Movie Review – Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Opening in the U.S. this weekend is Olympus Has Fallen, an action thriller that tells a tale of terrorists seizing control of the White House and taking the president hostage.

This is a film that combines the first Die Hard movie with that of Air Force One with some Under Siege on the side.  Bring those together, have a plot straight out of a Vince Flynn thriller (specifically Transfer of Power), and there you go.  This is a pure badass movie that is a fantastic experience on the big screen.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Tears of the Sun, Shooter, etc.), Olympus Has Fallen stars Gerard Butler in the title role as Secret Service Agent Mike Banning.  Aaron Eckhart plays the role as President of the United States Benjamin Asher, and Morgan Freeman is Speaker of the House Alan Trumbull.  Supporting them as Ashley Judd as First Lady Margaret Asher, Rick Yune as terrorist leader Kang Yeonsak, and Angela Bassett as Lynne Jacobs, the head of the Secret Service.

Olympus Has Fallen begins at the Camp David presidential retreat in December of 2010.  Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is in charge of the Presidential Detail.  In addition to being a former Army Ranger tough guy super soldier, Mike Banning has a friendlier side and shares a close relationship with U.S. President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his family, First Lady Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd) and their son, Connor.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

It’s a snowy night in the mountains as President Asher takes his wife and son with him on yet another campaign trip.  Connor is reluctant to go with his father, but he persuades his dad to at least let him ride in the other car with Mike Banning.  Banning agrees and the president and first lady ride ahead in the presidential limousine.  Suddenly a frozen tree limb falls onto one of the lead Secret Service vehicles and this causes a chain reaction crash on a snow and ice covered bridge.

The presidential limo crashes into the barrier and hangs on the edge, threatening to fall into the icy river.  Agents rush to the aid and Mike Banning manages to cut the president’s seat belt and pull him from the car.  They’re unable to open the door for the first lady, and the agents are too late from pulling her out the other side of the car.  As soon as the president is pulled free the car falls over the edge of the bridge and plummets to the icy river, killing a couple of Secret Service agents along with First Lady Margaret Asher.

Fast forward eighteen months.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

It’s July of 2012 and Mike Banning is disgruntled with his desk job.  He’s still with the Treasury Department and has a view of the White House, but he wants to be back inside the famous building.  Not a day has passed where he hasn’t thought about the incident on the icy bridge and how the first lady was lost on his watch.  The president still feels the pain and requested that Mike Banning no longer service on the Presidential Detail.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

Tensions are rising again on the Korean peninsula, and President Asher has the South Korean Prime Minister visit the White House so they can discuss the situation.  On July 5, 2012, the meeting between the two leaders takes place.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

After the Prime Minister arrives, an AC-130 gunship strays too close to the restricted airspace around the White House.  A pair of F-22 Raptors intercept and try to force the AC-130 to change headings, but the gunship refuses to comply.  Doors pop open on the gunship and machine guns open fire on the Raptors, shredding them and causing them to crash.  The gunship then makes several passes around the White House and National Mall, firing upon Secret Service agents, soldiers and innocent people.  It’s a bloodbath as people are caught off guard by the low-flying aerial gunship.

Secret Service Agents rush President Asher from the Oval Office downstairs to the bunker.  President Asher requests that the South Korean Prime Minister join them inside the bunker along with the Prime Minister’s security detail.  Big mistake.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

Meanwhile, missile launchers pop out of buildings and heat-seeking missiles are fired at the Ac-130 gunship.  The gunship fires flares and evades the missiles while continuing its rampage.  Another F-22 Raptor scrambles out of Andrews AFB and successfully shoots down the AC-130.  The gunship loses control while falling from the sky and it crashes into the top of the Washington Monument before landing on the White House lawn.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

A ground assault against the White House begins as North Korean terrorists detonate suicide bombs at the perimeter fence.  Mike Banning had run to the White House during the Ac-130′s assault, and he shoots and kills one of the suicide bombers but is unable to stop the second one.  The suicide bomber detonates his vest and the explosion blasts a hole in the White House fence and sends Banning flying through the air.  A team of terrorists led by North Korean radical Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune) rush the White House and make a full assault against the building.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

Mike Banning is able to make it into the White House during the assault, but he’s powerless as his fellow Secret Service agents are ultimately killed by the terrorists.  It’s a bloody battle as a lot of people on both sides die during the assault.  Down in the White House bunker, it turns out that the Prime Minister’s security detail was compromised and full of North Korean terrorists.  They fight with the Presidential Detail and seize command of the bunker, taking the President and other officials hostage.

The North Korean terrorists win the assault and successfully seize control of the White House.  President Benjamin Asher is now their prisoner.  All of the Secret Service agents have been killed except for Mike Banning, who now finds himself alone as he roams the White House’s hallways, looking for a way to help save the president.  He’ll use his expert knowledge of the White House and its security system, along with his weapons training and warrior mentality, plus a little cold blooded vengeance, and take the fight to the terrorists.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

After the assault, Olympus Has Fallen turns into a combination of Die Hard and Under Siege as Mike Banning stalks the hallways and begins taking out the terrorists.  He’s able to deactivate the security cameras and blind the terrorists, delete a bunch of classified files before they’re compromised, and he achieves communication with the Joint Chiefs in the Pentagon.  He learns that Speaker of the House Alan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) is now acting as president of the United States.  The president is still alive, but he’s being held hostage.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

Terrorist leader Kang makes contact with the Pentagon and issues his demands.  He wants the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, currently stationed in the Sea of Japan, to leave the area.  He also wants the U.S. to withdraw all of its troops from the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea.  The Joint Chiefs know that such moves will leave South Korea vulnerable to an attack from the North, and the North has been massing troops on the border for such an invasion.  It’s estimated that Seoul, South Korea will fall within 72 hours of the North’s attack on the South.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

To complicate things, Kang also uses brutal tactics, including executing people, to gain access to the secret codes that control Cerberus, a computer system that can disable American ICBM missiles after they’ve been launched.  Kang ultimately gains all three codes and has access to Cerberus, and instead of disabling the nuclear missiles, he intends on detonating all of them within their silos, creating a nuclear holocaust across the entire country.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

At one point the Joint Chiefs try to insert a team of Navy SEALs via a helicopter insertion on the roof of the White House, but the insertion goes horribly wrong.  The terrorists are expecting such an attack and detect the incoming helicopters with their aerial drone.  They use an advanced anti-aircraft gun and shoot down most of the helicopters, killing dozens of soldiers in the process.  Speaker of the House Trumbull calls of the helicopters, and Mike Banning is able to destroy the anti-aircraft gun, but it’s ultimately too late.  One of the last helicopters is damaged and crash lands on the roof of the White House, causing a tremendous explosion and heavily damaging the building.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – (c) FilmDistrict

Secret Service Agent Mike Banning ultimately succeeds with his personal war against the terrorists, and he confronts the last few of them outside of the bunker as Kang tries to make his escape with the president.  President Asher is shot in the abdomen and Mike Banning fights and kills Kang, finishing the terrorist by stabbing his brain with a knife.  Banning tends to the president and then deactivates Cerberus before the American nuclear missiles are detonated.

So is Olympus Has Fallen any good?

Personally, I thought that this was a fantastic film that stayed away from the usual cliches and political correctness that has been infesting many of today’s popular films.  The action scenes were solid, the terrorists were brutal (at one point they beat up a defenseless woman), many of the kill scenes are nice and bloody, and Gerard Butler kicks a LOT of ass!  His role as Secret Service Agent Mike Banning is just plain awesome.

While Olympus Has Fallen appears to have some of the standard cliches and familiar plot elements from films such as Die Hard, Air Force One and Under Siege, the way that the material is presented in Olympus Has Fallen gives it a breath of originality.  Parts of the film keep you guessing, and the terrorists use some surprising tactics (such as the garbage trucks that were modified into machine gun bunkers).

As an aviation enthusiast, I was pleased with the action concerning the Ac-130 gunship and the F-22 Raptors.  It’s easy for Hollywood to make scenes flashy to appease the audience and make mistakes while doing so, but this film stays in the believable zone for most of the time.  Perhaps the corniest part of Olympus Has Fallen is the ending when Banning helps a wounded President Asher out of the White House.  In reality that building would have been swarmed with soldiers and rescue personnel, and the president would have received more medical attention and most likely been carried out of there on a stretcher.

Keep in mind that Olympus Has Fallen is clearly a patriotic film.  That’s fine as long as the film keeps its actions and storyline within the believable zone, which this one does for the majority of the movie.

Speaking of the story, it’s clear that Olympus Has Fallen shares a LOT of common elements with Vince Flynn’s thriller, Transfer of Power.  Perhaps there’s more to this connection as director Antoine Fuqua has been reported to direct a film version of another of Vince Flynn’s books, Consent to Kill.  Both of those novels are focused on Mitch Rapp, a super soldier very similar to Gerard Butler’s Mike Banning character, except that Rapp works for the CIA instead of the Secret Service.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – movie trailer

Anyway, Olympus Has Fallen is a terrific film and definitely something that needs to be enjoyed on the big screen.  It’s loud, bloody, humorous at times, and it gives you a satisfied feeling in the end.  Trust me, there is plenty of action and killing within the film’s 120-minute running time.  Reward yourself and go see Olympus Has Fallen in the theater.

—————————

The screenshots were added to the article after the film was released on DVD.

—————————

This article was originally published at www.chamberofreviews.com on March 24, 2013.