Olympus has Fallen

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

If your first guess was that the Fiancee was out of town, you are correct, sir.

North Korean terrorists take over the White House and it is up to Gerard Butler to save President Aaron Eckhart (And Monta Vista High School grad) In case some of you are confused this is the White House destruction picture that doesn't have Jamie Foxx in it. Yes, you have to turn off your plausibility filter the moment the C-130 opens up on the White House but all the military porn from that moment on is pretty fun. The extended battle sequences are quite fun and some of them are quite inventive. Truth to be told, this Die Hard at the White House wasn't quite as dumb as I thought it was going to be.

Plenty of things that go boom. Lots of knife fights. And Gerard Butler managed to get his shirt off.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I started this one when the Queen went to walk the dogs.

This is the one without Gerard Butler but with Jamie Foxx and Tatum O'Neil. It is directed by Roland Emmerich so there is a Independence Day joke in there. Thankfully, the antagonist in this film is not freezing cold sweeping down from the north, but angry men who do not like the president's stand on the middle east. The guy who played the interrogator/torturer/err enhanced questioner was the main bad guy in Zero Dark Thirty and in this one he plays a rogue CIA contractor. I fear he is getting typecast.

The plot is eerily similar to Olympus fallen. In both cases, the hero is in the white house by accident. Both want the job of protecting the president and that is what they end up doing. There are a lot absurd chases around the white house where the bad guys can't seem to find the good guy, despite the fact there are cameras everywhere and the bad guys control the control room.

Lots of big things go boom which is fun. Tatum does his homage to John McClane by wearing a white t-shirt for most of the movie. And a little girl gets to wave a flag to impress her father.

It's a workman like effort but nothing that really rises above the genre. but I am getting sick of CGI vehicles in films. They look good, but still look like CGI models.

[Drunk Monk]

So which is better?

Not that I plan to see either really. Just curious.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Pick em. Either one is fine. Olympus was a tad more tongue in cheek. But they both offer similar levels of storytelling and quality. In about a year, I won't be able to tell you which is which.