Throwback Thursday Review: 'Olympus Has Fallen'

This week has two big releases with Disney's Zootopia and London Has Fallen. To avoid having to do two Throwback Thursday Reviews today, I reviewed The Lion King last week since it was  Disney film centered on talking animals similar to Zootopia. So this week, I'm reviewing Olympus Has Fallen for a few reasons. First off, I actually haven't seen the film till watching it today to review it but was anticipating it back when it was released and just never got around to watching it. I figured this would be perfect timing and provide a Throwback Thursday Review to coincide with the release of it's sequel 'London Has Fallen' this weekend. I plan to review both Zootopia and London Has Fallen in the near future and am unsure of which I will wind up seeing and reviewing first. Next week's Throwback Thursday Review will be for Cloverfield to correspond with 10 Cloverfield Lane's release. I initially had it planned out to review Divergent but I will save that film for the following week.

'Olympus Has Fallen' Review

The premise of Olympus Has Fallen involves a North Korean terrorist group taking down one of America's most secure locations, the White House. The internet has dubbed the film to essentially be "Die Hard in the White House"and that's probably the most apt description so if that intrigues you in the slightest, you will love Olympus Has Fallen. Olympus Has Fallen is a very entertaining film that has moments ranging from excessively destructive to just plain awesome. The film has flaws, including a rocky start that was irrelevant to the plot, setting up character relationships that were unfortunately not explored in any further depth. However, much like the Fast and Furious films, you can't watch this film and expect to take it seriously but it's more of a "popcorn flick" that's essentially dumb action followed by even more ridiculously construed action sequences. Not only are the action scenes awesome, but they are lended more credibility thanks to some spectacular special effects. Also the film bolsters a cast with some great acting chops and gravitas to help realize the film. The standout is Gerard Butler, who plays an ex-secret serviceman Mike Banning who must stop this terrorist group, and he makes for a great "John McClain" stand-in as the everyman hero everyone will root for. Butler is very believable as a highly trained agent and is the most interesting character in the narrative thanks to his previous failure that's shown in the beginning of the film. Aaron Eckhart is serviceable as the President but lacks the charisma or charm to really invest the audience in his character. Morgan Freeman is great as always, in the role of Speaker of the House. The antagonist portrayed by Rick Yune is a brilliant, villainous mastermind, who is as bright as he is intimidating. Yune makes for a fantastic villain and definitely one of the better performances. The remaining cast is primarily one-note stereotypes, who aren't given much screen time. The film is super predictable throughout and there are a few stretches of doldrums, where I lost interest in the story but overall, Olympus Has Fallen is certainly a solid action film. Unfortunately, it doesn't traverse new roads and seems very derivative of previous action films but I can recommend it for anyone who at least is interested in the premise and enjoys action films.

Film Assessment: C+