Olympus Has Fallen (2013).
This film was heavily slated by many of the reviews I have
read and some friends didn’t say nice things about it either. I enjoyed most of
this high octane action thriller. It was a great study of what a direct attack
on the White House might look like and how a terrorist group might exploit weaknesses
in the White House’s defence systems. Sometimes it’s is all too easy to assume
that a major iconic building is secure, such has been demonstrated in recent
years by people breaking into Buckingham Palace, including one man who entered
the Queen’s bedroom and chatted with her for several minutes, before being
carted off. However it is not the weaknesses in the White House which really
defines whether this film is good or bad. It is the weaknesses in the plot. Firstly,
the President was a complete coward and gave away very sensitive information
and commanded his team to do the same, just with the threat of being harmed,
including a four star General, knowing that terrorists would use that
information to destroy the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
Secondly would the American’s really put the life of their
president ahead of the lives hundred’s of millions of people? I genuinely don’t
know the answer to that question, but this film thinks it knows.
Thirdly when America is about to be blown to Kingdom Come, with
seconds to spare, Gerard Butler is nursing the presidents wounds and comforting
him. Eh? What has Hollywood come to, if it’s more important to tend to the
President’s flesh wound than to save the lives of everyone in America?
Lastly every time patriotic music came on I had an
overwhelming urge to salute. American films involving the US President always
do this, and it is very soppy and pathetic. Be proud of your nation and it’s
highest office, but come on. Do we really need salutes and patriotic music
every time the pretend president comes onto the screen?
Despite these irritations, I did enjoy the action sequences
a great deal. However, this goes down as one of those lost opportunities which
comes along once in a while, to make a fairly serious film about what might
happen if the White House was attacked by enemy forces. A coup in a Western democracy
is great storyline, but this film just didn’t quite make the most of it.
3 out of 5.
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