Olympus Has Fallen REVIEW

AMERICA!

That's the general feeling you'll get walking out of the theater. Is that a bad thing? Not if you don't mind a tad (A LOT) of flag waving. There is literally a shot of the american flag "dying" as it's tossed to the ground by the North Korean terrorist group. Though to be honest, what did you expect from a movie comparing the White House to OLYMPUS? Jingoistic nonsense aside, I'd have to say this is the best Die Hard film since... 1995's Die Hard with a Vengeance.

18 whole years since the last great Die Hard flick would leave anybody foaming at the mouth for a modicum of the old film's quality. So take it with a grain of salt when I say that Olympus Has Fallen is the best Die There are certain things one comes to expect from a good Die Hard film; great action, great hero, great one liners, great acting (surprisingly), and a good (believable - in movie standards) story. This film, has 3.5 out of 5. That leaves it somewhere between Above Average and "Good" which is a good place to be considering the dearth of good Die Hard rip offs (or sequels).

First what the movie does well:

• Action
• Hero
• One Liners
• Acting (half the cast - hence .5)

Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Tears of the Sun) this film certainly has one of the better directors than most of it's ilk since.. well John McTiernan (Die Hard and Die Hard with a Vengeance). Often times it seems a good director is the LAST thing on a studio's mind when putting together the next action "spectacle." Fuqua puts together a rousing and rather terrifying White House siege and subsequent takeover, gives us gritty hand-to-hand combat, makes full use of the R rating and gets the most out of his primary cast and the best performance from Gerard Butler since "300." Speaking of Butler, he probably needed this more than anyone*.

With a lesser director the film's opening moments and other little emotional touches and beats would of rang false or felt (more) like manipulation. He manages to make the ridiculous story far more believable and carry far more impact than it would have otherwise. Starting with his main character, our Scottish turned American John McClane clone, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler). His brief introduction/backstory leading to his eventual place of American Savior is a story touch that most films would of glossed over but this event permeates throughout the film; it makes his character closer human than most action heroes have been of late (including John McClane himself).

The film sports a (mostly) great supporting cast in Aaron Eckhart, Melisso Leo, Angela Bassett, Morgan Freeman, and Rick Yune as the villain. Aaron Eckhart's President benefits from the film's opening as much Butler's Mike Banning, giving him far more than one would normally get with that particular character. His relationship with Banning and Banning's with his son help elevate the film from action schlock to an actual movie with stakes; in turn elevating the action itself.

The Speaker of the House (and eventual stand-in President) Trumbull is played by Morgan Freeman with a little less gravitas than normally expected from a Freeman character but he's still good. The Secretary of Defense and Secret Service Director are portrayed respectively by Melisso Leo and Angela Bassett; both great actresses in their own right and both give earnest performances but Leo get's out a little worse for ware. Radha Mitchell is good as Banning's wife but she's given nothing to do, leaving her with a forgettable character which is where the negatives rear their ugly head.

What the movie does not do well:

• Acting (half of the cast - hence .5)
• Story
• Action (bad CGI)

Morgan Freeman plays Morgan Freeman, and while in most films that's a good thing, I wasn't sure what they were trying to do with his character. It seemed like Trumbull could of been played by almost anyone, Freeman simply attached for the big name. Don't get me wrong, he was good, and I'd rather him than "anybody" but a little let down by the way his character was utilized and underwritten. Dylan McDermott is OKAY as one of Banning's former Secret Service buddies but again he felt like he was just not utilized very well and simply thrown in to the mix (also SPOILER: one of the worst telegraphed turncoats in a film).

Radha Mitchell, Melissa Leo, and James Ingersoll round out the cast and while Mitchell's character is let down more by given nothing to do, a fault of writing much like Freeman and McDermott, Leo and Ingersoll have no excuse. Melisso Leo's character is the flag waving personified. While she mostly portray's the character quite well her patriotism is so blunt a toned down performance could of gone a long way toward reducing the trauma. Ingersoll's Hoenig is the worst Admiral in U.S. History. His character would be forgettable (acting) if not for the bone-headed decisions (writing); a better performance would of givennAdmiral Hoenig more of an iron fist and made him more of a presence instead of being just an annoyance.

To be fair though, Hoenig's actions give Freeman's Trumball his best scene in the film. The action while mostly great, is hampered just a bit by some poor CGI (likely due to budget). The film sometimes looks like it could of used a bit more time in post production but the studio booted it out in time to beat White House Down to theaters. Another instance of Deep Impact vs Armageddon this summer. While I'm a fan of Armageddon, Deep Impact is the better film and right now Olympus Has Fallen is looking to be the better of the two White House siege films.

Olympus Has Fallen is far from perfect, but as I've stated before, no film is perfect and I'd prefer a flawed but good Die Hard film than a soulless, lazy, money-grubbing sequel. While this is not actually Die Hard, I appreciate the effort given to make it more memorable than most action films and one could do worse than "rip off" the formula of one of the greats. If you can get by the flag-waving (really, who cares?) you'll experience a solid action flick and a damn good time at the movies.

Rating: 7.5/10

Hope ya'll enjoyed the review. Keep loving what ya love, share it with who ya love and share your thoughts.

-The Natural Jay