If you consider all the variables, Olympus Has Fallen delivers exactly what you would expect. No matter what you think of director Antoine Fuqua‘s films, the guy has an appreciation for bloody violence and with Olympus you get that and then some. With Gerard Butler as Fuqua’s leading man, just as easily as he hacked his way through hordes of thousands in 300, he will shoot and knife anything in his way to rescue the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) from the White House bunker where he’s being held captive by a group of terrorist hellbent on nuking the whole of the United States.
If you’ve ever seen a movie of this sort you know how all the pieces will fit together. The opening scene includes a brief connection between the President’s son and Butler’s Mike Banning, which you know will come back later in the film. The film’s synopsis describes Banning as a “disgraced former Presidential guard”, but forget that word “disgraced” since it really has no place here. “Dedicated” is more like it and instead of any negative impression that synopsis may give you of his character, instead consider him the Rambo of Secret Service agents and you should have a pretty good idea of what’s in store here.
Considering the timing, Olympus Has Fallen will likely be compared to the all-out disaster that was A Good Day to Die Hard. Olympus wins that match-up, but don’t expect this film to live up to the original Die Hard as it can’t excel to such heights even if it isn’t an outright failure.
Olympus isn’t a bad movie and it’s mildly strengthened by the assembled cast, even if every role is a thankless one to the point Robert Forster reads through his lines as if he can think of several other places he’d rather be. Morgan Freeman, playing Speaker of the House and acting President, does get a great chance to spit and scream in Forster’s face and boy does Melissa Leo play it up as the Secretary of Defense, a woman who proclaims she’s not going down without a fight and still says the Pledge of Allegiance while terrorists drag her down the hall.
The film ultimately suffers in spots where similar films of this sort also find issue. The scenario, first of all, is preposterous and with the stakes as high as they are you need the audience to believe this is a legitimate threat. While it’s easy enough to get on board following the initial siege of the White House, once the terrorists’ agenda is revealed it gets sillier and sillier.
What really irked me was the moment the true identity of the lead terrorist in charge (Rick Yune) is revealed with fancy computer graphics and a mug shot only to have one of the characters tell us this guy is so illusive they don’t even have a picture of him. Except the one right up there on the screen! Details such as this need to either be left out or handled with more care if you want your audience to not laugh at you or even scoff at the decisions being made by supposed military professionals, such as the lackluster effort of sending a half-dozen Blackhawks to their doom.
Then again, a film like this could work if the audience is laughing, but it can’t be at the details, it has to be with the film and the ridiculous storyline. Olympus does have a mild sense of humor, but screenwriters Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt could have injected a little more to help the audience understand we’re all on the same page and while the action on screen may seem intense we all realize we’re here just to have a good time. Elements of that are in place, and Butler delivers several one-liners quite well, but near the tail-end any and all levity is lost for serious macho behavior.
This is one of those films you’ll find satisfies a lazy weekend afternoon. It’s perfect background noise and mildly entertaining, and will be better served if you’re only half-paying attention.
