Olympus Has Fallen is an intense action thriller that will keep you interested from start to finish. With so much action and even some good acting, this film shouldn't fly over anyone's radar. The film suffers in only one major aspect, and that is the special effects. The CG is quite bad in this film. While this can distract some people over the course of a film, I'm the type of person who doesn't really get bothered by it all that much. The following is my review of Olympus Has Fallen.
The film was written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt. Both of whom worked on the recent Expendable 3 film. Olympus Has Fallen was their first writing effort, and the effort was not bad in my opinion. The story follows Mike Banning, a former secret service agent, as he tries to stop the terrorist attack from happening. Since he was in the secret service he of course knows the White House, and is tasked with fighting off these terrorists to then save the President. The story is fairly simple, and up until the recent real life scares at the White House, I thought this idea was ludicrous. While it still might be after all, the writers do a well enough job to get us to buy into it.
The film was directed by one of the better directors of today, Antoine Fuqua who is well know for Training Day and the recent hit The Equalizer. There is so much action in this film, and this is an area where Fuqua really shines. About twenty minutes of the first forty is pure high octane action. While the action slows down after that, it still is a nice slow burn until the ending. With some nice tactical kills and amazing hand to hand combat action, there surely isn't anything boring about this film. The bigger action scenes have CG that looks pretty generic, and this could be a big turn off for some viewers. It is just not a few scenes either, there are many bad CG scenes in this film. Minus the bad CG in this film, director Antonie Fuqua does a fantastic job with this film.
The star of the film is Gerard Butler with a surrounding cast with such actors like Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott, Cole Hauser and Angela Bassett. While there is nothing award winning in terms of acting in this film, the effort is very good. Butler is able to deliver a great performance as the hero of the film and we all know Morgan Freeman is always a joy to watch. In a movie like this, most people only come for the action, however in this film the acting is good as well.
The film was composed by Trevor Morris who is more known for scoring smaller action films. I enjoy his score on this film, but it is nothing special. It of course adds some nice depth to the overall feel of the film, but it is not an effort I will be remembering down the road.
Overall, if you are in the mood for a fun action film that is not really boring at all, this is the film for you. The only downside is some cheap CG used in the bigger action scenes. Other than that, this is a must see film for fans of the genre.
I will be going over the Blu-Ray special features as well. This home video release features 4 featurettes and a blooper real. I'm disappointed in the overall special features. The longest running feature on this release is only eleven minutes long. Most of the featurettes run at four minutes or less. I know the film wasn't suppose to be a giant success like it was, but well, it was, and the fact there still is not more special features is sad. The film is great and a must own, but watch how much you pay for it.
8/10
The film was written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt. Both of whom worked on the recent Expendable 3 film. Olympus Has Fallen was their first writing effort, and the effort was not bad in my opinion. The story follows Mike Banning, a former secret service agent, as he tries to stop the terrorist attack from happening. Since he was in the secret service he of course knows the White House, and is tasked with fighting off these terrorists to then save the President. The story is fairly simple, and up until the recent real life scares at the White House, I thought this idea was ludicrous. While it still might be after all, the writers do a well enough job to get us to buy into it.
The film was directed by one of the better directors of today, Antoine Fuqua who is well know for Training Day and the recent hit The Equalizer. There is so much action in this film, and this is an area where Fuqua really shines. About twenty minutes of the first forty is pure high octane action. While the action slows down after that, it still is a nice slow burn until the ending. With some nice tactical kills and amazing hand to hand combat action, there surely isn't anything boring about this film. The bigger action scenes have CG that looks pretty generic, and this could be a big turn off for some viewers. It is just not a few scenes either, there are many bad CG scenes in this film. Minus the bad CG in this film, director Antonie Fuqua does a fantastic job with this film.
The star of the film is Gerard Butler with a surrounding cast with such actors like Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott, Cole Hauser and Angela Bassett. While there is nothing award winning in terms of acting in this film, the effort is very good. Butler is able to deliver a great performance as the hero of the film and we all know Morgan Freeman is always a joy to watch. In a movie like this, most people only come for the action, however in this film the acting is good as well.
The film was composed by Trevor Morris who is more known for scoring smaller action films. I enjoy his score on this film, but it is nothing special. It of course adds some nice depth to the overall feel of the film, but it is not an effort I will be remembering down the road.
Overall, if you are in the mood for a fun action film that is not really boring at all, this is the film for you. The only downside is some cheap CG used in the bigger action scenes. Other than that, this is a must see film for fans of the genre.
I will be going over the Blu-Ray special features as well. This home video release features 4 featurettes and a blooper real. I'm disappointed in the overall special features. The longest running feature on this release is only eleven minutes long. Most of the featurettes run at four minutes or less. I know the film wasn't suppose to be a giant success like it was, but well, it was, and the fact there still is not more special features is sad. The film is great and a must own, but watch how much you pay for it.
8/10