Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen - "Lets play a game of "Go Fuck Yourself", you go first." 

It's contemporary whilst also being a little out-dated but ultimately made just for fun. Antoine Fuqua directs this jumbled concoction of action inspired by Air Force One, Die Hard & Mission Impossible. If this film had of changed it's title to "Die Hard 5" and cast Bruce Willis in the lead role this with very few minor plot point changes it would have been the perfect Die Hard 5, it's a hard rated R with foul mouthed well rounded action orientated characters and centers around ONE MAN TO SAVE THEM ALL. It's charm definitely comes from Gerard Butler's performance which is so every-man and charming and down to Earth, he doesn't bullshit, he makes no bones about the fact that he's in an over the top action film in which you cheer for the hero and the resulting product is a decently made action flick, not perfect far from it, but it's fun.

The problem lies with the special effects, they are incredibly noticeable when outside, special effects are supposed to seamlessly glide into the film without being noticed however in this film all the exterior special effects are hollow and sub-par. Inside the White House it's less noticeable, the lighting is darker and there aren't any big explosions. The casting is a little strange, Morgan Freeman was definitely too relaxed and didn't seem to care about the material, it was really easy to tell that it was an easy paycheck, Angela Bassett is surprisingly bad, due to the fault of the director, Antoine Fuqua directed Denzel Washington in his Oscar winning performance in Training Day but in this the performances are very secondary to the minimal plot of the North Koreans taking over the White House and the subsequent action.

Aaron Eckhart is not a memorable president he's just another face in the crowd and not terribly important, Melissa Leo is ridiculous in her role, atrocious acting and at times cringe-worthy. If the plot had of been tweaked a little to include more characters in the quest to reclaim the White House, such as more Secret Service agents surviving and banding together to help Gerard Butler on his redemption story journey it would have made the film have some emotional impact, but because it's a lone survivor story you know that he's not in any real danger and he's just going to slaughter and decimate the hoards of North Korean insurgents. That's not to say that when Gerard Butler crushes a mans skull with the stone head of Abraham Lincoln in the Oval office it's not a bunch of fun, because it definitely is, it's just not the sort of action I seek out. 13-18 year old's would love this film and the roller coaster action that's in it. So don't go in expecting anything cerebral or thought provoking, it is what it is and it's quite competent. 2.8/5