Olympus Has Fallen

*Please remember to vote in the user poll on the right side of your page. I would love some more input before I start making some big decisions with regards to my site! Thank you!*

WELCOME BACK GERARD BUTLER!!!

"I'm gonna go kill whoever signed me up
for Movie 43!"

After a string of oh-so-terrible romantic comedies, a few non-action movies, and an atrocious role as a foul-mouthed leprechaun in Movie 43, Gerard Butler, THE King Leonidas, has returned to the action genre. Granted, he is nowhere near as iconic here as he was in 300 (but I mean really...how can you be?) but he still kicks a ton of ass in Olympus Has Fallen. In fact, I would go as far to say that this will be his Taken, the film that will hopefully launch him back into the action stratosphere, similar to what that movie did for Liam Neeson. 

In case you have been oblivious to the vast amounts of marketing and advertising that Olympus Has Fallen has been spewing out in the last few weeks, it is about the White House falling to a North Korean terrorist group. Without giving too much away, the President and his Cabinet are held hostage in the deep bunker of the White House and it's up to Gerard Butler as former Secret Service agent, Mike Banning, to try and rescue him. It sounds stupid to only have one guy go after the President right? Agreed, but there is a reason and I don't want to include spoilers. What I will say about the plot is this: it is preposterous and HIGHLY unlikely to ever happen, especially the way things go down in the movie. I felt like military response times were unrealistically poor, and the defenses surrounding the city of Washington D.C. were almost non-existent with the exception of the White House itself. That being said, it still struck a cord with me...it was scary stuff and very reminiscent of 9/11. Sounds cliche I know, but I tend to get really patriotic in these "Attack on America" type of movies and I sometimes forget that it's just a movie. 

Meet the Whitehouse Breakdancing Team!!! Show em' what you
got guys!!

"In North Korea we torture people by staring deep
into their eyes and then kissing them. I am going
to kiss you now..."
"NOOOOOOO!!!"

So let me get a few other complaints about Olympus Has Fallen out of the way, because honestly I want to get onto the good stuff. Other than the implausibility of the initial plot, the expanded plot gets quite a bit more ridiculous and while it didn't bother me a whole lot, I have to take a step back and say that the "endgame" of the terrorists is a bit ridiculous. But hey, at least the bad guys are somewhat relevant to today's world by being a North Korean terrorist group! It's better than having Russians be the enemy for the 100th time! At first, when I thought it was just straight up North Korea attacking the United States I was almost laughing hysterically at all of the technology and tactics that they had. But then it was explained that it was a terrorist organization that had no affiliation with the North Korean government and I accepted this as slightly more realistic (kinda hilarious that North Korea's terrorist organizations are about 20-30 years ahead of their government technologically and militarily -- tee hee). But I digress, that's not even a complaint, it was an interesting observation. Here are my remaining complaints with the film: pretty mediocre CG most of the time, a tad overlong, and a pretty cliched ending. Now you know what they are...time to move on to why Olympus Has Fallen is so badass. 

How scared would you be if this was a live television feed?

Now, as many of you may know, I am an action fan. It is probably my favorite movie genre and I am a huge stickler for original action and I hate cookie-cutter action. Which is funny because Olympus Has Fallen is really just cookie-cutter action. So why did I like it? Because it was brutal. Gerard Butler lays waste to foes without the blink of an eye and even better, so does the villain, played very well by Rick Yune. For the first time in a LONG while at the movies, I was shocked...nay, I was appalled by how quickly and unexpectedly the villains killed important people. It was very effective, at least for me, and made me root for Gerard Butler all the more. Speaking of which, he is another key highlight in the movie. He is tough, good at what he does, and actually very realistic. Instead of releasing a corny quip every time he killed someone, he would move on. His interactions with other characters in the movie are what you would expect from the character and he never deviates from his mission which was refreshing. It allowed us as the audience to have a strong confidence in him. But he isn't the only big name in this adventure: Aaron Eckhart plays the President and Morgan Freeman plays the Speaker of the House. They are both excellent actors and their roles in Olympus Has Fallen are no challenges, but regardless they serve their purposes well. 

They've always said that the President is as powerful
as God. Morgan Freeman seems to be proof...

So I'm going to break it down for my readers for a second. The grade that I am giving Olympus Has Fallen is not the grade that I want to give it. For me personally, I loved the movie and it really only had a few slight missteps. But part of being a good critic is knowing when to recognize when you might be overrating a movie initially and adjusting your score for what is slightly more appropriate as a recommendation for your audience. 

In my opinion, I think Olympus Has Fallen is going to age incredibly well and in a few years this will be Gerard Butler's Air Force One or Taken equivalent. It's got a cast of beloved stars, an intense and scary (if not a little unrealistic) scenario, and the interaction between heroes and villains is brutal and something that has been missing in Hollywood's action movies as of late. Like I said earlier, I loved it. Probably more than I should have, but I don't care. If you have been waiting for Gerard Butler to make a return to the action scene, go see it. If you are super patriotic, go see it. If you like decent action movies and think North Korea is funny, then by all means, go see it. I just wish that Gerard Butler would have yelled:

"THIS...IS...THE WHITE HOUSE!!!" and then kicked a North Korean terrorist so hard in the chest that he died. That would have been worth the price of admission alone. 

Pros:

• Gerard Butler returning to what he was born to do: be an action star. He is a total badass, funny when he needs to be, and carries a movie just as well as any other A-lister out there right now
• The rest of the cast is great and I really enjoyed the choices of Eckhart and Freeman in their roles
• Despite the action being somewhat generic, the interaction between good guys and bad guys is so brutal. My jaw dropped a few times throughout with the ease at which people were killed
• I think it is an extremely interesting premise. Once you get past how ludicrous it all is and forgive the inaccuracies (i.e. long minute military response time, media right in front of the White House, etc.) it is really actually quite scary, similar to the way that Live Free or Die Hard's "firesale" concept was
• I can't put a finger on it exactly, but it held my attention far better than it should have or than I anticipated. I was involved with these characters and I wanted to see the good guys kick some North Korean terrorist butt!
• The R-rating was one of the smartest moves they could have made
• As stated earlier, I really think that this movie will age well

Cons:

• The CG is pretty obvious (a bad thing) most of the time
• Could have used some more imaginative action 
• The original score has its moments but is largely ineffective
• The ending of the movie is super cliched which was a bit of a disappointment given the surprising brutality of the rest of the film
• Slightly too long
• It is a dark movie and I dont mean dark as in tone. I mean that the lighting is almost awkwardly dim and it took me a good half hour to get used to

Rath's Review Score: 8/10