I've been following the production of this movie for a little while now and I just arrived home after seeing it. It seemed to me like it was going to be a flashy, blockbuster-esque sort of flick where you turn off your brain and enjoy. Surprisingly, the movie wasn't quite what I was expecting.
It was actually quite grounded in reality. I didn't have a hard time suspending my disbelief because I never really had to. The only part that could probably raise speculation is the first action sequence, the siege on the White House, which serves as 'the big action scene.' It's got a bunch of flashy CG, a bunch of explosions and a bunch of death/destruction yadda, yadda. It's a pretty cool scene, but some people will undoubtably berate the film for being unrealistic in the ten minutes or so that it lasts.
Surprisingly, subsequent to that, the rest of the movie's action is quite tame. Gerard Butler goes around stealthily kicking ass with hand-to-hand combat, one terrorist at a time. The movie has itself an R rating, which is deserved. Fortunately, it's not one of those R action movies that throws in senseless violence, language and sex just to attain the rating; the violence in this movie is realistic and necessary. There's a disturbing scene where a woman is executed that effectively captures the grittiness of a terrorist situation and reminds the audience that this ain't no G.I. Joe: Retaliation and we're not fucking around. The film is successful in being suspenseful, rather than relying on cheap special effects, which did happen occasionally but mainly just in that one action scene. Unfortunately, some of it looked pretty bad, specifically the one shot where they throw the flag off of the White House. Y'know, that shot that made all of the posters?
But back to Gerard Butler, who is the main character as well as the co-producer. I'm quite fond of him after seeing his role in Law Abiding Citizen which is one of the best screen performances of the previous decade and in this he gives his usual job which is strong and believable. Needless to say, not even close to being on par with Law Abiding Citizen, but here it's not so much an emotional role as it was before, so it's not a fair comparison. The rest of the cast is strong too. No complaints as far as the casting goes.
The movie succeeded in investing me in the characters. It wasn't long before I genuinely wanted to see the good guys win and the bad guys lose, which is probably the most essential part of any film. If I can't get behind the characters, I'm not going to enjoy the movie, it's as simple as that.
While I'm on the subject, I did like the villains in this movie. They were North Koreans, which intrigued me, personally, because I've been heavily following North Korean politics for a lot of years now and it's a topic that piques my interest. But again, this film's bad guys are fun to hate.
After the disappointment of A Good Day to Die Hard, this movie is a breath of fresh air. Matter of fact, I'd say that this movie is more deserving of a spot in the Die-Hard franchise than it's most recent installment. It's clear throughout the film that it's very inspired, there are several nods to the first Die-Hard in particular that I'm guessing were quite intentional. I half-expected Butler to shout "Yippie ki yay!" in one scene (Spoiler! He didn't!).
So, overall, a good action film that slightly exceeded initial expectations. I enjoyed it. Matter of fact, I'll watch it again when it releases on home video.
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