At the Theater - "Olympus Has Fallen" - The makers of "Olympus Has Fallen" are desperately hoping that you haven't seen a little flick from 1988 entitled, Die Hard. I'm fine with action films using the formula; Die Hard on a Battleship (Under Siege), Die Hard on a Train (Under Siege 2), Die Hard at a Hockey Game (Sudden Death), Die Hard on a Bus (Speed), Die Hard on a cruise liner (Speed 2), Die Hard on a Plane (Executive Decision, Passenger 57, Air Force One, Con Air), Die Hard on Alcatraz (The Rock), Die Hard in a Tunnel (Daylight), Die Hard in the Rocky Mountains (Cliffhanger), etc., because some of these "variants" have resulted in some quality entertainment able to stand on their own two legs. Olympus Has Fallen, Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), goes so far as to rip off specific scenes in their entirety. Not cool. Mix in a few large-scale action scenes marred by 3rd rate CGI effects (courtesy of Ghost VFX) along with a generic main villain plucked from the token section of Hollywood's bad-guy stockroom and you've got a middling actioner that's only able to tread water in Guilty Pleasure territory due to the well-utilized presence of Gerard Butler (300) and a Hard R approach.
Although I'm generally not a fan of computer-aided effects in action films grounded in reality, they can be fantastic when used as an assist by quality crews (see True Lies). This particular film appears to have either undershot the effects portion of the budget or simply employed a substandard FX group- a car accident in the film's prologue, an early segment featuring a C-130 vs two F-22's and a final act siege of the White House by 6 Black Hawk helicopters are just plain gaudy. There's no excuse for an entirely CGI rendered car in a $70 million movie- it's just plain ol' bad decision making. Anyone remember the awful plane crash at the end of Air Force One? Yeah, some of the effects shots in this film are that kind of bad...
Gerard Butler settles back into action star mode quite nicely. He's a likeable actor with believable presence to spare. I'm a fan who has hoped the Scot would ditch the ill-advised, half-hearted, rom-coms he's been settling for, though I hope his next action role is in a sturdier production. Most will notice his accent bleeding through now and then but it's a worthy effort.
Aaron Eckhart (Battle Los Angeles) does commendable work as the Commander In Chief taken hostage, though I wasn't buying for a second that the remaining American Cabinet would place the lives of billions at risk in an effort to save him. Eckhart's got a starring role in the upcoming I, Frankenstein, yet I can't help but wonder if the actor's one misfire away from spending the rest of his career in supporting roles. Given the material, he gives the best pure performance in the film.
Rick Yune (The Fast And The Furious) takes his rightful place amongst the more forgettable main villains in action movie history. His work here as the terrorist mastermind, "Kang", is every bit as uninspired as his turn in 2002's Die Another Day- what a difference a decade doesn't make. Midway through, I couldn't help but picture Choi Min-Sik (Oldboy) in the role...
Morgan Freeman's always solid, even in paycheck mode as the Speaker of the House. With the President and VP being held hostage, the decisions of his acting Commander In Chief are decidedly ludicrous. Angela Bassett (What's Love Got To Do With It) is the Secret Service Director while Radha Mitchell (Man On Fire) is our hero's wife- both talented actresses are underused. Melissa Leo (The Fighter) isn't very believable as a rather defenseless Secretary Of Defense while the great Robert Forester (Alligator) is painted as the obligatory, war-mongering General.
Dylan McDermott (ABC's The Practice) and Cole Hauser (Pitch Black) are U.S. Secret Service agents-one's a stand up guy while another harbors treasonous intentions. McDermott might be a helluva guy in real life, but there's just something about his face that cries "TURD"- I don't believe I've ever liked him in anything he's done.
Ashley Judd (Kiss The Girls) has little more than a cameo here as the First Lady, featured in no more than 2 minutes of total screentime. Anyone who's seen the trailer for this film probably already understands that.
Try as I may, I still can't remember seeing just what the hell happened to the Vice President here- although I'm sure his departure was covered at some point, it's extremely brief.
With all that I disliked, Olympus Has Fallen isn't awful- the opening ground level siege of the White House is appropriately bloody and very well staged, there are a few legitimately tense moments throughout and Gerard Butler back in kick-ass, zinger-flinging mode is most agreeable. See it at the theater only if you must (I'll recommend it as a rental), but be forewarned that another Die Hard in the White House comes out in late June in the form of Roland Emmerich's (Independence Day) "White House Down"...
5.5 out of 10
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