Review: Olympus Has Fallen

Review: Olympus Has Fallen

One would be forgiven for assuming that Olympus Has Fallen is yet another mindless shoot-em-up action thriller in the vein of A Good Day To Die Hard, a movie which under utilized its cast and over utilized its special effects.

Well, here's the kicker. Yes, Olympus Has Fallen is a little mindless and pointless, but its brilliant cast and effective directorial decisions make it the best Die Hard movie that Bruce Willis never made.

On the one hand, the first half an hour or so gives off a bad impression of the movie's potential with its try-hard dialogue and clichéd prologue (one secret service agent even talks about going home to watch Breaking Bad - a man of the people, people!). On the other hand, Olympus Has Fallen eventually finds its groove as an exciting, tense and surprisingly brutal action epic and, while it's far-fetched and instantly forgettable, there are definitely worse ways to spend two hours at the cinema.

The first of two movies this year depicting an invasion of The White House (the other being White House Down with Channing Tatum), Olympus Has Fallen kicks off with Mike (a steely and charismatic Gerard Butler), our protagonist whose career has been ruined by a tragedy in the line of duty - that duty being the personal protection of the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) and the First Lady. 

18 months later, Mike works in the Treasury, but his chance at redemption comes when, during a visit from the Prime Minister of North Korea, the White House is suddenly attacked by terrorist forces in one of the most gripping action scenes of the year. With the President's son missing and the President himself held hostage, Mike becomes the only survivor of the assault with any chance of saving America's commander and chief - and by extension, America itself.

Really, Olympus Has Fallen has a point - if the White House was ever taken by terrorist forces, we'd all be up a certain creek without a paddle. Surprisingly though, director Antoine Fuqua plays the entire narrative with a straight face; the initial attack on the building is brutal and bold, and any attempt to retaliate is met with bloody destruction. It's all very well choreographed and incredibly tense as key characters are executed one by one, although some moments remain laughable (Gerard Butler outrunning a helicopter, for example). 

From there the movie really (and I mean really) channels the original Die Hard, with Butler trading Willis' cocky charm for sheer brute force and the narrative echoing the threads of the 80's action thriller, hostage situation et al. Luckily there's also Morgan Freeman on hand as the acting President to give the film a little more gravitas and originality, although sadly the only monologue he really gets is a sentence about how he likes his coffee.

Sometimes it's a little too straight faced though. Yes the concept of the White House being taken is a very grim one indeed, but Olympus Has Fallen refuses to have any particular fun, despite Butler's occasional kick-ass one-liners. That said, the movie definitely looks authentic. There are some dodgy CGI shots here and there during the initial attack, but when Mike infiltrates the building and performs his Rambo routine on the invaders, the sets look fantastic and it's easy to believe that Butler is really inside the White House itself.

As for the overall threat, the big baddie of the show Kang (Rick Yune) is a decent enough menace, but towards the end when the dialogue becomes all talk of "launch codes" and "deactivation protocols", everything turns a bit too comic bookish. The plan is impressive and of course well carried out, but incredibly far-fetched and unbelievable. That said, the characters themselves are more down to Earth along with their motivations - and in a movie where the most impressive action scene involves an automatic "next generation technology" turret on the roof of the White House, you need some believable characters.

Summary

One down, one to go - Olympus Has Fallen marks the first movie this year depicting the destruction of the White House, but whether or not it's the best remains to be seen. On its own merit, it's a gripping action movie which channels some of the best, namely the original Die Hard. The action is cranked up to 11, with Butler unleashing impressive hand-to-hand hell on those attacking his country, but some moments are simply unbelievable, not helped by cheesy dialogue. A strong performance from the central hero and the supporting cast, as well as some very tense (if humourless) narrative threads ensure that Olympus Has Fallen is a very exciting movie that should please both action junkies and those looking for a decent two hours of escapism.

7/10 - Good

See it if you liked: Die Hard (1988), Independence Day (1996), GI Joe: Retaliation (2013)