People's Critic: Film Reviews
Review: Olympus Has Fallen
By Tim Hall on March 22, 2013 at 1:58 AM
I remember hearing Olympus Has Fallen described as Die Hard in the White House. Really?
While 1988's Die Hard focused on a terrorist organization stealing millions worth of bonds from the Nakatomi Towers, Olympus focuses on a North Korean militant group attempting to blow North America with nuclear bombs.
Before we get to North Korea taking over 1600 Pennsylvania, the movie opens 18 months prior where we find Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), a secret service leading the presidential family in a caravan of cars through a vicious snow storm. President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and the First Lady's (Ashley Judd) car spins out on the ice leaving them trapped, dangling off the bridge. Banning saves the President from the vehicle right before the car falls off the bridge, killing the First Lady.
Fast forward to present day, Banning is no longer watching over the President and has a cushy desk job in the shadows of the White House at the Department of Treasury.
While President Asher is meeting with South Korea to discuss the ongoing threat of the North Korea, the White House is attacked. The President is rushed to the safety bunker below the White House.
Banning witnesses the horrific events from his office window and rushes over to help. After a deadly shootout on the White House lawn, Banning is the lone survivor trapped inside to rescue the President and his son.
Over the next hour, Gerard Butler does his best John McClane impersonation as he goes through the house dispatching bad guys one at a time – and that's not a complaint. He's even shows some McClaneisms with a foul mouth sense of humor while he banters back and forth with Kang (Ninja Assassin's Rick Yune). Not only is Banning looking to beat North Korea, he's looking seeking a little redemption for the First Lady's death.
Every good movie needs a good villain and Olympus has one in Kang. He's ruthless, smug, smart, and just the right amount of evil. Kang isn't merely a figure head or a face for the crime; he dishes out some vicious beatdowns to the President's men and barks orders at his army like a madman.
Olympus is arguably Gerard Butler's best film since 300 (sorry Bounty Hunter). He's consistently good as the one man wrecking machine (see: Law Abiding Citizen), I'm surprised there aren't more projects for him like this. Butler does everything you want your hero to do and more, and that's no easy task. If pulling off a badass action movie was easy, so many actors wouldn't get it wrong.
For those hoping to see an updated version of Harrison Ford's Air Force One, you'll be sadly mistaken. Olympus Has Fallen is not for the faint of heart. Antoine Fuqua takes full advantage of the film's R-rating by infusing as much neck snapping violence as possible. The lifelike violence, multiple headshots, and torture scenes are enough to make most people cringe.
Speaking of Fuqua, the aerial attack on the White House is breathtaking. The POV shot of the plane circling while firing at the roof along looks amazing. After that attack, Fuqua takes a page out of Tears of the Sun with a heart pounding firefight on the White House lawn.
Despite Olympus plot being ripped out of today's headlines, the premise itself ranks pretty high on the impossible scale. There are a few leaps of faith the film ask you to take, but taking that leap is well worth it – what's on the other side is Gerard handing out patriotic cans of whoopass for 35 minutes straight.
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