History Headscratchers / OlympusHasFallen

** You are 'vastly' overestimating how powerful the detonations would be. The current ICBM employed by the U.S. is the LGM-30 Minuteman-III, which can pack 3 warheads that each have a 170 kiloton explosive yield. Even being generous, and saying Kang could detonate all 405 that are currently in service, and all of them had 3 warheads, that’s “only” 206.55 megatons of explosive force. The asteroid that caused the K-T extinction was estimated at 100 trillion tons of TNT. That comes out to 100 million megatons, over '''''484 thousand times more powerful'''''. All the nukes detonating would be bad news for the U.S., but it wouldn’t be near enough to impact the world.

** You are vastly overestimating how powerful the detonations would be. The current ICBM employed by the U.S. is the LGM-30 Minuteman-III, which can pack 3 warheads that each have a 170 kiloton explosive yield. Even being generous, and saying Kang could detonate all 405, and all of them had 3 warheads, that’s “only” 206.55 megatons of explosive force. The asteroid that caused the K-T extinction was estimated at 100 trillion tons of TNT. That comes out to 100 million megatons, over 484 thousand times more powerful. All the nukes detonating would be bad news for the U.S., but it wouldn’t be near enough to impact the world.

** You are vastly overestimating how powerful the detonations would be. The current ICBM employed by the U.S. is the LGM-30 Minuteman-III, which can pack 3 warheads that each have a 170 kiloton explosive yield. Even being generous, and saying Kang could detonate all 405, and all of them had 3 warheads, that’s “only” 1.215 megatons of explosive force. The asteroid that caused the K-T extinction was estimated at 100 trillion tons of TNT. That comes out to 100 million megatons, over 82 thousand times more powerful. All the nukes detonating would be bad news for the U.S., but it wouldn’t be near enough to impact the world.

* So what exactly was Kangs plan after setting off all the Nukes in the US? Like that many atomic explosions is liable to kick up enough dirt and detritus to block out the sun worldwide for a good long while, It would be like the KT Extinction event that wiped out the Dinosaurs, only worse because there would also be countless tons of fallout in the atmosphere that would spread worldwide as well. Basically he's dooming the entire human race, like sure North Korea would be open to conquer the South but fat lot of good that is when the sun is blotted out by radioactive debris, all the world's vegetation dies, and everyone on the planet develops radiation sickness from the global fallout

* So what exactly was Kangs plan after setting off all the Nukes in the US? Like that many atomic explosions is liable to kick up enough dirt and detritus to block out the sun worldwide for a good long while, It would be like the KT Extinction event that wiped out the Dinosaurs, only worse because there would also be countless tons of fallout in the atmosphere that would spread worldwide as well. Basically he's dooming the entire human race, like

* What was the point of wiring explosives to the PEOC's walls? The end of the film shows the PEOC's doors still work and can be opened from the inside, so wiring explosives to blow out sections of the wall makes no sense.

*** Not so much, you see, we've been dealing with Taliban rebels using AR15-patterened rifles, or even M32 grenade launchers. They're crude, but they do work, so it's not much of a stretch that a terrorist group with this kind of funding (and maybe backing) could get one, maybe two examples, and just make their own from materials found around the country. As for the ammunition, they likely made it as well, and for what they were doing, all they'd need is ball rounds and the occasional tracer round. I mean hell, these guys turned a normal C-130 into a pseudo-AC-130 with pilot operated guns, and then used it to open the front door into the white house (and technically back door as well)... I wouldn't put ANYTHING past these guys.

** Easy. It takes several minutes to get from the front door to the elevator to the PEOC, compare that to the 5 seconds it would take someone with an MP5 to just kill everyone in the room. This is something that real hostage situations have. Yes, you have a half dozen hostage takers holding a dozen or so people, and the dozens of SWAT officers outside could easily storm the place and take out all of the terrorists through sheer weight of numbers, but if they do that, the terrorists may execute all of the hostages, and possibly even escape. In an ideal world, the government in question would rather that at least some of the terrorists survive to be questioned in order to prevent future attacks, and there's nothing worse for a government than having to explain to the media why they weren't able to save the hostages in the first place. If this happens multiple times, you can bet money that that government may become unstable as people start thinking that their government can't protect them.

* So the movie is an act of war, right? Whether they were affiliated with North Korea or not they still held the South Korean and American presidents hostage and caused several dozen deaths. There has to be a ''casus belli'' there for the 38th Parallel to no longer apply.

** Also it was a degree of redemption on Forbes part. He had nothing to gain by lying he was going to die soon regardless, but he choice to help Banning instead of reporting what really happened.

** Also it was a degree of redemption on Forbes part. He had nothing to gain by lying he was going to die soon regardless, but he choice to help Banning instead of reporting what really happened.

* As much as it would be of course very bad to lose the US President, how important is keeping him alive compared to having the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar from reignite by agreeing to the terrorists' demands, which could easily escalate to a nuclear exchange? Not to mention [[spoiler: [[ApocalypseHow what would happen if Cerberus was activated]]]]...

** Its implied throughout the movie that the Speaker thinks that the situation can be resolved with an assault on the White House. He doesn't think that the Cerberus protocol could be brute-forced, and that if they take out Kang they can just turn the Seventh Fleet and the 2nd ID back around. It takes time for a fleet and 28,000 troops to pick up and move. You're ''not'' going to get a force that entrenched to move itself completely from the Korean DMZ at the drop of a hat. It isn't until the very end that they realize the nuclear arsenal is actually in serious threat of subversion.

** It was a resource that didn't wind up being useful. It's like packing an umbrella in case it rains. It might not be helpful, but you're going to want to have it in case it does.

*** Going off of the mere physics involved, that C-130 would have to be severely reinforced in order to withstand the recoil from mounted Vulcans, and second, they probably did have gunners in the plane. Next, the ammunition for the Vulcans must be in the range of around 5000-6000 rounds, given the strafing run and civillian attack. Add in the AC-130s trademark Angel Flares, and that is a serious amount of weight for that plane. Add in the fuel needed and it is a very heavily armed (and expensive) way of getting in the front door.

* Does the South Korean Government not perform background checks on their agents? Like, literally ALL OF THEM were with Kang.
* What was the point of Forbes telling Kang Banning was dead when Banning managed to do precisely jack shit before showing Kang that he was alive anyway, ruining any element of surprise?

* What was the point of Forbes telling Kang Banning was dead when Banning managed to do precisely jack shit before showing Kang that he was alive anyway, running any element of surprise?

* How was there no way to disconnect Cerberus? No line that could be cut, no satellite dish that could be destroyed? Assuming it was a dish and it couldn't be hit because of the air defenses, couldn't they just destroy the satellite itself?