If you worked in the capacity of national security for the United States, could you even watch a film like Olympus Has Fallen? i.e. one in which the White House gets taken over by terrorists. One lousy plane can cause havoc around the national mall? Really? After 9-11? Really? I look at films like this and weep for the imagination, or lack thereof, used. You mean a guy can shake the president’s hand, in the White House no less, without a background check? That can’t really happen, can it? Several busloads of armed single-nationality terrorists can converge upon the White House without setting off alarms somewhere? That can’t happen, either.
Ok, let’s suppose it can happen. That said, Olympus Has Fallen ain’t bad. Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is the world’s top secret service agent. He boxes with The Prez (Aaron Eckhart), takes bullets for him and then does everything from fashion suggestion to child tutorial. Is that in the job description? When Mrs. Prez (Ashley Judd) is lost in one of those classic only-in-the-movies choose-your-survivor cases, Mike learns no good deed goes without punishment. Luckily, this makes him a free agent when the North Koreans become the world’s most aggressive Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I like Gerard Butler, security specialist, a lot better than Gerard Butler, romantic lead. Most of it is role choice – his romantic scripts have been awful – I keep wondering why anybody would want either he or Katherine Heigl after watching his standard crap. Most of this Die Hard wannabe film is spent either in the underground “safety” bunker, where Koreans hold all the power, or the new, improved bullet- and explosion-riddled White House tour, where Koreans … hold all the power. But(ler) not for long. Geez, did I actually write that? Sorry. But hey, it’s every bit as cheesy as one man taking down the guys who took down the entire White House.
There is a disturbing amount of torture in Olympus Has Fallen; disturbing not just by existence which I find abhorrent, but disturbing in that IT ALL WORKS. Good gravy, what kind of message are you sending when you present tough people spilling the greatest national secrets we own within one minute of movie time … and why do you keep showing it? This is really troubling. Y’all love your country sooooo much that you’ll sell it out for a few kicks to the stomach? Is Olympus trying to say that career politicians have no integrity whatsoever? Hmmmm. Oh. In that case, never mind. Forget I said anything. Bottom line is if you can suspend disbelief, Olympus is mildly watchable. Just don’t try to draw any conclusions. Nothing is as easy as portrayed in this film. Nothing at all.
The White House is under attack
Help! Save me, guy-who-got-the-sack
“This scene don’t play”
“Underwhelmed,” you say?
Don’t worry, I got your back
Rated R, 120 Minutes
D: Antoine Fuqua
W: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt (Seriously? “Creighton?” “Benedikt?”)
Genre: Paranoia
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: North Koreans
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: CIA Operatives
