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Olympus Has Fallen

Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Screenplay by: Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt

     The White House, the most protected building perhaps in the entire world, is under attack!!!
     Now that I have your attention, let me begin.
     Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), is a former secret service agent now working a desk job after a tragic incident involving the First Lady.  Lucky for Banning on a nice, seemingly normal afternoon, his office isn't far from the White House. 
      The South Korean Prime Minister arrives at the White House for an important meeting with the president (Aaron Eckhart) along with all of his security detail.  But one of them isn't exactly who he appears to be.  
      A North Korean military plane flies over Washington and attacks the White House, and the president, the prime minister, and everyone in their security forces go to the bunker deep beneath the White House, the perfect place to essentially take over the United States.
      The head security person for the South Korean prime minister turns out to be a North Korean terrorist named Kang (Rick Yune).  With the president, vice president, and a few cabinet members trapped inside the bunker with Kang and with total chaos happening all around the White House, it's nearly impossible to get in.  
      So now, it's up to two people to save the day; Banning, who rushes into the White House to rescue everyone in the bunker, and the Speaker of the House, who as the acting president, must ensure that order is maintained around the world.  
      The storyline for this film is extremely short.  This film could have been edited down far more than it is currently.  There's pretty much non-stop shooting, explosions, and various other types of action.  This film feels almost like a Michael Bay movie, only with a far darker and more depressing story.  This is one of those movies where things only get worse for everybody.  
      At some points, the visual effects are pretty cheesy and at other times, not so bad.  There's too much emphasis on the mindless violence and it makes for an incredibly intense film.  This is one of the most intense films I've seen in quite some time.  You might want a Gatorade after walking out of the theater.  
       This film is filled with quite a good cast, but there's only one decent performance in the whole film.  It's pretty clear that Morgan Freeman is the best actor in this film.  We've seen him play the role of president of the United States before, in films such as Deep Impact (1998), even though in that film he was the actual president, and in Olympus Has Fallen he plays the acting president.  Aaron Eckhart seems too overdramatic when he doesn't need to be dramatic.  Gerard Butler does a decent job as Mike Banning, the former secret service agent who must rescue the president, but it seems that he could not have played this role as well as another actor could have.  I think this role could have gone to someone older, like Bruce Willis, or someone a little younger, like Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  
       This is another average action-packed film that should be released during the summer.  There's nothing special about this movie, except for it's rather dark story.  I can't really give a recommendation about this movie except for this, do what you want.
        I give Olympus Has Fallen a C+.

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