two USAF F-22s once it enters DC air space. The gunship opens its gunports on both sides (like I said, it's not like the normal plane) and shoots down the unsuspecting fighters flying right next to it. The plane then proceeds to strafe the area surrounding the White House, killing lots of civilians, and then it takes out the agents and some of the rooftop defenses of the White House itself. A pair of AA missiles is launched from the White House, but the gunship launches flares and they miss. Then as the plane is looping around for another pass, a third F-22 arrives, fires its missile, which is not fooled by the new batch of flares, it blows off the tail of the gunship, the wing of the gunship takes off the top of the Washington Monument, and then the plane crashes on the south lawn of the White House.

This is when the ground attack on the north lawn of the White House begins.

No special haxor skillz or EMP weapons, just a coordinated air/ground conventional attack using what I'd guess was a South Korean plane that came with the delegation and local city vehicles like trash trucks, buses, and an armored car in addition to attackers disguised as tourists outside the White House and undercover operatives posing as part of the South Korean security detail.

I think it is the best Die Hard in a xxxx movie since Under Siege, or maybe Die Hard itself. Although Erika jumping out of the cake trumps Angela Bassett as the Secret Service director and Susan Saradon as the Secretary of Defense. Shallow Star Wolf I will admit to.

I saw a review talking about all the head shots. Well you had North Korean special forces/terrorist and top Secret Service agents shooting at a body armored foe with handguns in many cases. So yeah I think they are trained to go for head shots first.

Melissa Leo was the SecDef, not Susan Sarandon.

Spoiler: Attacker's origins and motivation

Also, the attackers claimed no loyalty to either North or South Korea individually, but were rather Korean Nationalists who wanted the Americans to pull out of the country so the civil war could resume and reunify the country once and for all. The head bad guy was born in North Korea, but his parents were executed for treason and he escaped to the South as a child, so there's no reason to think he has any loyalty to the current NK government, and he was quite critical of the starvation of their people and seemed to think uniting the two countries would alleviate that.

One thing that Die Hard still has going for it was it lacked the character skill inflation. Thus the anyman has to do the extraordinary. We moved from just a detective in John McClain to the Navy SEAL in Under Siege and to the Army Ranger/head of the Presidential protection unit agent in Olympus Has Fallen

But you can't really have an "everyman" be the head of the President's Secret Service detail, so what are you gonna do? A lot of the secret service guys are ex-special forces, so that makes sense.

Anyway, the movie was certainly action packed from start to finish, but it was only so-so for me otherwise. I'd give it a "B-." Not terrible, but not great.

 

[Star Wolf]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

The trailer from White House Down looks like Olympus on steriods.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

^ Oh, I just saw that it's from Roland Emmerich. No wonder.

 

[DarKush]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

I liked Olympus. I thought the attack on the White House was a bit unbelievable, but after that was over, I think the film settled down a bit and was entertaining. I thought Gerard Butler handled the action well and the supporting cast was largely top notch. A very expensive looking, well done 80's action movie. Please take notes Mr. Stallone for Expendables 3.

 

[Star Wolf]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

One thing that Die Hard still has going for it was it lacked the character skill inflation. Thus the anyman has to do the extraordinary. We moved from just a detective in John McClain to the Navy SEAL in Under Siege and to the Army Ranger/head of the Presidential protection unit agent in Olympus Has Fallen

But you can't really have an "everyman" be the head of the President's Secret Service detail, so what are you gonna do? A lot of the secret service guys are ex-special forces, so that makes sense.

Anyway, the movie was certainly action packed from start to finish, but it was only so-so for me otherwise. I'd give it a "B-." Not terrible, but not great.

That extra detail is what puts Olympus into Under Siege territory and not the iconic Die Hard class. Especially since Special Agent Banning was not a black sheep as far as the Secret Service was concerned unlike Detective McClain or even Chief Ryback

 

[stj]

Re: Olympus Has Fallen trailer (Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Ashley J

The confused backstory is irrelevant. The villain's real motivation is that he likes to sneer.

Early in the movie there is a car teetering on the edge of a bridge. I noticed while watching Breakdown (1997) that the car/truck teetering on the edge of the bridge was getting very hard to take seriously.

It seems to me that one key part of the plot depended upon Aaron Eckhart's character deliberately ordering the violation of security protocols during the attack. Since this could not possibly have been predicted, the plan demanded that the terrorists disguised as security guards were to penetrate the Presidential bunker. The rest of the plot (about Cerberus) depends upon the assumption that the bunker is effectively impenetrable.

The movie is very stupid, and the jingoism is positively distasteful.