White House Down vs. Olympus has Fallen: Some spoilers, but, I'll keep them light. I watched BOTH of these movies this week. Yes, in 100 degree heat, I'm taking some air conditioned air for the team. I am so selfless.
Short answer, there is no difference. Long answer, there is not very much
difference at all. But let’s break it
down.
Blood and Gore: With the hard “R” rating, Olympus has
significantly more gore. But there’s
plenty of body count for the most bloodthirsty ‘Murican summer movie fan. Edge: Olympus
Spunky Kids: Check and Check. Whitehouse Down co-stars some punky Brewster
type little kid who has a Vlog or a cell phone or some other plot device. Olympus has Oliver from season 4 of The Brady
Bunch who hides places. Edge: White
house down.
Bruce Willis: White
house down has Channing Tatum as reluctant hero John Cale. They should have gone with John McCale. He channels Bruce willis in Die Hard, taking
a beating but persevering. Olympus has
King Leonidas, starring as Bruce Willis in A good day to Die Hard, or the
expendables. Kind of sort of
‘unstoppable baddass John McClane’.
Edge White House down.
Gratuitous use of Mini-Gun:
See body count. Edge, Olympus has
Fallen
Humor: Nothing funny
about terrorists taking out ‘Murica. But
it’s just a movie. If King Leonidas is
funny, he can’t do it while maintaining a NY accent. Tatum and Jamie Foxx are genuinely funny
together. Edge: White House Down.
Plot Holes: Neither
movie actually makes any sense whatsoever.
Without spoiling anything, both groups of bad guys had sort of really
really complicated plans requiring wild coincidences. Edge: White house Down, b/c of the bigger
Explosions. ‘Murica.
President: Aaron
Eckhart vs. Jamie Foxx. Eckhart
boxes. Foxx shoots people. Edge: Eckhart for getting his hands
dirty. Olympus.
Both movies are fine summer fare for a hot day. Honestly, I found White House Down’s buddy
cop tone to play a little better for my taste.
Plus the opportunity for a series of sequels, in which Jamie Foxx plays
an ex-president who’s now in the secret service with his ex-secret service
guard, guarding a new president. Or,
better, Tatum is the new President, and Jamie Foxx has to save him? Throw in a mini-gun, maybe Chris Pine from
Star trek, and some Somalian pirates, and we got as a MOVIE. ‘Murica.
