Though maybe not for the reasons we think…
Saw Olympus Has Fallen over the weekend and had a really good time overall. Big dumb action movies are my guilty pleasure… I make no pretense to their quality, I know most of them don't hold up to any kind of critical review, but I buckle in for the ride and, if the ride is fun then I count it as time well spent at the movies.
So I enjoyed the ride, even though I had some qualms by the time I walked out. My first reaction was that, as long as you could ignore the ridiculous plot devices in the third act, it was a pretty good movie. Lots of action, with good performances all around (and, as an actor, I have to admit that good performances will let me ignore a lot of other failings).
I was especially amused by the way the audience burst into spontaneous applause each time Gerard Butler's character efficiently eliminated the movie's terrorist villains. There's no pretense to "I'm the good guy, so must show compassion" in this film. The bad guys are completely irredeemable and Butler guns them down and moves on without second thoughts. It's kinda refreshing to see that kind of character. (When I first saw the trailers for this, I thought "oh, Die Hard in the White House"… I think that's still accurate. There's fewer smart-ass quips from Butler than Willis' character, but they're from the same school of action hero.)
But there's still the massive suspension of disbelief required during the third act to get us to that cathartic "kill the mastermind and save the day" Die Hard moment. I managed it, but we're talking Golden Gate Bridge scale suspension requirements.
So on the drive home, Dani and I are discussing it, and she starts talking about how the movie was a lot of fun, as long as you can accept the ridiculous premise that kicks it off. The terrorists pull off a number of brilliantly executed moves that get them into position for their master plan… any one of which should likely have been stopped long before it paid off. So we accept these as given… we're just going along for the ride, right?
Then we started in on the muddled motivations and poorly explained actions of the American turncoat character. There's SOME attempt to tie his actions into the "We are the 99%" of the Occupy movement… but his references to this are almost throwaway, and not well formulated. Later in the film, when he gets his comeuppance, this isn't even mentioned as he mumbles something about "losing his way." And finally, his "moment of redemption", lackluster as it is, serves no dramatic purpose whatsoever. It happens, and he's given absolution by Butler (so to speak), but there's almost no mention of his actions throughout the rest of the film, no sign that it's affected the plot in any way and no apparent reason why it existed.
And finally, I had to mention the über-cliché "Military Commander who can't accept the reality of the situation". I feel for Robert Forster, as he's forced to do and say things that have been mocked since the days of Dr. Strangelove (at least!).
Putting all this together, I realized that there are few moments in the movie that didn't suffer from one of these flaws… and there are probably more that have gotten lost in the overload of bad storytelling we're looking at here.
BUT, despite all these obvious (in retrospect) problems, I still had a good time at the movie, and I don't hate it now. (As I've found myself reacting after the fact on more than one occasion. For instance, I cannot watch Sucker Punch to this day due to my post-movie analysis and reactions).
And this is where Fuqua's genius lies (at least where this movie is concerned).
Despite all the obvious issues, he keeps things moving smoothly, carrying you over every pothole and speedbump in the plot, distracting you, as needed, with shots of the terrorists defaming the flag & the White House (determinedly pulling at your patriotic heartstrings, to obvious effect) and action set pieces that pay off those same patriotic feelings with redemption for the heroes and brutally efficient disposal of the villains. I may not have been cheering along with the rest of the audience at these moments, but my inner barbarian was immensely gratified by each headshot and machine gun blast.*
So I was able to walk out of the theater at the end of the movie with only niggling doubts about third act plot devices, and no thought of all the other, obvious in retrospect, failings of the story. Ultimately a genius job of mis-direction by Mr. Fuqua (pun intended, of course).
*As an aside… I often have issues with movies like this that create despicable, irredeemably hateful villains, evil to the point where it's nearly impossible for the hero to triumph over them in such a way as to give me the real cathartic reaction I'm looking for. Killing the bad guy often isn't enough… you need to eviscerate them for me to feel they've been effectively dealt with. (Since I've already referenced Bruce Willis movies here, let me add The Last Boy Scout to this discussion as an example of one that got this right. At the end of the movie, the villain gets dropped into the blades of a hovering helicopter. THAT felt like just the right level of response to the villain they'd created. Remember that inner barbarian I referenced earlier? Yeah, he's the one cheering this stuff on.) While Olympus doesn't reach those heights of catharsis (or lows, as your tastes may dictate), it does an effective job of making you feel good about every action taken by its hero,
Saw Olympus Has Fallen over the weekend and had a really good time overall. Big dumb action movies are my guilty pleasure… I make no pretense to their quality, I know most of them don't hold up to any kind of critical review, but I buckle in for the ride and, if the ride is fun then I count it as time well spent at the movies.
So I enjoyed the ride, even though I had some qualms by the time I walked out. My first reaction was that, as long as you could ignore the ridiculous plot devices in the third act, it was a pretty good movie. Lots of action, with good performances all around (and, as an actor, I have to admit that good performances will let me ignore a lot of other failings).
I was especially amused by the way the audience burst into spontaneous applause each time Gerard Butler's character efficiently eliminated the movie's terrorist villains. There's no pretense to "I'm the good guy, so must show compassion" in this film. The bad guys are completely irredeemable and Butler guns them down and moves on without second thoughts. It's kinda refreshing to see that kind of character. (When I first saw the trailers for this, I thought "oh, Die Hard in the White House"… I think that's still accurate. There's fewer smart-ass quips from Butler than Willis' character, but they're from the same school of action hero.)
But there's still the massive suspension of disbelief required during the third act to get us to that cathartic "kill the mastermind and save the day" Die Hard moment. I managed it, but we're talking Golden Gate Bridge scale suspension requirements.
So on the drive home, Dani and I are discussing it, and she starts talking about how the movie was a lot of fun, as long as you can accept the ridiculous premise that kicks it off. The terrorists pull off a number of brilliantly executed moves that get them into position for their master plan… any one of which should likely have been stopped long before it paid off. So we accept these as given… we're just going along for the ride, right?
Then we started in on the muddled motivations and poorly explained actions of the American turncoat character. There's SOME attempt to tie his actions into the "We are the 99%" of the Occupy movement… but his references to this are almost throwaway, and not well formulated. Later in the film, when he gets his comeuppance, this isn't even mentioned as he mumbles something about "losing his way." And finally, his "moment of redemption", lackluster as it is, serves no dramatic purpose whatsoever. It happens, and he's given absolution by Butler (so to speak), but there's almost no mention of his actions throughout the rest of the film, no sign that it's affected the plot in any way and no apparent reason why it existed.
And finally, I had to mention the über-cliché "Military Commander who can't accept the reality of the situation". I feel for Robert Forster, as he's forced to do and say things that have been mocked since the days of Dr. Strangelove (at least!).
Putting all this together, I realized that there are few moments in the movie that didn't suffer from one of these flaws… and there are probably more that have gotten lost in the overload of bad storytelling we're looking at here.
BUT, despite all these obvious (in retrospect) problems, I still had a good time at the movie, and I don't hate it now. (As I've found myself reacting after the fact on more than one occasion. For instance, I cannot watch Sucker Punch to this day due to my post-movie analysis and reactions).
And this is where Fuqua's genius lies (at least where this movie is concerned).
Despite all the obvious issues, he keeps things moving smoothly, carrying you over every pothole and speedbump in the plot, distracting you, as needed, with shots of the terrorists defaming the flag & the White House (determinedly pulling at your patriotic heartstrings, to obvious effect) and action set pieces that pay off those same patriotic feelings with redemption for the heroes and brutally efficient disposal of the villains. I may not have been cheering along with the rest of the audience at these moments, but my inner barbarian was immensely gratified by each headshot and machine gun blast.*
So I was able to walk out of the theater at the end of the movie with only niggling doubts about third act plot devices, and no thought of all the other, obvious in retrospect, failings of the story. Ultimately a genius job of mis-direction by Mr. Fuqua (pun intended, of course).
*As an aside… I often have issues with movies like this that create despicable, irredeemably hateful villains, evil to the point where it's nearly impossible for the hero to triumph over them in such a way as to give me the real cathartic reaction I'm looking for. Killing the bad guy often isn't enough… you need to eviscerate them for me to feel they've been effectively dealt with. (Since I've already referenced Bruce Willis movies here, let me add The Last Boy Scout to this discussion as an example of one that got this right. At the end of the movie, the villain gets dropped into the blades of a hovering helicopter. THAT felt like just the right level of response to the villain they'd created. Remember that inner barbarian I referenced earlier? Yeah, he's the one cheering this stuff on.) While Olympus doesn't reach those heights of catharsis (or lows, as your tastes may dictate), it does an effective job of making you feel good about every action taken by its hero,
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