MovieChat Forums > London Has Fallen (2016) Discussion > Why didn't the POTUS leave London? Two ...

Why didn't the POTUS leave London? Two opportunities

posted 7 years ago by PrivateTrip
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Just watched this movie last night. I enjoy over-the-top action movies from time to time and this fits the bill.

However, it seemed like the President had two clear opportunities to leave London and didn't:

- How come after the attack when the President reaches the helicopter (3 helicopters take off), they don't leave London? They are shown seemingly minutes later still flying near the Thames River when the first stinger missile is launched. They could've been a few miles away going max speed in any straight line direction. It appeared they were just hovering over the city and had no sense of urgency to get as far away as possible.

- After Banning and the President left the safe house in a vehicle, they knowingly decide to drive down a street filled with terrorists firing at them (before being rammed by a truck and flipping over). Why didn't they turn around and take another road and head out of London? I don't recall them being boxed in from behind.

[–] mickon-65353 7 years ago

Why was japanese prime minister stuck in traffic with just a driver... why was french president on deck of a boat ... did they really stereotype
italian pm as berlusconi with a mistress ... who closed the doora to st pauls... and how did moving the president schedule earlier save his life ... and why was london still busy during the power cut scene...

[–] yyerushalmi 7 years ago

Ok so I had the misfortune of watching it on netflix. The whole film was rather unrealistic in terms of scale of attack.. but I can at least answer your question:

1. They weren't hovering 'above london'. They were headed to Stansted Airport, where Air Force 'two' was waiting to take them to the USA. By this point they had not assumed that their entire 'escape plan' was known, and so couldn't have predicted the stinger missiles on the path to Stansted. (yes, it was a dumb plot point, but that was the evacuation plan).

2. Action film: always take the path with the most explosions. (yes, there were plenty of moments in this film where car chases and shootouts could have been avoided...). Having said that, it's not too hard to envision that if they took another path, it would have become another chase sequence with more cars and motorcyles....