“Olympus Has Fallen” is a movie so patriotic that it practically bleeds red, white and blue.
We find our lead characters dealing with the fallout from a tragedy that took place 18 months before when Korean extremists suddenly execute a plan to take over the White House. This attack involves a lot of heavy artillery on the ground and a gunship in the sky, leaving a countless amount of dead bodies.
The filmmakers rely on emotionally charged imagery to invest audiences in wanting to see the villains get what’s coming to them: countless American civilian deaths, the destruction of famous American monuments and the American flag filled with bullet holes getting tossed onto the ground (in slow motion). To a degree it is effective, but it is hard to forget how ridiculous the whole affair is.
Once the president, played by Aaron Eckhart (“The Dark Knight”), is taken to the bunker below the White House by the extremists, it’s up to the miraculous sole survivor of the initial White House assault to save him. The former presidential bodyguard, Mike Banning (played by Gerard Butler of “300” fame) does so mostly in hopes of redeeming himself for his failure in the movie’s opening.
As day becomes night and the power goes out in the White House, Banning has to rely on his special forces training to take out the enemies one-by-one. It’s at this point the movie starts to eerily feel like the first “Die Hard” movie.
Meanwhile, with the president and vice president (ahem) tied up, the speaker of the house (Morgan Freeman, “The Dark Knight Rises”) becomes that acting president and instructs Banning about what he needs to do while slowly figuring out what the extremist are trying to accomplish.
It’s easy to write off “Olympus” as a dumb action film with it’s over the top scenarios, cheesy one-liners and ridiculous premise, but it’s hard not to be attached to these characters. The main villain, Kang (Rick Yune, “The Man with the Iron Fists”), is an effective bad guy and has no issue adding more Americans to film’s already ridiculous body count.
The biggest flaw of the movie is its nighttime setting, which makes some of the action hard to see, but a nice explosion every now and then lights up the screen well enough.
“Olympus Has Fallen” is a good watch for action fans who haven’t liked what 2013 has offered so far.
