Post by StevePulaski on Mar 24, 2013 22:30:08 GMT -5
Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart in Olympus Has Fallen.
Rating: ★★
Olympus Has Fallen doesn't come bearing the same sort of blatant, narcissistic patriotism a film like Red Dawn or its 2012 remake, yet it doesn't equip itself with much more brain either. I suppose if you've been victim to lukewarm action movie efforts this year like Bullet to the Head, The Last Stand, and Parker, you may enjoy and embrace this one for its true seriousness and its captivating premise. If you're hoping for something a bit more ideal and one that caters to a moviegoing mass much larger than its own demographic, you will be sorely disappointed.
I bet I could get by with simply saying that in this film, the White House falls victim to an unexpected attack from a Korean terrorist group and it's up to a Secret Service agent and a whole gang of suits to save the president and the country. After all, isn't that what you, the potential audience member wants? Just a broad overview of the storyline, and an answer to the question, 'how much action is there?' Who cares about characters, suspense, and detail, when we have enough explosions to house an entire franchise?
To go a little bit deeper, just to waste a bit more time, Aaron Eckhart is President Benjamin Asher, who is in office when the White House gets violently attacked, Gerard Butler is Mike Banning, a former Army Ranger now serving as a Secret Service agent, and Morgan Freeman is Allan Trumbull, the Speaker of the House who becomes the acting president when Asher is taken as a hostage in the bunker of the house by the terrorist group. Upon seizing entire control of the White House, the terrorist group spends the remainder of the film in negotiation with the acting members of the U.S. government, all lead by Trumbull, as they try to beat the top-secret codes for the nuclear reactors in the U.S. They desperately want the codes to trigger the bombs to explode in their silos, effectively wiping out most, or all, of the population due to radiation poisoning.
My main problem with the film is not only is the entire premise redundant and mostly uninteresting, it's that none of the characters are likable or even able to spawn some type of reaction. We already are told how gutless of a President Asher is, so he's a little hard to feel for in the mix of all this, Banning often spends his time scurrying through the White House, shooting all the invaders, dodging all gunfire while his co-workers aren't so lucky, definitely making him a faceless character. The saving grace, one would hope, would be Freeman's Allan, only his character is just as dull and as muted as the other two, rendering his entire performance as a cute novelty.
The action scenes are likely to drum a positive reaction from the audience, if that's what they came for (and I'm willing to bet most of them did indeed), but the been-there-done-that format in which they are conducted in really wears on the viewer who wants the luxury of seeing something more. For a film that appears to be the ultimate American terrorist film, I got more jollies off the invasion sequence in the new Red Dawn and I still see that as a less accomplished film than this. The invasion scene here performs exactly how you'd expect; quickly and in a way that lacks sufficient suspense or mystery. We know a lot of people will die and we pretty much know exactly who will live.
Olympus Has Fallen benefits from a few moderately suspenseful instances, regardless of how perfunctory they may seem (take the subplot involving President Asher's kid), and does boast a solid set of special effects to go along with it. However, these things sort of get lost in the sea of mediocrity and formula this film wallows in for much of its overlong runtime. On a sidenote, this is where I show my roots different from others my age. Some will tell me, upon giving a film they find superior and worthy of recognition a bad review, that I clearly overanalyze things and need to view things from an entertainment perspective. I always do. I always write reviews based on my personal thoughts, and what I find entertaining and not. For those who ask me if Olympus Has Fallen is worth seeing, or for that matter, entertaining, I will politely tell them "not really," explain why, then steer them towards something more substantial like Spring Breakers. In this way, both parties are benefited equally.
My video review of Olympus Has Fallen, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z-7nv2uvv8
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Gerard Butler, and Morgan Freeman. Directed by: Antoine Fuqua.