Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Gerard Butler? Where have you gone? It seems like the last time I even heard Gerard Butler was in How To Train A Dragon.  In real life movies, it must be Gamer or Law Abiding Citizen.  I know he did a rom-com with Jessica Biel and I hate Biel so I won’t be giving that one a shot.  But, I do love myself some Gerard Butler. He is an amazing man and I’m glad to see him doing some action flicks.  I hope this means there’s more to come. Despite the not very enthusiastic reviews, lets check out Olympus Has Fallen.

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Finley Jacobson, Rick Yune, Dylan McDermott, Angela Bassett

After an accident that caused the death of the president’s wife, former presidential security Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is sent to do a desk job.  When a sudden attack on the White House occurs, he rushes back in and gets trapped inside.  With all the communication cut except the terrorists and his own and president and the most important politicians kidnapped, he is asked by Mr. Speaker Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), who also sits in as President to help them figure out who the terrorists are, save the President’s son Connor (Finley Jacobson) and especially rescue the President (Aaron Eckhart) before anything worse happens.

You know, I have the research thing where before I write up my review I like to check the scores on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB just gauge if we’re on the same page or I’m just the ridiculous person who knows nothing because I’m the total opposite.  Either way, my reason for talking about this is that, well, I’m looking at the summaries and everyone says Mike Banning is trapped.  Not really, right? He kind of moved his butt from his chair in the office and ran towards the White House and then had that gun fight and then made his way to get some gear and shoot those terrorists down.  Maybe I missed something, I have been ridiculously busy and it was a break that lasted longer that I had initially wanted. With that out, I enjoyed this one quite a bit.  Its not so much Die Hard level but the concept is there.  Its held up by an awesome cast and aside from some not so up to date CGI, it was still pretty fun to watch. I’m obviously not going to critique this movie has harshly as say something more deep, because its supposed to be simply entertaining and I was entertained.  So much that I almost forgot to go back to study…

I’ve been a fan of Gerard Butler since forever. The reason you don’t see me talking about it as much is well, I haven’t reviewed any of his movies yet.  I own  a lot of them but I just haven’t wanted to put one into the Blu-ray yet.  As much as he is attractive and charming and I love his accent, I love him best as a tough guy kicking some ass. In this one, he was all of the. Please do more action flicks, Gerard. I promise the next one I’ll go see it in the theatres.  But, just lay off on the rom-coms, okay?

Okay, back on track. I’m not crazy. Its just nice to have imaginary talks with actors and make a deal with myself to keep supporting them. Now, next up is a man that can do no wrong. I’ve mentioned it in Now You See Me HERE and I say it again, Morgan Freeman is one of those actors who can do everything, every role, no matter big or small. His expressions and emotions are just awesome. I don’t even know how to elaborate on his greatness. The next supporting actor was Aaron Eckhart. I’m sure all of you have more exposure to his stuff than me.  I mean, I’ve only seen him in Erin Brockovich and Dark Knight. Still, I really think he isn’t a decent actor. Nothing wow yet, but he’s good. Same goes for this. He does a good president, I think.

As much as supporting is important for any movie, in these sort of silly shoot ’em up action flicks, the bad guys are the main ones to look for. I mean, Die Hard wouldn’t have been so epic without Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, right? Right! Glad you agree 😉 so, here, our baddie is Rick Yune who plays Kang. I think he stands up for the people of North Korea and he’s an international terrorist that all the government organizations are looking for but no one has seen his lovely face. Honestly, I didn’t find the man very threatening, so whether he is effective as a bad guy, well, not really?  But the man can fight and he and Gerard Butler had a good fight scene.

Overall, I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse but I can’t deny that aside from some bad effects and a rather predictable course of events, it does hold up some decent brainless action-filled entertainment with explosions and guns. Gerard Butler channelled his tough guy act in an awesome way.  I liked it and well, if you like this sort of thing, you know, shutting off your mind and watching a fun movie, this could be a good choice.

Now I really want to check out White House Down to see if Channing Tatum can hold up against this! 🙂

Did you see Olympus Has Fallen? Did you like it? What do you think of Gerard Butler?