Michael Ledo Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) is president. Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is his secret service body guard who has fallen from grace. In this film the North Koreans, disguised as South Koreans, take over the only bunker in the country that controls nuclear missiles with self destruct instructions (if there is such a thing). Just so happens the three people who know the three separate codes are there too.Only Bruce Willis (the younger one) or a reasonable facsimile that looks like Gerald Butler, can save this country. Morgan Freeman plays the ineffective Speaker of the House who becomes president when things go badly.Plenty of action. On the film scale: better than "Red Dawn" (new one). Not as good as "Die Hard." Of course it is better than the recent "Die Hard" offering unless demolition derby is your thing. Improbable script, but the characters and action made this formulaic film worth viewing.Parental Guide: F-bombs. No sex or nudity. Note: on the TV channels it uses "Whitehouse" instead of "White House."

looker1010az What more need be said? The superest duperest elitist commando-est perfect-est team of bad guys executes the most laughably easy infiltration and takeover of what's supposed to be the securest location on the planet, until one, single, solitary, but even superer, even duperer, even eliter, even commando-er, even perfect- er American agent decides that's not gonna fly.They're the chop-sockiest, punch-your-face-est fighters ever seen? He's even chop-sockier, even punch-your-face-est-er! They can hack a doomsday code to flush the entire planet down the cosmic toilet bowl? He can hack their hacks like Robin Hood splitting arrows lodged in the perfect center of a bullseye! Anything they can do, he can do better, just like the Howard Keel-Betty Hutton song in Annie Get your Gun!And yet, all of America takes the credit for all working TOGETHER! Because he's the unknown hero who makes all of America look so fine! Lee Majors couldn't have sung it better on The Fall Guy.

Kendall Although I am not knowledgeable on the work of directors, I would recommend any of Antoine Fuqua's action thriller movies just after seeing Olympus Has Fallen. With a stellar star lineup, special effects production, and a plot that screams patriotism, this movie was bound to be a success. The star of the movie, Mike Banning, played by Gerard Butler, is a former Presidential Secret Service agent who finds himself in a sticky situation; he must take control of the White House national security team, once again, during a terrorist attack. Alone and under attack, he must save not only the President and his colleagues, but the entire nation itself from terrorist takeover. Being a former agent, he has the required skills and knowledge of the White House that makes him the perfect man for the job. The role of speaker of the house was ironically played by Morgan Freeman, a man known for his voice. It was not one of his more interesting roles, but Freeman uses his serious tone of voice to make even the smallest role seem meaningful. Being put in the position to take control of the situation while the President is unable to, I awaited to hear every drastic decision he made that brought changes in the plot. The dynamic relationship between Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart, the President, is not what you would expect it to be. The relationship of security guard and President is stripped down onto a more personal level of two friends who care about each other as people, not just the position they take in the government. The interaction we are first introduced to in the beginning is playful; like they have been lifelong buddies who can take a joke or two. This was a refreshing and unexpected surprise because you don't often see this sort of interaction in action movie's, especially between two male actors. Although the plot seems to be implausible, the special effects take full responsibility for providing realistic Hollywood drama. The explosions were loud like they were in the same room as you, weapons were realistic, and camera work was steady making it easy to lose yourself in the movie and seem realistic. Gerard Butler seemed to prepare well because he looked badass in every fight scene handling weapons and fighting a whole army of terrorists all on his own; His masculinity just oozes from the screen. The writer did a phenomenal job playing on sympathy to get you to really feel the movie. Giving the President a young son and taking away his wife in a tragic car accident makes your heart ache for him as he goes through hell and back being tortured. This is a smart tactic in an action film because now you are emotionally invested in the plot and feel a need to continue watching. Being citizens of the United States also gives you an emotional connection to the plot and adds to the fury you feel towards the terrorists for destroying your country. Sometimes, all action thriller movies seem to fall under the same category and are produced too similarly with predictability. Olympus has fallen just doesn't seem to follow that same line; Antoine Fuqua and his special effects team create a powerful visual experience that is sure to satisfy, and an unpredictable plot that will spark so many different emotions you will just be left in awe.

TheLittleSongbird 'Olympus Has Fallen' is not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but judging from the reviews was honestly expecting much worse. Even for taking it for it is and aimed to do, it could have been much better.This said, it is much better than its successor 'London Has Fallen'...now that was an awful film, with no obvious redeeming values, and one of the worst films from that year. 'Olympus Has Fallen' at least tried to be fun and has much better action scenes (such as the audaciously staged terrorist attack, all of the action in 'London Has Fallen' is routine at best).It also looks better, apart from some excessive shaky cam in places and the special effects are far from brilliant, in fact cartoonish and fake, but there is some atmospheric grit and the film is well shot instead of mostly looking like SyFy/Asylum fodder. With the exceptions of an annoying Melissa Leo and Aaron Eckhart phoning it in, the acting is not bad here with dignified Angela Basset and particularly Morgan Freeman giving the best performances. Gerard Butler does struggle with some of his one-liners, which honestly are not that good (pretty pithy actually) in the first place, but is a very capable action hero and charismatic lead. Rick Yune does his best, but his character is forgettable and very sketchy, like all the characters here. The direction at least has some tension.However, 'Olympus Has Fallen' goes for the fast, big and loud approach, sometimes that's not a bad thing but it didn't come off well here. The pacing is rather rushed often, while also losing momentum in crucial parts too, while the big and loud like its sequel is so constant there is little room to breathe and it becomes nauseating and repetitive in every way possible.Much of the script consists of pithy one-liners and cheesy quips that feel like clumsy attempts at humour, while also making little to no attempt at giving much personality or development to the characters (leaving the actors to do all the leg work and they mostly do credibly in that respect). The story is certainly not as intelligence insulting as that of 'London Has Fallen', but while it tries not to be too derivative of 'Die Hard' it is not that original and it outside of the action lacks suspense and proper excitement which are mistaken for lapses in logic and lack of suspense.All in all, not great, instead a mediocre film, but not as awful as expected. Even with its numerous flaws, if asked which is better between 'Olympus Has Fallen' and 'London Has Fallen' the answer is clear. 4/10 Bethany Cox