Olympus Has Fallen

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwx1f0kyNwI

Olympus has fallen, or as I like to call it the semi-big action blockbuster that comes out between Oblivion and Iron Man 3. To my surprise it's actually rather good.

The story in a nutshell is the White House gets taken over by North Korean terrorists who take the president hostage. It's up to Gerard Butler who plays John McClane from Die Hard to save him and indeed the United States of 'Murica.

I mention Die Hard there and I'm afraid I'm about to mention it again in a way that will probably upset a lot of people. Feel free to disagree but, brace yourself:

I think Olympus Has Fallen is better than Die Hard.

Still reading? Thanks for giving me a chance- so many people are in love with Die Hard and to be honest that's just what this movie is. But in my honest opinion it's done better. I understand it's over 20 years old but this is exactly the film that needs to reboot the Die Hard formula, not the pretty abysmal Die Hard 5.

The scenes where the White House is taken down initially are possibly the most striking in the film. There's a hella lotta explosions and people are mowed down here there and everywhere. It's a scene put there to make Americans angry and give them someone to hate instantly. It probably does the job well, I can imagine them grumbling 'damn foreigners' under their breath as they see the Washington Monument crumble to the ground.

The rest of the film is usually a tense affair that almost always ends in John McCla...I mean Gerard Butler's character in a nicely choreographed throw down with a bunch of North Koreans. The plot isn't overly complex and that's exactly how I feel it should be. It's a story of good guy goes after bad guy to save America and that's all it needs to be.

The film does have it's flaws however. The aforementioned simplistic story does leave a few plot holes that didn't bother me to much but did my fellow movie goers. 'Why didn't they just do this' 'They said that was impossible earlier on then did it easily later' were the general things I heard so it's probably best to not think too hard about it as you watch it. Just enjoy the pretty explosions and helicopter crashes and cheer on the USA as they try and bring down the bad guys.

There's also some of the most cringe-worthy acting between the president and his son at the start of the movie. The son is hardly even that important in the overall film like it's expected he will be. It would have probably been better to leave the president's son and emotional family back story out completely but I suppose they needed to show the the president as a human being with something to fight for. It makes it a little more interesting than just an emotionless hostage.

This is the action film of the year so far, bettering GI Joe and fully eclipsing Die Hard 5 from memory. If you go into the cinema with the mindset of a strong patriotic American citizen you'll have a really good time here.

8/10

Main Blog- http://www.elephantchris.blogspot.co.uk/