Olympus Has Fallen

There seemed to be a bit of a buzz around this film prior to release. Maybe it was because it promised to hark back to the ultra-violent action films of the late 80s/early 90s. Maybe this film would be more of a Die Hard than A Good Day to Die Hard was. Maybe Gerard Butler would make up for the awful romantic comedies he made. I now know that such hopes were foolish.

The comparisons to Die Hard are apt. Olympus Has Fallen sees the White House taken over by North Korean terrorists, and it’s up to one man – in this case, Secret Service agent, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) – to save the president before the people responsible get what they want. The only thing the film gets right is the pacing. There’s nary a dull moment to be had here… but there are many, many inane ones.

Olympus Has Fallen is one of the stupidest action movies in recent memory. Every single character in this film does something idiotic at one time or another. The terrorists are stupid, the Secret Service agents are stupid, the joint chiefs are stupid and the president (Aaron Eckhart) is stupid. Mike manages to survive thanks to being the smartest of the lot (which isn’t saying much), and this was probably because, in some postmodern, meta fashion, he realised he was in a dumb action movie and decided to take matters into his own hands.

If the action were spectacular, then this all-round idiocy would be acceptable. It’s not. In fact, most of the movie is shot in semi darkness, which means WE CAN’T EVEN SEE when Mike is shooting people in the face (which he does a lot) or generally kicking arse. The handheld editing is frenzied and choppy, but you’ll never get motion sick because all you’re looking at is shadows, anyway.

“What else can go wrong?” I hear you ask. Well, plenty. The visual effects are rotten. Truly awful. The crappy CGI makes it look like a bad late 90s computer game cutscene. Then there’s Trevor Morris’ annoying score, which is all full of presidential echoey drums from the get go and never shuts the hell up. This film is a horrendous visual, aural and intellectual attack on the viewer. And it’s utterly predictable, to boot.

In case you hadn’t got the idea, I really didn’t like Olympus Has Fallen. Butler shows only the barest smidge of charisma throughout and despite never getting boring, per se, it really isn’t an entertaining film. Even the acting prowess of Eckhart and Morgan Freeman aren’t enough to save this film. Skip it.