Olympus Has Fallen Reviews

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of action flicks but since this movie had been fairly successful at the box-office, I thought I might as wel check it out. Eventually, even though it was rather well made and even though there was a really impressive cast involved, I can’t say I was really convinced by the damned thing. First of all, and that's not an actual critic, it was actually quite violent (apparently, more than 160 characters were killed) so they didn’t put their gloves on and really earned their R rating and I guess it must have pleased the fans of the genre. My wife thought it was way too much but it didn't bother me though. I mean, if you decide to make an action flick, you might as well really go all the way making something slightly more realistic. No, what really bothered me was the fact that the story was just way over-the-top and rather boring. Basically, it was pretty much 'Die Hard in the White House' which wasn't actually a bad idea but, even though Gerard Butler was physically convincing and delivered a believable special forces soldier, his character didn’t come near John McClane and I just didn’t care much about the guy. Furthermore, in this age when global terrorism is displayed on a daily basis on the news, I didn't buy the fact that a North-Korean guy would launch such attack. Anyway, to conclude,  I thought it was actually rather underwhelming but I have to admit that you might end up enjoying it much more than I did if you really like the genre.

There are a lot of stupid and ridiculous moments in this White House take over. Luckily it has the likable Freeman and for those of you into explosions and guns there is a lot of that.

I'm still trying to process the news that advances Screendaily : Olympus Has Fallen (Target: The White House ) , the winning film in the race of " Jungles of glass in the White House " this year will have sequel and its production will start the year comes .

The first installment, starring Gerard Butler in the role of John McClane , took 160 million turkeys with a modest budget of 70 million that looked like a direct to dvd movie , as opposed to the bursting of the big power Assault ( White House Down ) Roland Emmerich, who only got 200 million on a budget of 150 and attractiveness blockbuster that could have Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx .

For this second repeat Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Radha Mitchell and Angela Bassett in a plot that will put our heroes in London , attending the funeral of Prime Minister . Bad bad guys take advantage of this part of the event to launch an attack and Butler, Eckhart and MI6 agent must join forces to stop them.

What title would have to accompany this film so grand story leap from the first installment ? Really easy : London Has Fallen . With two balls .

Filming will begin in May 2014 and repeated the same writers , but for now not expected to Antoine Fuqua returns behind the camera.

Utter dreck. Absolutely stupid. It's like someone had a lot of money to make a movie but didn't care about the product at all. And, you know, I understand the paycheck for the Korean actors in the film, but didn't they think it through at all? Melodramatic, simplistic crap only for those who like a lot of gory death shots. And if the Washington, DC security establishment could allow this to happen, our country is truly in peril.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A former Secret Service agent happens to be in the White House when it's taken over by North Korean terrorists, and must stop them with a little help from his contacts on the outside.
Does that sound like a rewrite of Die Hard to you? Well, surely no one would be that creatively bankrupt. To quote the Nostalgia Critic, they are when they frigging advertise it like that! Right on the front cover, it says "Die Hard in the White House". Subtext: "Throw out all originality, ye who enter here!"
Even my impression of it as a movie is tired and unoriginal. Like so many other modern action movies, it's not fun: it's boring. It's full of shaky cam that's not fun to watch: just disorientating and frustrating.
I also can't help noticing how grossly misogynistic the movie is. There's the death of the First Lady at the beginning, and the first hostage to be killed for a cheap shock death is a woman.
But my biggest problem with the movie, and the main contributor to its insufferable boredom factor: it takes itself way too seriously. When the terrorists strike, the gunning down of innocent civilians makes it feel too much like a real terrorist attack. There's just no escapism to it.
So, while it's at least bloodier and bolder than most action movies today, it unfortunately takes its authentic brutality too far. It's just all-around devoid of fun.

My rating: 30%

- The rule is as follows: If you've got some secret thing (like a weapon) to control and it needs secret codes (say 3) to activate and you've decided to give one code to each of three (seemingly dependable) people, do _not_ allow these three people in the same room at any time. Ever.
- Don't invite people you don't know and/or trust to spend the night with you in the Presidents Command Bunker
- One man's life is not worth the lives of Every Person In The Country, even if he is the president.
- What a stupid movie. I can't believe I made it through to the end.
- Does every movie need a sappy ending? Really?
- How did Morgan Freeman allow himself to get tied up with this movie?

"With all due respect, I'm the best hope you've got."

Olympus Has Fallen is the best Die Hard movie of 2013. Sure, it's not a canonical Die Hard film, but it's Die Hard in tone, spirit and structure, and it's better than the official fifth instalment in the Bruce Willis-starring franchise, not to mention it feels a lot closer to the series than A Good Day to Die Hard. Those expecting another of director Antoine Fuqua's riveting character dramas may not like Olympus Has Fallen, but action fans will find much to enjoy here; it's a generous bounty of R-rated gunfights, wit, explosions and machismo. It has its faults, and it pales in comparison to the original Die Hard, but it's nevertheless a solid, old-school action-thriller that benefits from the fine directorial hand of Fuqua. More than enough works here to ensure it's the first must-see actioner of 2013.

A former Special Ops soldier, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is a trusted Secret Service Agent to President Asher (Aaron Eckhart), but he falls from grace when an unfortunate car accident leaves the First Lady dead. Months later, Banning has removed himself from the Secret Service, working a mundane office job in the Treasury Department. When a delegation from South Korea arrives at the White House for a diplomatic visit, Washington suddenly falls under attack from both the sky and the ground, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians as well as the President's entire security detail. Asher and his entourage are taken hostage by terrorist Kang (Rick Yune), who holds them in the President's underground bunker. But there's a "fly in the ointment, a monkey in the wrench" in the form of Banning, who slips into the White House unnoticed. With Kang demanding that the acting President (Morgan Freeman) remove American troops from Korea, Banning is the country's only hope.

Like 2012's Red Dawn remake, Olympus Has Fallen features North Korean terrorists battling the United States, reinforcing that NK has become the new default international villain. Conflicts with Russia have calmed down since the 1980s and the Russians have become a viable box office audience, but North Koreans are fair game, as they aren't a valuable market for Hollywood movies and nobody would give a fuck if North Korea got offended. Written by first-timers Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, Olympus Has Fallen incorporates several Die Hard elements, including a few scenes directly lifted from the 1988 blockbuster. It's all to nice effect, however. Under Fuqua's direction, the picture moves at a good clip, with some witty dialogue and plenty of opportunities for exciting action set-pieces. It is pretty dumb at times, and the real-world credibility is a little on the skewiff side, but the movie never calls for an unreasonable suspension of disbelief; it's pretty easy to accept everything here. Olympus Has Fallen is a clichéd ride but a smooth one.

On a less positive note, some of the digital effects are distractingly obvious; Olympus Has Fallen strived to evoke action films from the '80s and '90s, hence use of actual models would have been far more appropriate. Likewise, Fuqua adds contemporary cinematography to the old-school pandemonium, resulting in frenetic camerawork that sometimes spoils the fun. Nevertheless, the rest of the production is much more successful, particularly with Fuqua embracing the movie's R rating, spicing up the one-liners with profanity and giving the action scenes an extra punch. Fuqua has honed his gritty action-thriller chops for years, and he delivers the action here with tremendous intensity. Olympus Has Fallen is genuinely gripping from time to time, especially the extended skirmish depicting the takeover of the White House (an incredible sequence), and an armrest-clenching climax. It's a B-grade movie for the most part executed with A-grade technique.

Butler has spent too long careening from one awful rom-com to the next, and he's more alive here than he's been in years. It's a role that's perfect for his capabilities, allowing Butler to make wisecracks and break necks. He's the gruff, more skilled version of John McClane, and his performance is far more energetic than anything Bruce Willis has done in the past decade. As the North Korean villain, Yune pretty much plays the same role he portrayed in Die Another Day, and he displays sufficient menace to make the character work. Also enjoyable is Freeman, who's charismatic and badass, showing us exactly why every movie needs a touch of Morgan Freeman. Meanwhile, Eckhart makes for a decent President, showing a level of humanitarian decency that almost pushes the film into the realm of fantasy. Rounding out the cast is Melissa Leo as the Secretary of Defense, Radha Mitchell as Banning's wife, and Dylan McDermott, who makes a good impression as a fellow Secret Service agent.

Perhaps expectedly, Olympus Has Fallen is getting a bad rap for its pro-America stance, but that's an empty criticism, and it's not even completely accurate. Yeah, the heroes are American, there are some slow-motion shots of American flags, and the characters deliver some jingoistic speeches, but it doesn't feel like propaganda, as the film also depicts Secret Service agents and D.C. cops behaving like morons and dying as a result. So, yes, the movie is by-the-numbers, and the script is not airtight, but it's rare to get an action-packed adrenaline rush this proficiently assembled. It's a total blast, packing in enough escapist action and enjoyable onscreen carnage to make it an entertaining experience.

7.6/10

Some movies are exactly what they appear to be, and others have deeper more thought out layers that attempt to give some deeper meaning to the plot. Olympus Has Fallen is just another movie, with action, explosions, gunfire and violence.

After a meeting with the South Korean Prime Minister turns into a violent attack on the White House, former Secret Service Agent Mike Banning is the one and only hope for America after he enters the White House, which has been over taken.

When people sit down to watch movies, they usually hope for that twist or turn that slightly makes the film less predictable. Olympus Has Fallen never took that turn, it simply remained a lone wolf action movie from the opening scene to the final credits. There were other people involved in the movie, attempting to give Banning tactical advantage, but ultimately he was the hero of the film and it was built to be that way right from the very start.

This is not to say it was a horrible movie, because it was entertaining but when you limit yourself to a handful of potential action scenes with very violent endings, eventually seeing one man continually kick the crap out of everyone else does grow tedious and repetitive. Especially when your lead actor happens to be Gerard Butler. He tends to play those cocky, self confident melodramatic characters who praise themselves up and down, and watching one over confident, arrogant individual strut his stuff for 2hrs is just aggravating when all is said and done. Whatever happened to heroes’ being humble? Sorry Gerard Butler, your action sequences and fighting ability may be insanely fun and fast, but your acting chops need to broaden because you sir have been type cast to either do romantic comedies or violent action flicks. There is so much in between that you have yet to explore, and probably won’t because the fat pay checks keep rolling in from these movies.

When all is said and done, the explosions stop happening, the dust settles and Gerard Butler fans have seen the movie, this will be just another action movie. And that is the biggest shame of all. A plot like this had potential, these type of movies always do, yet the resort back to mindless violence and destruction as a tool to keep the audience engaged. Use intelligence, plus action and your appeal will be even broader, just a thought anyway.