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filmOA | blu-ray
cast&crew | Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman
Olympus Has Fallen
A High Stakes Die Hard
Olympus Has Fallen is a politically inspired action thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman. Like many contemporary action films it draws on social anxieties relating to the terrorist attacks of the twenty-first century, whilst posing the question: what would happen if the White House were taken over?
Mike Banning (Butler) is the head of the security detail for the president of the United States, and a good friend to President Asher (Eckhart) and his wife and child. During a fairly routine trip from Camp David to a campaign fundraiser, a series of unfortunate events puts the president’s life and that of his family in danger. Banning safely secures the president at the last second, but the limo containing his unconscious wife teeters off the road, before falling which leads to her inevitable death. 18 months later Banning has been demoted to an agent for the treasury as a result of his failings. A meeting between the President and the Prime Minister of South Korea goes sour, as guerrilla forces capture the white house and aim to reunify Korea. Mike Banning takes action and infiltrates the White House in an attempt to rescue America from would-be nuclear apocalypse.
The story tries to be fairly political in its use of social context and references to sour post Vietnam relations between North Korea and America. The problem with that is, any notion of reality is mostly ruined by its paper thin plot and implication there could possibly be a program that would detonate every American nuclear weapon at once without any kind of fail-safe. The film’s narrative framework mirrors Die Hard but more high stakes, with Gerard Butler doing his best Jon McClane impression. That’s all fine and dandy, but the inherent problem with that is there isn’t enough time for the character of Mike Banning to develop, as the film opts to focus more on President Asher and Morgan Freeman’s cameo role than allowing its central protagonist to grow.
Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart
That being said, Olympus Has Fallen has some pretty riveting action sequences and does certainly provide in that department. The pacing of its action sequences and spread of set-pieces throughout, in order to keep it interesting, is well done and proves Antoine Fuqua’s understanding of action-based structure. It also boasts a pretty decent cast as Gerard Butler does certainly try to make the best of a questionable script and Aaron Eckhart proves himself as a worthy addition to any action film once again.
The featurettes and additional content are interesting and certainly comprehensive and give an informative eye to the film’s relatively heavy use of SFX and CGI, as well as blooper reels and other insider content. While Olympus Has Fallen isn’t for everyone, it’s certainly a must for action lovers and thrill seekers, and does the job of a relaxing weekend blockbuster.
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