Skip to main content

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+.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Transformers: The Last Knight

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, Laura Haddock, Isabela Moner, Anthony Hopkins, and Stanley Tucci Directed by: Michael Bay Screenplay by: Art Marcum and Matt Holloway      Does it ever feel like certain things are just getting old now?  Like, they're not even fun anymore? That's how I feel about Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth installment of the Transformers series that Michael Bay has said is his last (even though there will be more of these movies).      Optimus Prime ( Peter Cullen) is gone.  He has left to go find his makers and see what is left of the planet Cybertron after being ravaged by war between the autobots and the decepticons.  While there he is seduced by a weird transformer sorceress named Quintessa (Gemma Chan) and changes his name to Nemesis Prime.  She convinces him that in order for Cybertron to live once again, Earth must die.  So like an asteroid speeding towards a point of gravity, Cyber...

The Hunger Games

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth Directed by: Gary Ross Screenplay by: Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins      If reality television hasn't gone too far yet, then this show should definitely make it go too far.      In a futuristic nation called Panem, one boy and one girl are selected from each of the nation's twelve districts to represent them in an annual television event called the Hunger Games.  Of the 24 contestants, only one will survive in this televised fight to the death.      I like the concept of the story.  While this futuristic society seems somewhat simple, it does not seem all that well developed.  It is unknown how this society came into being, even though it is known how the Hunger Games began.      If this film were released last year, I would have hoped it would be nominated for best make-up.  Many of the characters ...

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Starring: Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Cobie Smulders, and Robert Redford Directed by: Anthony and Joe Russo Screenplay by: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely      And here we have the newest installment of the Avengers series.  While I don't believe it is mandatory to watch The Avengers before watching this film, I strongly recommend it for some background information that you might not have otherwise.  Certainly watch the Captain America: The First Avenger before this film.      Let me begin by saying that Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) is a really awesome 95 year old.  He currently lives in Washington, D.C. working for SHIELD, whose headquarters, the Triskelion is just across the Potomac River from D.C.  He is called on a mission to rescue a SHIELD vessel in the Indian Ocean that's been taken over by Algerian pirates.  Onboard, he finds Natasha Romanoff, ...