Olympus Has Fallen

Movies are one of those timeless traditions that when employed correctly can provide you with a form of escapism and in some cases even move you emotionally.  In action films, while that escapism is present the primary goal is for audiences to be invested in the hero’s journey.  Olympus Has Fallen was a movie that fulfilled both definitions of that brief.  Olympus Has Fallen is the directorial effort of Training Day director Antione Fuqua.  The film’s plot involves a secret service agent Jack Banning (Gerard Butler) trying to rescue the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) from being executed by terrorists who have taken over the White House.  Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs (Angela Bassett) and Speaker of the House Alan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) are the only people Banning can communicate with to figure out who these terrorists are and how to stop them.

I have to confess that going into this film I expected very little.  I thought it was going to be your run-of-the-mill action film with quippy one-liners and shaky cam fights but I was surprised by the fact that this film actually does have an emotional core.  The core comes from an incident where someone the president cares for deeply perishes in a car accident who died as a result of a decision made by then head secret service Banning.  This tragedy informs the film greatly and gives the action film more of an emotional weight and that is a superb accomplishment in a cinematic library filled with shoot em up action films.

The main positive of this film is the cast.  Aaron Eckhart is charismatic as President Ben Asher.  He plays the role with conviction and sympathy for him can be felt throughout the film based on what his character experiences throughout the film.  Gerard Butler really excels at portraying the tough hero in this film and his success is predicated on the few small moments he shares with Asher in the film’s opening scenes.  Fuqua did very well to establish the friendship between Asher and Banning so that when tension arises you genuinely feel upset when Asher is captured by the terrorists.  I feel as though special mention should be given as well to Morgan Freeman.  Despite being known as the voice of God and the President of the United States in Deep Impact Freeman uses his gravitas and vocal chords to deliver a commanding and confident performance as acting President Alan Trumbull and he chews absolutely every scene that he is in because while there are many other amazingly talented actors working alongside Freeman in many scenes the money shots are Freeman’s impassioned and definitive responses to the terrorists threatening the leader of the free world.

Negatives for this film prove difficult to list as this film has a sense of awareness in knowing how far it can stretch the realms of plausibility.  The amount of time the audience spends in action scenes does at many times feel absolutely relentless and during my viewing I felt exhausted after finishing the film.  The action was extremely well shot and kinetic but often the violence goes on for too long.  I also hate the brutal beating of Secretary of Defense of Ruth McMillan which felt crass and unnecessary.

Overall, Olympus Has Fallen is a surprisingly deep action film with solid performances all around.  Knowing that I will soon be reviewing London Has Fallen I hope the sequel lives up to what this film has set up and built with this story.