Olympus Has Fallen

Gerard Butler is a buffed up spartan warrior who leads his men to victory / lots of death. Well that's how the film '300' works. 'Olympus Has Fallen' puts him in charge of the President of the United States of America's best men.

Olympus Has Fallen

Mike Banning's role is to protect the president, the First Lady and their son at any cost. He doesn't do this very well and at the start of the film he is demoted out of the team, and starts work at the treasury pushing papers, much to his dismay. We see it affect his relationship with his wife; he seems not to function without being out in the field.

As you may have guessed, stuff happens. Bad stuff. Banning happens to be in the (near enough) right place at the (near enough) right time. 'John McClane'- I mean Banning fights through hoards of baddies, who turn out to be North Koreans. Slightly edgy considering America and North Korea aren't the best of friends in the real world at the moment let alone the film one.

He fights through the floors of the 'Nakotomi Plaza'- I mean White House trying to get to the President (Aaron Eckhart) who is being held hostage. Banning's aim is to save him and the world (USA). Super clichéd awesomeness. I love 'Die Hard', so it is no bad thing that the two films are pretty similar plot progression-wise.

The taking of the White House is fantastically well-orchestrated and further control of various parts of the house are genius. Banning communicates with the head speaker and acting president, played by Morgan Freeman, through the president's sat-phone in a similar way to how 'John McClane' communicated with his cop-buddy on the outside of the building in the first 'Die hard'.

So many similarities including a rogue agent acting like a good guy similar to how 'Hans' did in the first 'Die Hard', awesome infiltration sequences, smart double crossing, and cool explosions. There are even humorous script pieces that made me laugh out loud, and had some overly Americanised members of the audience at the cinema applauding midway through the film (but not at the end strangely - USA! USA! USA!).

Is it fair to compare it to 'Die Hard' so much? Yes, yes it is. 'Die Hard' is a fantastic action film of the 80s/90s and stands it's ground to this day. Even the newest 'Die Hard' films haven't been able to come close to the brilliance of the originals. 'Olympus Has Fallen' has the core ingredients of a great action film with a typical storyline, but it does it so well!

Other possible titles they could have used:

'Olympus has been retaken!'

'Olympus does not Die Hard'

'John McClane-esque Gerard Butler's character kicks butt better than Bruce Willis did in 4 and 5 in funnier manner'

I still love 'Die Hard' and Bruce Willis, I only mock it for this reason. But 'Olympus Has Fallen' gives those action-film lovers what they've been wanting to see since after Die Hard 3 came out. Albeit without the white vest.

:-)

Elky