Olympus Has Fallen

Plot synopsis:
The film starts before Christmas at Camp David. President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) is preparing to attend a fundraiser with his wife Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd), and son Connor (Finley Jacobsen). Also on the President's security detail is Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler). Banning is on good terms with the family, sparring with Benjamin in a private boxing ring, helping Margaret deciding on earrings to wear, and on friendly terms with Connor, whom Mike has been giving tips on being a good agent.As the group leaves the Camp for the fundraiser, the snowfall outside begins to come down harder. While Ben and Margaret ride in the Presidential Limo, Connor is riding with Mike in an SUV following them. As they near a bridge over a river near the camp, the lead vehicle in the convoy hits a deer, causing a chain reaction of vehicular damage. One Secret Service SUV plows through the side of the bridge and crashes into the waters below. The Presidential Limo ends up skidding near the edge, balancing precariously.Mike and several other agents rush to Ben and Margaret's aid, but Margaret's door is jammed, and the limo is still sliding over the edge. Several agents attempt to try and keep the vehicle from going over, but, as their attempts fail, Mike makes a split-second decision, and cuts Ben out of his seatbelt, saving him, but is unable to save Margaret, who goes over the edge in the limo.The film then cuts to 18 months later. Since that time, Mike has taken a desk job with the US Treasury, still upset regarding the Camp David incident. He is unable to concentrate when his girlfriend attempts to tell him something, and he decides they should see a movie later that evening.Mike meets with Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett), who knows Mike is still distressed over his failure to rescue the President's wife. She assures him that he did what was necessary, and even the President knows that.Asher is with Connor, who are preparing to go back to Camp David for a retreat, but Connor would rather go to the beach. Asher invites him to get some ice cream, but he is called in immediately. He meets with Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo), Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), and Vice President Charles Rodriguez (Phil Austin) over their impending meeting with the Korean Prime Minister.Prime Minister Lee (Keong Sim) and his aide, Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune) arrive at the White House. Somewhere over West Virginia, a large AC-130 gunship comes in and shoots down two American jets. Asher is taken out of his meeting with Lee and moved somewhere safer as he is alerted of the situation. He asks for Connor, but he is nowhere to be found. The enemy plane begins to open fire on civilians before making its way toward Washington DC and finally toward the White House.Mike sees the chaos from his office. He rushes into the streets to protect civilians while other troops attempt to shoot down the enemy plane. The shooters even manage to blow up oncoming missiles, but it is finally shot down, crashing its wing into the Washington Monument before finally crashing and exploding. The top of the monument collapses and falls, killing several tourists.While Asher, McMillan, Rodriguez, and others are taken down to the bunker, Mike runs toward the White House, where he finds suicide bombers blowing open the front gates. Other Korean terrorists begin coming in, firing on the Secret Service, who return fire and manage to kill some of them.Jacobs meets with General Clegg (Robert Forster) and others at the Pentagon where they are briefed on the situation, namely that the President is hiding in the bunker. Inside the bunker, however, Kang and several other terrorists, along with ex-Secret Service agent Dave Forbes (Dylan McDermott), take Asher and the others hostage.Outside, Agent Roma (Cole Hauser) and other men continue fighting off the incoming terrorists. Roma declares "Olympus has fallen" to signify that the White House has been invaded. He manages to kill one goon before getting killed himself.Trumbull comes into the Pentagon, where he is made acting president. Kang patches through to the Pentagon and begins by executing Prime Minister Lee in front of them. He orders the Americans to pull back the Seventh Fleet from Korea immediately.In the bunker, Kang tells Asher this is retaliation for all the damage that was brought upon Korea by Americans. Forbes is in on it, since he is against Asher's policies. Asher headbutts him in response.Mike discovers that the terrorists know about Connor and that they are looking for him. He manages to override Kang's security system and make it into the Oval Office, and patches through to the Pentagon. He gets in contact with Jacobs, who is surprised to hear from him, but she assures the other men that they can trust him. An assassin enters the room, but Mike takes him down and bludgeons him with a bust of Lincoln's head.Kang interrogates Admiral Hoenig (James Ingersoll) for a code. He nearly slits his throat, but Asher tells Hoenig to give it up. The Pentagon learns that a Cerberus code has been activated. When Mike sends them a tattoo on the neck of the assassin he killed, he is informed of the Cerberus code, which would allow the terrorists to deactivate all of the country's nuclear weapons.Mike continues moving forward to look for Connor. He finds the boy hiding in a room and safely gets him out just as more goons come in firing at them. Mike assures Connor that his father is going to be okay, and he gets him up a ventilation shaft to get out safely. Connor is rescued by some troops as Mike takes down other goons. He interrogates them, and they laugh in his face. He responds by stabbing one of them in the throat until he gets an answer. He lets Jacobs know Kang's name and to learn something about him.Kang learns about Mike's presence from Forbes, and so he is sent to get rid of him. Forbes comes across Mike, who is still unaware of his deception. When he accidentally slips Kang's name, Mike realizes the truth and the two get into a fight. Forbes tries to stab him, but Mike gets the knife from him and stabs him. As he lies dying, Mike asks him why he did this. Forbes reveals it was because he lost his son. Mike has him tell Kang that he got Mike, which he does before Mike fatally stabs him in the throat.Kang attempts to get another code from McMillan, who is utterly defiant. Kang starts to brutally assault her, but she still won't give up the code. When she is nearly beaten to death, Asher orders her to give up her code, which she does. The second Cerberus code is activated, and the Pentagon becomes aware of this. They also learn that Kang is a well-known terrorist who lost his mother to an American landmine and is very much infamous.Mike manages to get through to Kang's security and taunts him. He lets Kang know that Connor is safe and that he is going to put his knife through his brain. Asher listens to all of this.Several troops start flying into Washington to retaliate. Mike informs General Clegg that the terrorists possess Hydra Six - more powerful weapons than what the Americans have. Regardless, Clegg has the troops come in, but the terrorists shoot down one helicopter that crashes into the White House and causes a big explosion that severely damages the building.Kang gets through to the Pentagon, and executes Vice President Rodriguez. He orders them to finally recall the Seventh Fleet and to have a helicopter filled up and ready to get them out of there by dawn. He pulls McMillan out and takes her outside.As the news media are getting coverage of the situation, they inform viewers of South Korea's response to the situation, as well as getting footage of McMillan slowly stepping out into plain sight. With her back turned, Kang nearly shoots her, but Mike gets there first and opens fire, distracting Kang and allowing McMillan to run out and be rescued by troops.Kang makes it back to the bunker and has several hostages, including Asher, with a bag over their heads, along with the terrorists, just as their requested helicopter is coming down. The Seventh Fleet is called out from Korea as well.The hostages and terrorists get into the helicopter just as troops are locked on them. They are unable to fire, fearing they will hit the President. Just as the helicopter takes off, it explodes in mid-air and crashes to the ground. The Pentagon panics and they fear the worst - that Asher was killed in the explosion with everybody else. Mike is informed, but he knows that it doesn't add up, since Kang would not try and go out that way.Sure enough, it was a diversion. Kang and the other remaining terrorists are holding Asher in the bunker and get the final Cerberus code out of him. Kang's true plan is revealed - he plans to detonate ALL of the nuclear weapons to completely obliterate the United States.Mike is heading back down, but Clegg orders him to stand down. However, Clegg is put in his place by Trumbull, and Mike proceeds down to the bunker. Just as the terrorists are getting out, Mike shoots some of them. Asher knocks two of them down and struggles in a fight with Kang. He gets shot in the side as Mike attacks Kang. The two engage in hand-to-hand combat, with Kang nearly overpowering him. Kang taunts Mike and tells him he's failed again, but Mike gets the upper hand and takes Kang down. True to his word, he grabs his knife and sticks it in Kang's head, killing him.Mike rushes into the bunker and informs the Pentagon that Asher is alive, but he needs to stop the detonation sequence as there is barely a minute left. Jacobs, Trumbull, and Clegg rush to give Mike the deactivation code, and, with seconds to spare, Mike successfully shuts down the detonation sequence, much to the relief of everybody else. Mike takes Asher outside, where he is reunited with Connor, and Mike is reunited with Leah.Asher delivers a speech to the nation, commemorating those who were killed in the terrorist attack, but assures them that the attack gave them the hope and confidence to stand up and rise from fear to defend themselves. As he concludes, he walks off the stage and shakes Mike's hand. Mike stands proudly, knowing he has finally redeemed himself.

Tags: murder, violence, flashback, humor, action, suspenseful, sadist

Review:
A ton of action and special effects with almost as many logical flaws.The acting is good, particularly Morgan Freeman (to a lesser extent: Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart) and there's no denying the roller coaster ride, but it has many shortcomings.
Not even the fine supporting cast (Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Melissa Leo, Dylan McDermott) can take away Butler's limelight.Indeed, Antoine Fuqua's "Olympus Has Fallen" is not only terrific entertainment but a terrific throwback to the pivotal 90's action movie, the Die Hard clone - and this film ("Die Hard" in the White House) is another reminder of why the trusted formula works, even if it has been dormant for nearly two decades (the last good big one being Peter Hyams' "Sudden Death").From the moment the film's main action start, the film doesn't stop running.
First off, let me say that the movie is a high production Hollywood film meaning the guns look real, there is ample budget for Apache helicopters and realistic sets, professionally choreographed fight scenes, and the requisite amount of explosions and CGI effects.However, looking at this film in terms of realistic plot and character development, it lacks quite a bit.
Olympus Has Fallen has an innumerable body count, effectively nasty-cum- stock villains, dialog that is to-the-point and story driven (even if that story, again, can be pretty stupid, and when it comes to those nuclear launch codes really needs a Dr. Strangelove in a wheelchair to come in and explain it to the Pentagon people), and I had a fun time watching the violence ensue.
Perhaps when stacked up against actual bulls**** like Taken 2 or a Die Hard 5, its cinematic sins are slightly less egregious- it borrows from other films, liberally one might say (a little *original* Die Hard here, Air Force One there, any given hostage- crisis flick there, oh and how about most 24 episodes crammed into the climax), but somehow it trusts its audience to either be dumb enough to enjoy the ride, or that the smart people know its dumb but can enjoy its own dumb logic on its own terms.
If you buy into any of this BS, the movie has a few good action scenes as our hero (Butler) steps over the bodies of what seems like everyone in the White House to try and save the president, his son, and the world in another implausible scene.
I won't spoil it for you, but let's just say that if the president was shot, he would not be allowed to walk to the ambulance.The action scenes and a great exchange between "Super Agent"and some North Korean gunmen gets this movie all the way up to a poor one out of Fordyce.
A very welcome touch is the way the film-makers foil our expectations...they've seen many of the same movies, and rather than follow the cookie-cutter approach of bad scripts, they twist those situations to make them new and interesting.The action is well done and exciting.
But there are much better movies for that like die hard (this movie seems in fact an attempt to be Die Hard), mission impossible and James Bond movies which at least create those settings where one can still indulge in the action.I think the intent in this movie was to say that the entire US military and homeland security is a big failure run by an incompetent management throughout and there is only one savior to the White House who is a banished member of President's security team.
Olympus Has Fallen is another film that focuses more on action than on the script , at least the action scenes are fun to watch , plus the script sins with many errors , the steering gets far more in the course of the film he loses control , the cast is interesting , is Gerard Butler who is making more action films , he's fine , have Aaron Eckhart which is good, and the excellent Morgan Freeman 's fine too , the special effects are competent , the action scenes are good , the plot is simple , the soundtrack is average , you do not notice it much , Olympus Has Fallen is no better action movie in done, more is far from bad, the action scenes are cool.
It actually would be Die Hard except there are better fighting scenes and a secret service agent taking on terrorists is a much more plausible story line than a New York cop going all Rambo.
The 2 hour run time was almost entirely focused on the action which is exactly what you want to pay for when you see a movie like this.It's R rating comes almost solely from violence, there is little swearing and no sexuality.
Later scenes make US military seem invincible, but here they fall like dominos.Video game political thriller goes off into Die Hard territory: hero-meets-villain confrontation in Die Hard is a hero-meets-traitor scene here, right down to the slightly tilted camera-work.Stupidly, insultingly, film falls into the "big action scene/ one-liner" rut: even as president and fallen-hero-now-redeemed walk out of destroyed White House at the end, walking over dead bodies of their friends and comrades, the pres feels obligated to quip: "Don't worry, I think it's insured" Are you serious?
Film might have worked as a political thriller, but went off into Die Hard-clone territory, with an indestructible one-man army taking out an army of terrorists.Note to the filmmakers: it's called the White House, not Whitehouse.
In fact, it was better than some of the Die Hard movies themselves.The strengths of this film were the action (of course), the cast, the character development and the story.
So it is with "Olympus Has Fallen", Antoine Fuqua's Frankenstein like creation which appears to have been assembled from dead body parts cynically collected from the graves of other, better movies.The comparisons to "Die Hard" are as unavoidable as they are embarrassing.
The people that made this did bad.They should feel bad.Unbelievable story, logic flaws, improbable scenarios, bad acting.It's insulting to the the United States Military, Secret Service and all the good men and women that serve.Save two hours of your life doing something better than watching this excrement on film.Unfortunately this site requires 10 lines for a review, so the rest will just be gibberish in order to simulate the plot of this movie.Blah, blah, blah...BOOM....LOTS OF BULLETS...more blah..
While "Olympus Has Fallen" is an entertaining and thrilling movie, it does however run on stereotypic fuel; one man who save the day and saves all of America.The story is compelling and fast paced, right from the very beginning.
But despite that, director Antoine Fuqua managed to put together a wholesome entertaining movie.The action sequences are good and well executed, coming off as believable, despite it being one man against 28.
The movie also brandished talents such as Aaron Eckhart, Dylan McDermott, Angela Bassett and Morgan Freeman.If you enjoy action movies then you should sit down and watch "Olympus Has Fallen", if you haven't already seen it, because it is quite entertaining..
With the acting president, House Speaker Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), and the rest of Team America in dire straits, it's left to the broad-shouldered Banning to use his Intel and military expertise to save the President – nay, the world – as we know it.With the spin surrounding a potential North Korea nuclear attack, seeing this star-spangled, preposterously right wing American film is a little discomforting.
Unlike Bruce Willis, Butler is so devoid of humour or charm that his boisterous action-hero shtick – not to mention a sketchy American accent – are excruciating.Relying on bloodied fight sequences and shoddy CGI explosions, the supporting cast (including Oscar winning Melissa Leo) are given nothing in the way of a good script or space to show off their acting credentials.
Gerard Butler is a good lead and is a great action hero with some one liners reminding me of a Die Hard film or an Arnold film.
I want to say well done, I don't know how feasible it would be, they made it look easy, it was exciting as hell to watch though.The story follows Gerard Butler as former secret service agent Mike Banning who just happens to be nearby when the sh!t hits the fan.
Butler is bad ass here, holding his own and taking no prisoners, He has several exciting fight sequences and for whatever reason there are also several knife fights involved despite the amount of guns lying around.Enjoyed Rick Yune as the bad guy, very cold and calculated -many hostesses get a bullet to the head on live TV- and the extended cast is good too including Melissa Leo, Angela Bassett, Ashley Judd, Dylan McDermott and yes Morgan Freeman who does get to be President for a while.As with all these types of movies much flag waving and rah-rahing is done at the end as patriotism takes over.
For the action parts it works, lots of shooting, fighting, blowing things up and actually refreshing seeing the White House as a setting in a action movie, last time I saw that was in Independence day and there it was just blow to pieces.It does take heavy fire and damage in this one as well, but it works very well and actually seems new and refreshing to see the bunker under neath and the hidden ways in the walls etc.The story seems a bit unrealistic, how could it really get to this, but in the scheme of things it works out.
The do a good job and gets the story to stick together, but it is Mike Bannings goto attitude and fighting and shooting and just being a bad ass that is the best parts.The two hours fly by very rapidly, there is lots of action and fighting etc.
This could have been a little better, as Gerard Butler is a disgraced Secret Service Agent (he failed to act sufficiently when the First Lady died in a car accident) has to come to the rescue when the North Koreans (they seem to have taken the place of the Soviet Union as the main enemy in American movies now!) attack the White House and hold the President and other key people hostage and have other sinister plans in mind.This wasn't too bad, but I would have ranked WHD as better.
I know there needs to be some to build the character and some movies go way overboard and sacrifice a lot of action and I do not like that.
They just add one ridiculous plot event/decision on top of another until you can only conclude that there was undoubtedly no-one with any power of reason involved in the making of it.If you want to just see some (fairly good) action sequences and can stomach seeing the people in charge of a country make one nonsensical, idiotic decision after the other, (and of course a few mandatory superficial emotional scenes/monologues thrown in), then watch it, but you can really do a lot better.I give it 4 points for some decent action sequences and the fact that in spite of the script and direction the actors actually manage to make you believe that their characters are real..
It was so dated, it was like watching a fight scene in the original Star Trek series, only without the surrounding plot or character interaction.So, cool guns, cool explosions, and some watchable stock characters.Here we get to the best part of the movie.
Those combinations make Olympus Has Fallen great and one of the most entertaining Action films of the year.Set in Washington,D.C,Olympus Has Fallen tells the story about former secret service man Mike Banning(Gerard Butler)who used to be a guard for The President(Aaron Eckhart),but after an unfortunate accident Mike is now working for the treasury department agency.
I know the movie was pitched as a Die Hard clone, but even at that it's a miserable failure, so miserable that's baffling.Does Gerard Butler have Willis' 'cool' action hero stance?
First off,I am not a an ardent lover of action cinema.Watching guns blazing,bombs exploding,tanks rolling etc....(Insert Noise) is not very appealing to me.Fortunately Olympus has Fallen does not do them over the top and the action that is there is realistic and well executed, enough to set the mood and tone for an action film.The beginning ten-fifteen minutes are interesting and you think you are in for a treat but the movie doesn't rise too high from there.On the positive side though the acting is decent.Aaron Eckhart is convincing as president of U.S.Gerard Butler as Mike Banning steals the show with a powerful portrayal of a towering hunk who dominates his enemies,shows no mercy and tolerates little bullshit.An intriguing character and Butler does justice to the role.Morgan Freeman is well...Morgan Freeman,this is certainly not his best work.I really liked Ashley Judd and wished the plot allowed more of her.The problem with Olympus has fallen is that it rarely goes above the mediocre.It is OK as an action film.Not thrilling and gripping enough for a hostage drama to be called a thriller.The wisecracks do elicit a smile but you wish there were more.Its just a fine watch....not one of those movies that stays with you once you walk out of the cinema.Good enough for a theater watch?It's your call..
Have these people not seen "Taken?" Which sets the standard for this type of performance.Some of the effects looked homemade on a good PC.I have just watched it and when I look back in my memory, to find out what I liked about anything I had just watched, I could not think of one thing/aspect.All-in-all this film is to be avoided, or just simply wait for an evening in the future, when nothing else you want to watch on TV is on and you flip to a random channel and see this title coming on.However if you work in a cheese factory this film might be right up your street!
If you like action, this is for you, if you love blood and gore this is for you, suspense...all there too...so much going on we hardly had time to blink...gripping...and not what you think could happen within a film like this...Morgan Freeman plays a great diplomatic part cool, calm, and making those awkward decisions...other cast members did there best to make this a real life "could happen" adventure...2 hours past and it ended....Just once in a while there is a great film produced...then we get the occasional 11 out of 10...a must see...we have it on disk so will have another go soon...enjoy the film.
It makes it a little more interesting than just an emotionless hostage.This is the action film of the year so far, bettering GI Joe and fully eclipsing Die Hard 5 from memory.
Rick Yune, as always you are a handsome villain, maybe one day you can be on the good side and we will root for you instead of wanting you to bite it in the movie.All the elements cast, set, costumes, music, and SGI effects make this film awesome,although my only qualm is that I hope our Secret Service is better equipped and prepared in the event, that something like that should happen..
This was edge-of-your-seat entertainment that made the original Die Hard movie look like child's play..
Indeed, from the onset the audience gathers curiously to become endeared to the major characters like Gerard Butler (Three Hundred) who plays Mike Banning, the ex-Special Forces soldier, Aaron Eckhard (The Core) as President Benjamin Asher and Morgan Freeman as the Speaker of the house.
I would have loved it, if it was a part of die hard series, or starred with action hero Bruce Willis, of course, i am a die hard fan of him, as we all know what this man can do.Coming to "Olympus Has Fallen", it wasn't a bad one, starring Morgan freeman, Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, they did what they do , you won't be bored for sure.
Since 1988 when I sat in a packed theater and watched the original Die Hard with a room full of screaming people, I have longed for an action movie that had the same adrenaline rush and unrelenting tempo of that film.
It's hardly a thinking man's movie but it does ably do what it sets out to do, which is to offer plenty of action, high stakes and suspense.The story is, in essence, DIE HARD in the White House and there's no more or less to it than that.
Gerard Butler is good value in the action stakes (as we already know from 300, so it's a shame he's been wasting away in dumb rom-coms ever since) and the intricate plot sees a huge squad of terrorists kidnapping the President (an unlikely Aaron Eckhart), leaving Butler the only man on the ground with the power to stop them.The action consists of a handful of brutal hand-to-hand fights and shoot-outs augmented with some CGI stuff of plane attacks and missiles; the CGI isn't great but it's better than you'd find in a B-movie at least.
If you're looking for a good drama or comedy, then this is not the film for you, and you shouldn't watch it if you're not a fan of action movies.
The basic premise of Olympus Has Fallen sounds as if it's just Die Hard in the White House, but the film is actually a serious action/thriller, where Gerard Butler is not the wisecracking cowboy, but rather the last tough guy standing to stop terrorists from killing the President.
The film never traipses into farce, like so many action movies are want to do.
this film combines elements of other great action flicks like die hard,under siege, red dawn, independence day, the raid: redemption and many more you could think of.
The Director successfully bring a 2-hours suspense action movie,the plot is good, the acts is good, the strong character of Gerard Butler really makes the difference here.
A good action movie if you like Gerard Butler.