As the tattered flag of the USA is flung aside by the North Koreans during their attack of the White House, the President of the USA is taken hostage, his son goes missing and America’s prized nukes become their very own weapons of mass destruction.
Olympus Has Fallen (the code word for the White House) is the scene of a merciless shoot-out between the Secret Service and North Koreans and only Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), can save the day.
A disgraced former presidential guard, Butler’s on a one-man mission to save the President (Aaron Eckhart), his son, and to stop the terrorists from obtaining the three passwords to detonate America’s web of nuclear subheads.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, in the 13 minutes it takes the North Koreans to take over the White House (and a whole two minutes before the Army intervenes) the unwavering attack echoes the tragic scenes of 911 as a bomber plane whistles past high-rise offices and clips the Washington Monument before it comes crashing to the ground.
The film’s release is also at a somewhat ironic time as the hostilities between the two nations in our current world are also surfacing.
Intelligent and co-ordinated, the attack is played out with militant efficiency as innocents and secret agents’ bodies pile up on the lawn of the Presidential building and inside one of the safest places in the USA.
The light and sound effects on the big screen will leave you feeling shocked and impressed at the same time.
With its twists, split-second timing and traitors, Olympus Has Fallen has all the ingredients of a Hollywood action movie and at times, picked up on the comedic lines of Bruce Willis in the Die Hard sagas.
When the Defence Secretary Ruth McMillan (brilliantly played by Melissa Leo) is kicked and punched to the floor – a tad uncomfortable to view– she asks the president how her hair looks and when Banning calls his nurse wife to ‘check-in’, they both skirt around the truth and say they’ve had busy days.
At times the plot was a little contrived and the continuity was lacking. Banning, who no longer worked by the President’s side, was still able to gain access to the White House security systems and files, just as well really.
And as the guns blaze and Banning’s driving to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, his smooth face cuts to a stubbly square-jaw line in the next scene.
Overall, Olympus Has Fallen is an impressive action movie despite its recurrent plot line favoured by Hollywood directors.
And the inclusion of Morgan Freeman, the Speaker of the House who by default becomes the unlikely Acting President, is a sure fan-pleaser.
Butler provides the eye-candy, the North Koreans are the baddies and America is hailed as an undefeatable nation.