Man this movie was just great! It had everything. Comedy, action, family drama, drama, family, comedy action, family action, action comedy, comedy drama, rocket launchers, gunfights, fistfights, explosives, it had it all. It was also (coincidentally?) very similar to Olympus Has Fallen... isn't it strange when two movies like this coincide on the same year? Kind of like Armageddon and Deep Impact (1998), or Elysium and Oblivion (this year).

Either way though, this movie was just great. The acting felt personal, both good guys and bad guys characters you could relate to (plus they all breath persona, even though some of it may feel overly patriotic for an outsider), the coupe is professionally staged, the camera angles creatively diverse... and the best thing about it is that the action just never stops! Tatum seems to be on a roll with great roles lately.

Will definitely have to keep an eye out for his next one.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

February, 2021

This one was so much more intricate than Olympus Has Fallen! At least leading up to the siege. When everything's ready and the terrorists take over it loses a bit of that initial spark and authenticity, and goes over to at times being just full-blown all-out action. Never mind the details.

Despite the superficial focus it seems like they might really have had a message with this one though. Bringing up the Military Industrial Complex halfway in, as part of the cause for war? Damn. Ahead of its time. I don't think I caught that last time I saw this. Was all too focused on the action. Almost makes you wonder if the other movie might've been funded by ditto, and used to throw this one out of the spotlight a bit. Whereas this one calls for peace, the other calls for war.

Especially the sequel.

Not that movies haven't always been used for propaganda - sometimes more sometimes less - but I never quite noticed it so much as now, when I compare these two, and see how differently the same premise can be presented; how different perspectives you can choose to focus on.

One thing though, the: I got a hundred people in here! Someone tell me something! was so badly timed... and the movie started better than it continued (it came back around towards the end). The special effects were sometimes a bit crap - but they were in Olympus Has Fallen too. Action-wise it was flashier, not as brutal but still all the more intense in some ways. Not as dark cinematically, and as such maybe not as authentic, or maybe just a different kind of authentic? More daylight? I think I prefer this blend, where you really see what's going on.

The president's made out to seem way more human here too. He jokes. He makes mistakes. He joins in on the action sometimes. He contributes a layer of comedy to an otherwise pretty serious film, which you might argue disrupts the mood, but is also maybe a part of why I do still enjoy this one a bit more than the other. And at times he says some really motivational things and acts his part.

More so than the Olympus equivalent does. The latter seems sympathetic but just not as complex; not as much a visionary.

At times all of this distracts though. At times I'm disappointed with how simple things get. Before it's over I start wondering if maybe the other one was better after all, and the vice president just revealing his villainous schemes out of the blue at the end doesn't seem realistic at all...

Though when it's over and they do their 'thing'... I think I do prefer this one.

It's a close call. One for a cast with charm and ability here, two for lighting, three for message, four for all out war. Not five cause, compared to the other one: not all as wholesome, as gritty or as immersive at all times...

 rated 4.5/5: almost awesome