Olympus Has Fallen

 

The first of two "terrorists take over the White House" movies that we're getting this year (the other being June's White House Down with Channing Tatum), the biggest surprise about Olympus Has Fallen is that it is a better Die Hard movie than the actual Die Hard movie we got last month.  Yes, it's overblown, and it can be very heavy-handed at times.  But, I really got into it.  I'm really surprised to see a movie like this released in March, as it has all the makings and production values of a genuine summer blockbuster.  Not only that, it gives Gerard Butler's struggling career a much needed shot in the arm.

Butler plays Mike Banning, a former Secret Service agent to the President (Aaron Eckhart), who left his position after he failed to save the President's wife (Ashley Judd) from a Christmas Eve car accident near Camp David.  Some time later, he is forced to go back into action when he finds himself the only man who can stop an army of North Korean terrorists who attack Washington DC (they fly in planes overhead, firing down upon innocents, and even destroy the Washington Monument), and take control of the White House itself, holding the President and Vice President hostage deep below in the security bunker.  The North Koreans seem to have become the "foreign villains du jour" in action films of late, for obvious reasons - Not only for political reasons, but also because Hollywood movies don't screen over there, so there's no danger to the overseas box office.

What do the terrorists want?  Namely, they want the US to withdraw, so that North Korea can sweep south without being impeded.  The chaos of the simultaneous attack on Washington DC and the White House itself has pretty much wiped everyone out, and now Mike Banning is the only man left who can stop them.  When I said that Olympus Has Fallen has much in common with Die Hard earlier, I meant it, as Banning is pretty much a hero in the John McClane mold.  He's capable and strong, yet frequently finds himself in over his head, or bloodied and bruised from a fight or narrow escape.  He's also quick with a sarcastic quip or one liner, which Butler pulls off quite well, making his character immediately likable to the audience.  This is a big and overblown movie, so it helps that its hero doesn't always take things all that seriously all the time.  Plus, the character is a lot more human and relatable than Bruce Willis' more recent portrayals of  McClane.

Mike's mission is to infiltrate the White House without being noticed by the many terrorists who patrol the halls, find the President's young son, get him out, then go back in and save the President.  All the while, the Speaker of the House (Morgan Freeman) and the Secret Service Director (Angela Bassett) closely monitor his progress from a secure area, and keep in contact with him through radio communication.  These two actors are not given much to do in the film, but they make the most of it, and lend an air of authority to their roles.  Actually, looking back, the movie is full of a lot of inconsequential roles that easily could have been written out, such as Mike's girlfriend (Radha Mitchell), a nurse at a nearby hospital who watches the action fretfully on TV, and locks her hands together, hoping for his safety.  The movie keeps on cutting back to her, making me think she was maybe going to play some role at one point, but never does.  One character I would have liked to have seen more of, however, is the fiercely loyal Secretary of Defense, played by an unrecognizable Melissa Leo.  She not only disappears into her role (I didn't know who she was until the end credits), but her performance is excellent.

A movie such as this lives and dies on its villains, and while they don't exactly stand out in any real way, they are at least able to create a sense of menace.  The lead terrorist, Kang (Rick Yune), is not the over the top villain we expect in a movie like this, but is rather quiet and calculating.  If the screenplay had given him more to do during the film, he might have actually been chilling.  There is also an American traitor working for the terrorists, whose identity I will not reveal.  The rest of the villains are a largely faceless group for Mike to kill off.  This would probably be a good time to bring up the violence, which is very strong.  It's not just the villains torturing and killing their enemies, but also Mike Banning himself, who uses his Secret Service training for brutal means.  Director Antoine Fuqua (Shooter) lays the violence and blood on thick, without making the film unwatchable.  He knows when to be graphic, and just how much to show, and when to scale back.

 

Olympus Has Fallen is the kind of fun, overblown, throwback action film to the 80s and 90s that Hollywood has been attempting to make so much recently with failed efforts like Bullet to the Head.  This one finally gets it right.  It uses its "hero trapped in a confined space" premise to great effect, it features a strong cast, and it's probably the first action movie of the year that truly deserves to be a blockbuster.  I was actually quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it.  Come June, Channing Tatum's movie will have a lot to live up to.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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