Age Rating:
Not surprisingly this movie was rated PG-13 by the MPAA. The sub categories included; "Prolonged sequences of action and violence, including heavy gunfire and explosions, some language, and a brief sexual image." Honestly I think that this movie falls on the sadly blurred line between PG-13 and R. The "some language" in the report was much more than I anticipated. It wasn't the light fluffy swear words you hear in most PG-13 movies of this genre. Instead of 'damn' we had to kick it up to 'god damn' and instead of referring to Emily as Johns daughter like every other bad guy in existence they had to refer to her as 'the little bitch'. I, and the elderly couple diagonal to me, where also surprised when the President delivered a very special 'fuck you' to our main antagonist. Most of this I found just too excessive FOR ITS RATING. I have seen R rated action flicks before, but the rating gave me warning before hand. If you go into a PG-13 movie with your say 10 year old you would expect the language to be PG-13. This is where the line between PG-13 and R is being blurred to the point where I never know what to expect. Now most people say that it's not that bad and that its just swearing, you hear it in high school. All of this is true if you have ever been to high school, but chance are you didn't get there till you where 14 or 15 years old. NOT when you where 10 or 12, like the kids whose parents bring them to the movie theater. So as someone who has gone to high school, the language doesn't bother me, what bothers me are the others in the audience who are hearing this. I think the MPAA should revise their rating system, adding more specific age categories. Like Video games have Early Childhood, E for everyone, E 10+, Teen, Mature, and Adult only. But with Movies its like EC, E, and E 10+, are all grouped in G ratings, Teen and Mature are PG-13, and Adult only is R. Now there's a big difference between T and M rated games, so why do they get clumped together under the same movie rating? Just saying. I think if they had just dropped the F*bomb a couple more times and made this film rated R, I would have felt a lot better about it.
Special Effects:
Remember the "prolonged sequences of action and violence" from ^? That fits into play here, my God there where a lot of explosions. Its like the director said, "We don't have a budget so lets blow everything up." I was really surprised to see how much of the building was left when the movie was over. As for camera effects they stuck mostly to third person, changing to screen shots of the news every once in a while to help the story on the outside unfold. Unfortunately they did not utilize the 'civilian' cam very much. For those who do not know what I'm referring to, the 'civilian' cam is where the camera is placed so you are looking around as if YOU where a civilian at the scene. There where many times where we where only given a helicopter shot when it might have been more useful or dramatic if they used a civilian. Over all the action sequences where fluid and the explosions and other forms of destruction where vivid and dramatic. I think though some of the explosions that occurred during a news coverage where slightly cheesy.
Acting And Actors:
As I had mentioned Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx took the spot light as our main protagonists along with Joey King as Emily and James Wood as our Antagonist, Walker. As my friends constantly remind me, Tatum is mostly there for eye candy. I prefer guys like Robert Downey Jr my self but hey, Tatum's alright. His role as the down on his luck father in a bad situation is very well done, seeing as that role has been done by many other actors before. He can deliver his many smart ass lines with a straight face and is able to pull off the experienced leader well. You could say ditto for Jamie Foxx, and James Wood, and pretty much the rest of the cast. The actors them selves did a wonderful job, but their characters personalities barely differed from each other and I will go more into this in the Plot section. Joey King did a wonderful job of making me hate her character on the spot. She was annoying, moody, and just an obnoxious character. Many could say she becomes important later, and she does, but that first impression of her is enough to make me hate her. The overall cast did a great job, but they could have tried to play around with their characters, made them just a little different from each other.
Scene Changes:
This whole movie was just one huge battle. To show this they added Intel from the CIA out post, and news covering to mix it up between following Tatum and Wood as they ran around the White House. The battle scenes where done smoothly and purely from a 3rd person p.o.v. This unfortunately got tiring after a while, and while there are breaks in the action it truly is 2 hours of explosions and gun fire. All else considered any editing or cut scenes didn't interfere with the films fluid feel and its impact.
Information Distribution:
The plot was easy to figure out and explained as the agents began to take in intel on what was going on. The distribution was set so that we learned as the characters learned. This isn't a bad thing but it left somethings fuzzy to the audience. Such as Walker's motive or Cale's background. They where explained quickly and only once, with little in depth analysis. Even to the attentive viewer information can be forgotten in the stimulation of the battles and the over all length of the film.
Overall Plot:
The over all plot of this movie was reminiscent of Die Hard and Taken. A security guy pushed into a situation that forces him to break the law to save hostages, it doesn't help that he's an over protective father and the villains have a hold of his daughter. 90's action movies anyone? Tatum even goes to wearing dress pants and a white muscle shirt just like Bruce Willis in just about every Die Hard movie. Not to say the plot is bad, its just if you have seen either of those two movies it seems like a high stakes rip off. Contributing to the unoriginality of the movie, all that character are battling for America's next top Smart ass. There was barely any difference in the characters personalities as they bantered with their clever little one liners. For those of you lacking in your 90's film lore, this movie will seem completely original, and that's OK. For it's day and age the plot is original and has many elements that separate it from its older counter part. For one the terrorists aren't German, but seriously the setting of the White house with its many fabled corridors and safe rooms, along with the very real and memorable land marks make this setting almost familiar. To anyone who went on that 8th grade trip to D.C. that is. This also upped the stakes for Tatum as the hero of the story as he desperately tries and continually fails to get out of the White House with the President in tact. All in all for those of you who like big action flicks, this is the film for you. Anyone who has seen Die Hard, all you need is a "Yippee-ki-yay Mother Fucker" to make it a true blast from the past.
Sound Track:
The sound track was composed by Harald Kloser and Thomas Wanker. It has some big band elements, very different from the usual pure orchestral style that most composers use, with huge hits from the brass. Listening to it separately it is very well done, but it is unfortunately covered up by the gunfire and explosives of the movie making it hard to pick out which song was where in the film. Unlike the works of Hans Zimmer or John Williams. Listening to it though, this is definitely something that I would put on my play list.Big thumbs up to the music, just wish it had a bigger role in the film.Final Verdict:
Pros;
*For younger audiences, the plot is original and engaging.
*One liners keep you laughing.
*Top notch Special effects.
*Information easy to understand if at times blurry.
*Actors are well known and entertaining.
Cons;
*Rating is somewhat inaccurate and really isn't for children under High School age.
*Language is excessive and unneeded at times.
*There isn't much difference between characters personalities.
*Entire movie is from 3rd person P.O.V.
*The plot is predictable and has been done before.
*Soundtrack is just kinda there, it isn't really noticed or used well considering how good it is.
*For those who have seen Die Hard this will seem like a rip off.
Rent/Wait it out
I'd say wait for this to come to the local Dollar Theater or Video Rental source. It's just not worth the outrageous prices at theaters these days. If you absolutely have to see it, see if your local theater has a matinee discount as I did. This is not a movie I would advise spending more than 5 dollars on. If you like the movie and think it's great, super. I'm just here to say what I think, I hope you don't mind.
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