About halfway through this film you start thinking that these people can’t be this stupid, then the film freezes and it says:
Remember, this is still a true story.
Well, in reality, in reality it’s a film based on a true story with a number of things changed just to make it more of a film. See the Wikipedia page.
Also, you get to the end of the film and it comes up with Michael Bay and you realise what you’ve just seen.
I felt sad that society has bred thick people who believe it is their RIGHT to have money and be famous. This film is a commentary on the state of society given the modern age of the X-Factor and get-rich-quick. People, you need to understand you have rights to nothing. You have to earn everything you want. You don’t deserve anything until you have put the effort in. Hmmm, think my morality drifted a bit there, whoops!
As action films go this one is ok. It’s just like Die Hard but not done as well. Terrorists take over the White House and have trapped the President and some of his senior staff. Only Gerad Butler is there to save him.
The opening was sweet with a Christmas theme and the incident where Banning does the right thing is all well and good. Once the invasion of Washington DC started the whole thing became somewhat less realistic. It was nice seeing the views of DC again having been there recently. I recognised most of the places and the aerial views really made the layout of the city clear. I spent most of my time running around DC so I was quite aware of where things were, it was just nice to see a different view.
There were a few times throughout the film when I wanted to laugh out loud. The script was painful at times and it didn’t go smoothly. My favourite line was when a helicopter with people was taking off from the North Lawn and someone in the Pentagon said “it’s ok, we’ve got a tracker on board”. It’s a HELICOPTER. RADAR normally works quite well with big metal objects flying through the sky. What rubbish.
How you could fly an unidentified aircraft within 20 miles of DC and not get shot down for later questioning is something the film doesn’t address, but then it would mess up most of the film. It’s all rather silly.
Don’t expect anything sensible. Expect silly, get silly and suspend your disbelief. It’s not a complete waste of less than a tenner if you live outside London.
On a completely separate issue it really bugs me that the President ends his addresses to TV with God Bless America. I find it amusing that God blesses Americans and the land they stole from the indigenous peoples. The fact that God is on the side of the USA and not the Republic of Korea is even more amusing. I guess God is always on the winningest side! Read the US constitution and tell me where it mentions God!
Just in case anyone reading this wants to buy it, I have a home cinema amplifier up for sale. If you can collect it and pay me GBP50 then you can have it. It’s a Sony STRDG-910. I do not have any speakers for you, you’ll have to get them yourself. Here’s the gumpf I have collected about it:
For Sale
Home Cinema Amplifier £50
Looking for a bit more bang for your buck?
Buy this 700W 7.1 Sony Amplifier (no speakers supplied)
Sony STR-DG910
Feature packed High Definition home cinema receiver with HDMI, autocalibration for easy set-up and BRAVIA Theatre Sync for one-push button operation. Also listen via the DMPORT connection to all audio files stored on your Walkman, mobile phone or laptop.
Features
Future-proof HDMI connection (3 In/1 Out) to bridge multiple High Definition sources to Flat TVs/Home Cinema Projectors without any picture/audio quality loss. Digital Cinema Autocalibration – just place the microphone on your couch and plug it into the receiver. The receiver adjusts automatically the perfect surround sound according to your room and speaker set-up. BRAVIA Theatre Sync functionality, The feature enables you to operate your home cinema system just by pushing one single button if connected with BRAVIA TV. DIGITAL MEDIA PORT (DMPORT) connectivity. Just plug in any of the 4 available DMPORTs and enjoy your audio files from your Walkman, mobile phone or laptop. Video Up-conversion to HDMI. You will need only one HDMI cable to your TV and just switch the video sources on your receiver. 8-channel Linear PCM for High Definition sound from Blu-ray discs. Enjoy 7.1 sound in CD-quality for each channel. 1080p pass through – HD film quality passed to screen with no loss in quality Discrete 6 channels with equally 100W (+subwoofer) for powerful home entertainment. All relevant surround formats are supported: Dolby® Digital / DTS / Dolby® Digital EX / DTS-ES (Matrix/Discrete) / DTS 96/24 / DTS NEO:6 / Dolby® Pro Logic / Dolby® Pro Logic II / Dolby® Pro Logic IIx / Dolby® Dual Mono /96k/24Bit PCM Sony’s Proprietary Digital Cinema Sound (developed together with Sony Pictures) to bring the sound from the best cinemas to your living room.
This text is probably (c) Sony as I lifted it from their website.
So, it’s been a busy time. I have bought a new TV to replace my 40″ Sony that I bought in the summer of 2006. I don’t know if six years is a good length of time for a TV. I guess so. The problem is that I am an early adopter of technology [see this post here – currently in draft form].
The old TV was HD Ready which, it turns out, is only 720 lines of beautiful picture. It looked deep and gorgeous in HD. But it was time to upgrade. There were just too many TV advances for me to ignore anymore.
I now have an LG 3D TV. I went for 3D because Gran Turismo will output 3D and I like playing that. Do I think that 3D is a good cinema format? No. But for Gran Turismo . . .
Current TV Room Set Up:
Current Equipment:
Television – LG 47LM670T
AV Amplifier – Sony STR-DN1030
BluRay player – Sony BDP-S790
Satelite Decoder – Amstrad Sky HD
Console – Sony PS3 320Gb
Front left and right and passive sub-woofer – Bose Acoustimass Cube
Active sub-woofer – Sony
Centre, SL, SR, SBR, SBL speakers – Sony
When I get the chance I also use a Logitech Driving Force Pro steering wheel.
