Review of Olympus Has Fallen (2013) by Christopher M — 05 Aug 2015

Even after being confined to a desk job after an on-the-job tragedy, Secret Service Agent Mike Banning(Gerard Butler) is still expected to save the world which includes but not excluded to dodging bullets, saving civilians and downing a rogue aircraft that is attacking the Capital. But that is only the beginning, as President Benjamin Asher(Aaron Eckhart) has been taken hostage by terrorists while nobody can find his son Connor(Finley Jacobsen).

"Olympus Has Fallen" is a weak "Die Hard" rip off that has little idea what made that movie so special, especially with little thought given to follow-through.(Admittedly, neither do the sequels but that's a rant for another time.) What has instead been given lot of thought to is reactionary politics that make "24" look positively progressive, as the way the North Koreans are employed here as villains reeks of Yellow Peril jingoism. To be honest, finding an enemy country in this day and age is hard(for example, "Nurse Jackie" went with those nasty Norwegians in its last season), but that is still not any excuse for sloppy characterizations.