Olympus Has Fallen - Review

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN is the DIE HARD you expected from the recent major failure DIE HARD 5. It's also a very bloody and vicious popcorn movie; the body count is well in the triple digits, CG blood is spurted everywhere, and there's many signature kills for actor-producer Gerard Butler to pull off on the North Korean thugs who dared to step against America. It absurdly panders to the mouth-breathers who can only see in red, white, and blue and the ironic lovers who want 80's & 90's actionsploitation to come back into theaters. Not great but a fun watch.


Butler is Mike Banning, a man who's practically the mistress for every member of the First Family. He's a very loyal Secret Service agent, goofs off with the President (Aaron Eckhart) through boxing, draws smiles from the First Lady (cameoing Ashley Judd), and is the big muscular brother of the son Connor. However, he's moved to desk duty after making the tough decision to save Eckhart over Judd when his limo crashes one snowy night. Considering the film careers of those two, he made the right choice. Anyway, during a White House visit from the Prime Minister of South Korea, a North Korean terrorist group launches an all-out attack to breach and capture 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Banning is the sole survivor and the only one able to prevent the invaders, led by Rick Yune, from obtaining the dreaded "Cerberus" codes and having the last laugh.


The script is beyond ridiculous, both positively and negatively. Screenwriters Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt seemingly watched DIE HARD one long night, scribbled out a few things from their notes, and replaced them with much cooler toys and set-pieces. There's deja vu moments like an authority takeover and, most especially, a climatic helicopter crash and an escaping fall for the hero. The casting department also seems to got in on the action of "homaging", hence why one of the terrorists legitimately looks like Al Leong. However, if you subside this fan outcry from your experience, the ride is a buttery treat thanks to the gruff performance by Butler and the very pulpy dialogue. Director Antoine Fuqua does a serviceable job to highlight the goofy and the serious at the right times, backed by a non-John Williams score of melancholic trumpets. Also, since I can't go one review without complaining about CGI, the CGI is confounding and lame, especially in the case that the makers couldn't just throw a tattered U.S. flag in the air without the assistance of a computer.


The fact that Aaron Eckhart often cries exactly on cue shows that everybody working on this big movie cared for it, whether to justify a paycheck or to have some fun for a change. It won't be an icon of the action genre but it will have a long history of television airings and late night rentals. The film may finally unearth Gerard Butler from the career slump and bad management he has had for the past couple of years. As seen here, it's much easier for him to work with evil foreigners than it is to work with Katherine Heigl and Jessica Biel.



FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5