20131112: Action Review--Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 119 minutes, action, thriller. 
2. IMDB: 6.4/10.0 from 108,643 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 70 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 48% on the meter; 69% liked it from 128,060 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 4.2/5.0 from 726,432 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Antoine Fuqua.
6. Starring: Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, Aaron Eckhart as President Benjamin Asher, Morgan Freeman as Speaker Trumbull, Dylan McDermott as Forbes, Rick Yune as Kang, Angela Basset as Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs, Ashley Judd as First Lady Margaret Asher, Phil Austin as Vice President Charlie Rodriguez, Finley Jacobsen as Connor, Robert Forster as General Edward Clegg, Melissa Leo as Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Abbreviations: WH for White House; POTUS for President of the United States; NK for North Korea(ns).


2. Agent Mike Banning is in charge of the Secret Service contingent protecting the POTUS as they head out from Camp David at Christmas time. Disaster strikes on the road, with thick snow coming down.  The lead car is taken out, and the POTUS vehicle falls off a bridge, taking the first lady with it.


3. Eighteen months later, Mike is still not on WH duty; Forbes has moved to civilian life.  Tensions with the North Koreans is high; the POTUS meets with the South Korean PM.


4. A four engine prop plane does some major damage; forces on the ground continue the damage after the plane is down.  Mike takes out a few of the terrorists, but he is enormously outgunned.


5. Meanwhile, in the presidential bunker, the Koreans the POTUS insisted on taking with them kill his guards.  Forbes is working for them.


6. Mike takes out a few more, but watches helplessly as the heavily armed North Koreans massacre the Secret Service agents who are not armored and have only pistols.  The NK take the WH.  Speaker Trumbull takes over as acting president.  Mike makes contact from the Oval Office, which is deserted.  He deletes material from the president's laptop.


7. POTUS orders his military and other leaders (the ones kidnapped with him) to give up their Cerberus codes....that allows any and all nuclear missiles to be disarmed in flight.  There are three codes, and the NK get one early on.  They continue to look for Connor, the president's son.  The NK see Mike on surveillance cameras; Forbes assures them he's no problem, but the NK go looking for him anyway.


8. Mike gets Connor out safely.  He gets some information about the NK terrorist who is in charge.  Then it's cat and mouse with terrorist, who dispatches Forbes to do the job.


9. The terrorist tortures Ruth for her Cerberus code.  Asher orders her to give them her Cerberus code.  That certainly looks like a big mistake.  On the outside, the entry of the second code is noted immediately.  Mike does not know that Forbes is a traitor, but he figures it out soon enough.  They fight it out.


10. The Speaker orders the seals to go in through the WH roof.  This was a dismal failure.


11. There are plenty of surprises left before the sort of Hollywood ending.


3. Conclusions
1. Has some similarities to Die Hard.
2. One line summary: Good action film despite the ridiculous premise.
3. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Good-looking.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 9/10 All-star cast who knew how to do their jobs.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Was there at least one military adviser on this project?  We could not intercept a prop plane over DC?  Really?  They make several incredibly slow passes over DC, and nothing takes them out?  All our rockets are decoyed?  At least a secondary firing caught the slow boat.  Only three fighters are ever sent against this ancient prop plane?  Secret Service agents often got off zero shots before being killed.  After nine eleven, I think 'shoot first, ask questions later' would have been in force, especially against obvious active enemies.