Let’s get the obvious out of the way first, everyone knows that Olympus Has Fallen essentially wants to be Die Hard… in the White House.
By Eoghan Doherty
While it’s definitely nowhere near topping the peerless Bruce Willis classic, it is a damn sight better than the latest offering from that particular franchise, A Good Day (to stop making) Die Hard.
Directed by the excellently-named Antoine Fuqua, the man behind Oscar-winning Training Day and underrated Mark Wahlberg thriller Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen sees Gerard Butler play John McClea… sorry, Agent Mike Banning, one of the US President’s (Aaron Eckhart) Secret Service agents.
Banning isn’t just the hired help though, he’s also part of the family. He spars with the Prez (cool slang for the President), helps the First Lady (Ashley Judd) decide what accessories to wear with her evening dress and fills the role of ‘cool uncle’ to Connor, the President’s son.
However, all of that changes following an unfortunate accident during the exciting opening of the film and Banning is banished to a desk job at the Department of the Treasury.
Cut to 18 months later, Banning is still having flashbacks to the opening incident and a friendly South Korean delegation is in town to visit the White House. The only problem is that these visiting dignitaries are anything but friendly and are actually pesky North Koreans in disguise, intent on wreaking havoc on US soil.
Managing to avoid detection in the most genius and high-tech of ways (by carrying South Korean flags as opposed to North Korean ones), the invaders launch a spectacularly co-ordinated attack on Olympus (code for the White House) and, in doing so, successfully take the President and some of his top Government members hostage in the building’s bunker.
Thankfully for everyone involved though, Banning’s new office is right next door to the White House and, when shit starts to get really, really, real, he’s the right man in the right place at the right time with the right skills and the right weapons and the right access codes and the right witty one-liners that help him GET THE GODDAMN JOB DONE.
Sorry, we got carried away there.
What follows is the West Wing with more rocket launchers, something we here at JOE always felt the Aaron Sorkin-penned series was lacking.
Cast-wise, Gerard Butler is surprisingly good in the intense lead role and when it comes to talking, less is definitely more with the man. He may not have the same charisma as Bruce Willis but, while talking to the lead North Korean bad-guy (Rick Yune) on a walkie-talkie, Banning does get to deliver what will hopefully go down as an all-time classic cinema line:
“Why don’t you and I play a game called ‘f*ck off’… and why don’t you go first.”
Brilliant. We can’t wait to use it this weekend. At Mass.
Morgan Freeman pops up as the Acting President, perfectly prepared for the role having played the President before (Deep Impact) and having been acting for many, many years (loads of films). He doesn’t have to do too much except look noble and deliver lines like… “My God…” at the ends of scenes.
Dylan McDermott plays a fellow Secret Service agent, Angela Bassett has finally gotten her groove back as the Secret Service director and Aaron Eckhart, although maybe a little bit too young for the role, has come a long way from DA of Gotham City to playing the most powerful man in the Free World.
Olympus Has Fallen disappointingly doesn’t manage to maintain the early zip and excitement of the opening action sequences and unfortunately gets lazier as it goes on, with characters inexplicably changing their allegiance in a split second just so it suits the next scene.
Inevitably, the film also has its fair share of American action film cliches – bullet-ridden US flags billowing in slow-motion, a lone military trumpet bugling over LOTS of snare drum and we’re pretty sure the sun sets about 8 times over the course of a single night in this film.
It may not reach the dizzy heights of Die Hard’s finest moments but it definitely deserves better than to be dismissed as a cheap knock-off. So, if you’re in the mood for a helping of mindless, cheesy, ludicrous action fun this weekend, this is the film for you.
May God bless these United States of America… and the dumb action films they keep making.
RELEASE: In cinemas now
RUNNING: 120 mins
CERT: 15A
CAST: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman
