Olympus Has Fallen (A-)

Antoine Fuqua brings his fantastic skills as a director of gritty crime dramas to make a high-profile action blockbuster that retains the intense, R-rated, realistic, and believable vibe of his earlier movies. The result is a film that is tremendously entertaining while not being so far-fetched as to prevent audiences from caring about the story or relating to its patriotic themes.

Agent Mike Banning is a Secret Serviceman who was once one of the people protecting the president, but was transferred to a desk job after letting the First Lady die in order to ensure the safety of his commander-and-chief (this scene, a car crash sequence which opens the movie, is poorly executed: I can’t quite tell what, if anything, Banning did wrong). Banning ends up the only agent left alive in the White House after a band of North Korean terrorists attack it and take the president hostage. It is up to Banning to protect the First Son (Finley Jacobsen) and keep the nation from a nuclear attack.
Aaron Eckhart is President Benjamin Asher. Eckhart plays the character in much the same way he did pre-transformation Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, which is a little weird, but it still works. Of course, since the President is captured for most of the movie the new commander-in-chief is Speaker of the House Trumbull, played by Morgan Freeman. Freeman is unable to play more than one character, but his character seems president-ly. One would expect the movie to mostly be about Banning, but in fact much of it is about Asher and Trumbull dealing with the crisis. Several scenes are West Wing-style political drama, which is a cool contrast to the Die Hard style plot-line with Butler. At no point do Asher or Trumbull make decisions that are irrational and the way they handle the situation is diplomatic, strategic, and like something real presidents would do. It makes the movie seem far more believable.

Gerard Butler (King Leonidas in 300) is Banning, and as usual he does a good job. His character is likeable but also a credible soldier. His antagonist is played by Rick Yune, who steals the show. Instead of commanding a vast army with superior technology like most movie bad guys, Yune’s character--Kang--is able to take down the White House with one rogue jet, a few suicide bombers, less than forty henchman, and a couple stolen army gadgets. Kang is funny, charming, charismatic, and smart, but also a ruthless pig who takes pleasure in torturing his enemies (in one surprisingly graphic scene he brutally kicks the female Secretary of Defense until the president reveals crucial information). When we get to the doomsday plot where Kang reveals how he plans to nuke the US, it is (mostly) plausible since everything up until then was tactically brilliant and realistic.
The movie has a noteworthy cast, with Ashley Judd appearing in a cameo as the First Lady, Melissa Leo taking on the role of the Secretary of Defense, Robert Forster playing a high-ranking general, and Angela Basset shining in her performance as Banning’s boss.
The film’s biggest flaw is the cinematography used by Fuqua and his Director of Photography (Conrad W. Hall, who did Panic Room). The movie was probably shot in the middle of the day, but in order to make it look like night-time Fuqua and Hall use weird camera lenses and hideous post-production digital color “enhancements.” It looks utterly unrealistic and distractingly stupid, especially if your theater (like mine) doesn’t have a bright enough bulb projecting the image.

Still, that problem is counter-acted by Fuqua’s ability to craft engrossing action sequences. The attack on the White House is truly thrilling, and none of the subsequent fight scenes take away Olympus Has Fallen’s momentum.
In the end, the movie is a great tribute to the American spirit. Banning represents the everyday man, who’s work behind the scenes is just as important to the country as the work of the President. This is one of the most patriotic movies I have seen in recent years, and I think the theme only carries because of the gritty, semi-realistic tone Fuqua and the writers (newbies Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt) bring.
Understandably, movies like Olympus Has Fallen are a tough sell overseas. It would be wrong to deny that this isn’t a movie meant primarily for Americans. But if people in the US were able to connect so well with Skyfall, which is very much a patriotic British film, I think that those in Europe and Asia will be able to relate to Olympus as well.
Olympus Has Fallen is a gritty, beleiveable, and engrossing action thriller that is able to back up its patriotic themes with a good story and stellar directing.
PS: Not that this detracts from the movie, but a comment must be made about the stupid title. It refers to a code used by the Servicemen in the film, where "Olympus Has Fallen" means "The White House has been taken." I think that any half-wit terrorist could figure out. If they aren't serious about using codes then they should just say "White House Down."