Olympus Has Fallen

 This year, we're going to have two films about the take over of the White House. One that will be coming out at the end of June, from the director of “Independence Day,” and another that just came out recently, starring Gerard Butler. And that film is “Olympus Has Fallen.”

The film tells of Mike Banning, who is a former U.S. Army Ranger now Secret Service Agent, after failing to save the president's wife. A year and a half later, the White House is taken over by North Korean terrorists, and Banning has to go in, save the hostages, and bring down the terrorist leader, Kang.

Now does this plot sound a little familiar to some of you? Well it should, because the film is actually a rip-off of “Die Hard.” Now if it's a rip-off it, should that make the film bad? Well, that's what I first thought about...but after thinking about it for a couple of days, I had a change of thought. When you get down to it, there are rip-offs of films on other things, but not all of them are bad. Unoriginal, but not bad. Look at “The Hunger Games,” for example: it's a rip-off of “Battle Royal,” but I for one actually found it enjoyable. Same with “Independence Day,” too: rip-off of “War of the Worlds,” but people had fun with it, and enjoyed it. “Olympus Has Fallen” may be a ripoff of “Die Hard,” but it also has a few elements of suspense that director Antoine Fuqua is most familiar with. In highlight, this film is actually very fun.

Gerard Butler delivers a great performance as Mike Banning, being the modern day John McClane; he makes one-liners, he talks back to the terrorist, he badass but human. He even has a touch of Keifer Sutherland from “24” in there. Those types of protagonists in action films make the film have a great sense of reality to them, unlike most other action films where the hero's an unstoppable juggernaut. Granted I still love those, but you get my point. Aaron Eckhart, who played Two-Face in “The Dark Knight,” did a great job playing the President, showing he can be strong and fight back at times. He still deals with the trauma of losing his wife, more so than Banning felt about being unable to save her. The relationship he has with his son is done in a realistic manner, as shown that people need to move on, but it won't be easy. Rick Yune's performance as Kang was a great villain, and one you'd definitely see out of the 80's. While I was a bit uneasy about the North Koreans invading the White House, this is done in a much more believable way, than it did in the remake of “Red Dawn.” Morgan Freeman as the Speaker of Department does a great job, because...he's Morgan Freeman, what more do you need?

The action scenes were surprisingly well done, aside from a few strobe effects, but even then it does show the turmoil that is at stake here. The White House taken over by terrorists. Something like that, is really stressful, especially when the survival of the country is at stake at a very close rate. The suspense draws you into the film, making it a very tense to the point where you're biting your nails off. It's not the best at doing it, but it still does a good job of it.

Overall, “Olympus Has Fallen” is a film I was too quick to judge. This is a film that I was too harsh about, and it deserves none of what was originally going to say. They say this film is the first Summer Blockbuster, and I agree with that. A fun 80's-esque movie is definitely worth seeing.

Rating: 8/10