Olympus Has Fallen is a tough call. It’s too bloody, violent, and mean to be popcorn entertainment. And it’s too dumb to rise to the level of the classics of its genre, like Die Hard and Air Force One. I enjoyed it but found myself grasping at my memory of it as I sat down to write this review.
About the bloody, violent, and mean thing: a lot of people die – in bloody, violent and mean ways. Hundreds of civilians are mowed down by bullets fired from an attacking plane. Knives are used to lethal effect on many occasions. And the main villain pummels an older woman in a long, brutal scene. Olympus earns its R rating.
I don’t mind movie violence. In fact, I admire the filmmakers for having the guts to show a woman can take a few punches, too, when something in which she believes is at stake. The fortitude of the character in question actually goes beyond her endurance of physical pain, making her one of the strongest and most courageous persons in the movie.
But I don’t like dumb. I have a hard time swallowing dumb, and if you’re going to enjoy Olympus, you’re going to have to drink a tall glass of it. You’re going to have to accept that a North Korean terrorist can not only learn about top secret government military implements but also be able to pull off a highly complex assault on the White House that involves an air attack, a ground assault, several double agents, and dozens of people being in the right place at the right time, including the president of the United States.
For the sake of cinema, I can believe those things could happen. And the attack on the White House is so skillfully staged, I didn’t have time to poke holes in the idea of it. But as Olympus progresses, its characters make dumber and dumber decisions, to the point of doing things no one in their right mind would.
There are other problems. The assault appears to hinge on the motivations of a single traitor among the ranks of the Secret Service. But for the audience to believe the character would be willing to allow hundreds of innocent people to be brutally murdered during the initial attack, and millions to die in a subsequent act of violence, the traitor’s motivations have got to be worthy of the crime. But when the time comes for the conspirator to reveal why he did what he did, he spouts vague nonsense: “You sold out this country a long time ago! What about Wall Street?”
Yeah, what about Wall Street?
While I was turning that one over in my mind, I had to endure badly written dialogue. My favorite line came as several Navy Seal helicopters approached the White House after the bad guys have figured out how to use a secret weapon stored inside the building - a weapon NOT used during the initial assault. But never mind that. When the pilots learn about the weapon, their leader says, awkwardly, “Be on the lookout for possible advanced weaponry!”
I’m still turning that one over in my mind.
Fortunately, Olympus has its moments. The cast is great, especially Gerard Butler as the ex-Secret Service agent who sets out to spoil the terrorist’s plans, and Aaron Eckhart as the president of the United States. They apparently thought they were going to be in a smarter movie, and delivered performances to match.
I also loved the opening scene, in which two men are in a boxing ring, engaged in a hard-hitting but friendly match. Then a suited figure appears in a door and says to the one taking the worst beating, “Mr. President, it’s time to go.” Eckhart then turns to Butler’s character and jokingly says, “You’re not supposed to hit the president.” Establishing these two men as friends gives the story an emotional anchor.
I also enjoyed the direction of the action scenes by Antoine Fuqua. He could have done better with his other actors, though, and he should have insisted on a smarter script.
Rated R for strong violence and language. Two stars out of four.