As I watch the invasion *I kept thinking how ridiculous everything happening was. I was a little annoyed about how easily the invaders succeeded and how inept the defense by Americans was. Breaking protocol and letting enemies into the bunker was the most stupid act in the movie. Just unbelievable.
shareYep. The idea itself would never work despite people saying it is plausible. You don't have to be an expert in the military to realize the following elements needed to take place for this plan to work.
1) The terrorist was lucky enough for the President who only met him for 2 seconds invited him into the bunker which was against protocol. That was an element of chance that had billion to one chance of succeeding and it worked. Take that guy to Vegas!
2) Someone allowed an AC130 to be stolen or it was flown from North Korea or somewhere outside the US, and if that was the case how did it manage to get as far as DC without anyone noticing it? Also, if the first SAM didn't work when fired to the back of the plane why did they fire it to the back of the plane again? Try underneath next time. Bottom line, that AC130 would have been down much faster than what is shown.
3) The US military or personnel guarding the White House were all untrained in such a scenario. I honestly laughed at just how incompetent the people guarding the White House were in defending the place and at combat in general. It seemed the lead character was the only one with any sense and I highly HIGHLY doubt that possible when we are talking about the White House.
We don't want it to happen... do we? A movie like this almost has to be silly escapism, these days, because we see enough real-life terrorist incidents on the news, and they're just depressing.
It's not going to show anything on-screen that might happen, just in case it *does* happen. It's a movie where you need certain stupid decisions to be made in order for the hero to save the day. I never really expected the action to be plausible, just to look good and be cool - which you said it was.
"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"
Given how lousy the Secret Service was in real life these last few years (look it up) in terms of stopping people from jumping on the podium, I don't see how this movie let alone similar films like AIR FORCE ONE, MURDER AT 1600 or even the TV show 24 take so much suspension of disbelief.
Unlike RED DAWN or even WHITE HOUSE DOWN which don't even introduce much of a concept and go A.W.O.L. and have their fan-boys make lame excuses like "Don't take it seriously" when it's clearly not meant to be campy, this film did do reasonable expertise on military tactics (shown on the various interviews for the film's official site).
Regardless of a SS agent's training, this is a military and mercenary force we're talking here let alone numbers plus while we have to always suspend belief on a plane getting too close to the White House, we were given the implication that it was stolen American vehicle and not immediately detected by radar since it didn't appear to pose any threat.
Following the crash, many agents and civilians were engulfed and like all the DIE HARD movies, our villains were disguised in civilian gear so obviously no one was prepared for that (who would be?).
What we have here is a perfectly engaging implausible movie. If we can suspend belief with John McClane, Jack Bauer or even Jack Traven in SPEED, we sure as hell can believe that one off-duty agent like Mike Banning can be the most capable for this job since he was former Ranger prior to being Secret Service.
And we've seen just how many individuals violate secure areas of the WH, and getting over the fence at other times in recent years?
Seriously the Secret Service and capitol police don't seem so brilliant at stopping incursions in any sort of numbers.
Please note WHD is based off the same book OHF is.
Umm, White House Down might be just as inspired by the implausibilities of Air Force One but it didn't know if it wanted to be a comedy or a serious action movie but that's okay since it failed at both BIG TIME.
The ending was crap! Everybody believing that Uncle Sam killed in the helicopter explosion. Otherwise, the first half was believable too a certain extent.
shareIt's a fun action film. But still....a 15 minute military response time to the White House?
Shady.
I had issue with the Secret Service agents on the roof mostly armed with sniper rifles and they were trying to shoot down the C-130 with it.
Also you don't fire all 4 SAMS simultaneusly at an enemy bogey.
The USSS has had a number of disturbing and/or downright humiliating security breaches and internal screwups over the past few years. The reality is that we are lucky that the only threats to our presidents have been from lone wolf kooks with mental illnesses, that kinda thing is relatively easy to handle. Now if 100 well armed, well trained people were to assault the White House (as in this movie) things would probably not go well for the USSS which is unlikely to have firepower greater than pistols, rifles, and perhaps maybe light machine guns. I have heard that there are AA missile launchers within/near the White House compound but I believe they are manned by the Washington DC Army National Guard. One of them is visible on Google Maps on the roof of the New Executive Office Building.
shareNot only was the visitors in the bunker unrealistic, it's not even the POTUS's call. In situations like what caused them to go to the bunker, the Oresident has no say.
Reminds me of a West Wing scene where the President was hesitant about if the Secret Service could/would escort him to safety, his Chief of Staff replied something to the tune of "your feet might touch the ground when they take you, but I doubt it."
OMG, yes! Was watching this last night with my husband and both of us just were out of the suspension of disbelief right from the start. From the unidentified plane getting into DC air space, to the insane response time of the US military, to the president giving orders during the crisis when he would have had NO SAY at that time. When he told them to bring the South Korean delegation to the bunker, the SS would have responded with, "I'm sorry sir, but no. We have to go." And they would have physically carried the president to the bunker despite his protests if they had to.
Also, with the Cerberus codes, the people who had those codes would NOT have obeyed an order from the president to give out those codes. I guarantee that those people took an oath when given those codes that they would never be given out to an enemy. Those 2 people committed treason, since the president wouldn't have had the authority to tell them to give those codes out at that time. The whole movie was just SO unbelievable, it was laughable. My husband said the only person acting like a real life SS agent was Gerard's character, and I agree.
And lastly, the US does not negotiate with terrorists. They would have let the Pres and VP die before removing the 7th fleet. That's why we have designated survivors/line of succession, for exactly that type of situation.