Olympus Has Fallen

Where to begin...

Typical American action film. In other words crap. I actually fell asleep during my fist attempt to watch this film. The fact that they sell it with the tag "From The Makers of Training Day" got my hopes up, given that is an epic piece of cinema. This however... this isn't.


Firstly, I am not a Gerrard Butler fan. Other than 300 I think the majority of his films and performances are shit. Women seem to love him but he looks like a middle aged man who takes steroids and a Scottish guy trying to sound American. Seriously Gerrard, pick a fucking accent and use it! Every sentence sounds awful. 

Every film he appears in follows a similar story line and he plays the same character. Down on his luck, feeling sorry for himself, desperate for redemption. Just like Law Abiding Citizen (I hated that film, for some reason most people seem to love it?!) he again finds himself in a situation where he needs to conquer a foe to prove his worth.

In his ridiculous accent he manages to single handedly fight off an invading North Korean terrorist force. And that alone is getting old. In the last century the bad guys well always Russians, then Chinese now bloody Koreans. Have some originality! For one North Korea haven't got the expertise or the finance to launch a full scale of the White House let alone get a fucking USAF bomber as they do in this film! I mean what, they just found one laying around did they and strike up this plan? 

Also the overly dramatic scenes designed to build emotion and suspense are dull, overacted and shot in the typical, average way. No originality and no honesty to it. They kill off the first lady within the opening ten minutes and to be honest the audience couldn't give a shit because they haven't developed an attachment to her yet. She dies, Butler feels responsible, story of redemption starts... yawn.

There are a million flaws with this film, one being that Gerrard Butler's character, Banning, knows all the security codes and override codes necessary for entering the White House and preventing nuclear disaster, but he doesn't know what a hash tag is. Also he wears a blue tooth headset which makes him look like a prick too, not really his fault but I'll blame him!

Why Morgan Freeman took this role I have no idea. He is better than this and can't be hard up for cash or parts to play. Must have been bored or felt sorry for the director, Antoine Fuqua. Seriously though Antoine what the Fuqua you thinking with this film?! It is stereotypical American Action drivel!

It also packs in all of the cliches it can; emotional Presidential speech in front of decimated White House. Acting President shouting down aggressive head of military. Strong minded female secret service agent backing Butler's character to take on the mission. Literally anyone could have smashed out this screen play. 

There is no depth to the characters and from the start you know how it will end. No Hollywood film will allow the White House to be invaded and lose. You know the president will live. You know the White House will be saved and you know normality will return.

The only redeeming feature to this film is that the President's son who is apparently integral to the Korean plot, is hardly in it as he seemed annoying.

Hated this film, would give it a generous 4/10. Poor Directing, poor script, poor casting, poor CGI etc etc etc...

Want action then watch Die Hard. Was the original version of all of these sorts of films and set the bar high. This film, like many others, does not even come close. Remember budding directors when taking on a project like Olympus Has Fallen, you need a twist to keep it original. Blowing shit up and killing of important heads of state isn't enough anymore.

Until next time, much love people x