Review of Olympus Has Fallen (2013) by Kranitoko — 16 Apr 2013

Only knowing a little bit about the film to start with (it has Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman), I took the film with a pinch of salt. Now I'm not saying this is a brilliant film, because it's not, but it's still a great film to keep you giddy on the way home.

Now the beginning 20 minutes are somewhat flawed. Gerard's character, Mike, is the security to the President, his wife and his son. Unfortunately, something happens (which was kind of predictable). The car the president and his wife are in spirals out of control after a crash and ends up leaning off a bridge (the car wasn't really going fast mind you. The driver must have sped the car up instead of slowed it down after the car in front got hit). Unfortunately, a tragic accident occurs to which Mike had tried to help in, and 18 months later, it see's that Mike has been taken off the security, purely because his face reminds the president of that tragic day... ah wha? Now I'm not saying these are the only flaws of the movie, because there are spots here and there that don't add up, but if you try, you can just ignore them and enjoy the film.

The premise of the film is that the Koreans come to the United States and end up taking control of the white house. They leave a mess behind to do it too, mind you. They take control, and their aim is to try and make the United States as vulnerable as Korea has been in its time, what with poverty and pain occurring everyday in some places. The only one who can try and stop them however, is... Mike. And don't get me wrong, this is no doubt one movie Gerard was suited for, and his performance really pulls you in from the middle to end.

This movie tended to be surprising in some cases, because there were a lot of moments where I thought "this is going to happen, I know it" and before I knew it..... it didn't happen. So that was a nice change.

As for Morgan Freeman's performance, as much as I like the guy, I'm kind of wondering what the point of his character was. I mean, he came into the film, did a bit of commanding, and then went out again... barely no backstory to his character. In fact, one part of his character made me think "well that escalated quickly". See if you can guess which part.

Another big name is Aaron Eckhart, who you might remember as Two-Face in The Dark Knight. It was weird to not see his character turn out to be a villain like in TDK, even though I half expected him to just come out and go "Hi. I'm two-face". However, he played the role of a President quite well, even if there are a few kinks into his story.

Overall, with great action sequences, some surprising moments and great performances, Olympus Has Fallen deserved my money... even if there are some moments that make no sense... for example: is it REALLY this easy to take down the white house? Cause if so... damn...