Film review: Olympus Has Fallen When the unthinkable happens

MANILA, Philippines - The unthinkable happens when heavily-armed terrorists take the American president hostage in broad daylight inside the White House. Thankfully, this scenario has never happened in real life, but that is exactly the plot of Olympus Has Fallen, the latest Hollywood movie about the US president.

This reminds us of memorable fictional films about US presidents like Air Force One (starring Harrison Ford), The American President (with Michael Douglas), Primary Colors (starring John Travolta), Absolute Power (starring Clint Eastwood, with Gene Hackman as the US president) and Independence Day (with Bill Pullman as the US president), among many others.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua of Training Day fame (where Denzel Washington won an Oscar best actor in 2001), Olympus Has Fallen stars Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, head of the Secret Service agents detailed with the First Family — American President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), First Lady Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd) and son Connor (Finley Jacobsen).

One fateful snowy night, on a drive from Camp David, the presidential convoy meets an accident. The lead vehicle falls from the bridge, with the tragic death of the US First Lady. But Banning gets to save the Chief Executive.

 So as not to remind President Asher about the death his wife, Banning gets demoted to doing office work in one of the government offices near the White House.

During a meeting with Asher and the South Korean prime minister, Korean forces take over the White House with the help of a former Secret Service agent (Dylan McDermott). Subsequently, the Korean prime minister also gets killed.

The mastermind is a former North Korean terrorist who wants US military men to withdraw from the Korean Peninsula. The terrorist also wants to destroy all of the US nuclear weapons by gaining access to the codes kept by top three American government officials, including the president.

Before an agent inside the White House dies, he warns the head of the Secret Service (Angela Bassett) that “Olympus has fallen.” Apparently, Olympus is the code of the Secret Service for the residence of the American president. Asher and other top officials are held hostage inside the White House.

Banning, who hears the gunshots from his nearby office, instantly comes to the rescue. First on his agenda is to find the presidential son, who is hiding behind the walls of the White House, a training he earlier gave the young boy. Banning gets to save him and sends him safely out of the White House.

Banning soon becomes a one-man killing machine inside the oval office and wipes out the Korean enemies one by one, including Dave Forbes (McDermott). This scenario reminds us of John McClane of Die Hard, a movie that became a highly-successful franchise and extended up to its fifth sequel.

In Olympus Has Fallen, Banning kills the Korean antagonist and ultimately saves the US president. The movie boasts of a noted ensemble of actors. Butler as the Secret Service head is primed for his role. With his strength, physique and bravery, it is not surprising that he sets out to become a one-man fighter to save the president.

Morgan Freeman as Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull becomes the acting president who deals with Banning for the latter’s rescue mission. Melissa Leo (2010 Oscar Best Supporting Actress for The Fighter), as the Secretary of Defense, has a brief but meaningful role. One of her memorable scenes was when she stands up from being a hostage and asks, “How’s my hair?”

Although it is definitely a blockbuster action thriller, the supporting cast of Olympus Has Fallen was rather expendable. Ashley Judd was sadly relegated to a very brief exposure as the First Lady. Radha Mitchell as the nurse-wife of Banning and Phil Austin as US Vice President Charlie Rodriguez were also given minor roles.

The movie, however, scored big for its action scenes and suspense, especially when the White House is taken under siege and Banning plots his rescue mission for the president.