White House Down (Roland Emmerich)

[Lazlo]

This is everything it needs to be and nothing more, and that pleasantly surprised me.

Yeah, it's really pretty great. At least until [

Show Spoiler

the momentum-squandring, totally lame inconvenient-phone-call-reaveals-villainous-mastermind ending. It's pretty clear for the last half-hour that Richard Jenkins was behind the whole thing, and the movie deserved a more kinetic way to wrap everything up.

]

[Skitch]

I sure hope the $1.50 I paid to see this goes to get Emmerich an editor. There was an easy 40 minutes of very cutable material here. There was some fun to be had, but it was constantly bogged down in unnecessary stuff.

The trophy for best 'Die Hard In The White House Movie of 2013' goes to Olympus Has Fallen.

[Irish]

There was some fun to be had, but it was constantly bogged down in unnecessary stuff.

Oh God, thiiiiiis. I really wanted to like this movie & I enjoyed most of it ... but Jesus the ending gets really tedious, overdone, and stretched my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. The last five minutes are deeply stupid and felt like the kind of thing broad comedies & sitcoms parody on a regular basis ... except Emmerich is actually trying to play the material straight.

[Morris Schæffer]

I gotta give it credit for [

Show Spoiler

subverting the mole twist, which I knew well in advance it was going to sport one, by giving us another one. I thought it was just gonna be Woods. These movies always have moles. Air Force One had Xander Berkeley as the mole.

]

funny too how the computer wiz was a clone of Die Hard's theo, the one who wasn't brought along for his charming personality. There was even classical music during the big hacking scene.

[Skitch]

... but Jesus the ending gets really tedious, overdone, and stretched my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. The last five minutes are deeply stupid and felt like the kind of thing broad comedies & sitcoms parody on a regular basis ... except Emmerich is actually trying to play the material straight.

BING muthafuckin O!

Also, the entire subplot of the tour guide character could've be placed on the cutting floor and the film would've lost nothing. Its doubly frustrating because there is a fun 90 minute romp of an action movie in that extremely overbloated run time.

[Skitch]

funny too how the computer wiz was a clone of Die Hard's theo, the one who wasn't brought along for his charming personality. There was even classical music during the big hacking scene.

That was such blatant borrowing, but even that didn't irritate me as much as a multitude of other things.

[EvilShoe]

Would've liked this better had it been R-rated. As is, I prefer Olympus has Fallen.

[Morris Schæffer]

Would've liked this better had it been R-rated. As is, I prefer Olympus has Fallen.

Btw, really bummed out that The World's End is not getting a release in Belgium and Holland. Someone, somewhere, somehow should pay for that.

[EvilShoe]

Btw, really bummed out that The World's End is not getting a release in Belgium and Holland. Someone, somewhere, somehow should pay for that.

Still living in Shanghai, so I'm more bummed out the only movies I get here are 3D blockbuster extravaganza's. And Now You See Me, for some reason. :|

[Morris Schæffer]

Still living in Shanghai, so I'm more bummed out the only movies I get here are 3D blockbuster extravaganza's. And Now You See Me, for some reason. :|

How did you end up there man? Edit: which sounds wrong, but didn't mean that. I'm sure it's great.

[EvilShoe]

How did you end up there man? Edit: which sounds wrong, but didn't mean that. I'm sure it's great.

Looooong story, but the short version is this: after backpacking through Australia, I had a hard time finding a good job in Belgium. So I decided to look for paid internships in digital marketing, found one in Shanghai, got full-time, and here I still am. There are definitely enjoyable factors, but also lots of things that annoy me. Call it a love/hate relationship...

(I'm dying for Belgian fries and stoofvlees. The "Belgian" bars just can't get it right)

[number8]

Typical Emmerich problems. Too many characters/subplots, tediously overlong, and every plot point laboriously set up to the point of making everything predictable (the pocket watch, the flag waving practice, the tour tickets, the kitchen knives, the pager, etc etc.). But the first hour of this was the best Die Hard movie since the first one. Loses its momentum after the car chase, which is a shame.

Giving it a yay for the "fuck you" line alone.

[Peng]

Way too long, but as an over-the-top action film that is kinda in on the joke the boisterous energy carries the film a long way. Typical Hollywoo that this stopped at one film while Olympus Has Fallen has two sequels already with another one upcoming. 6/10