Wednesday, April 3, 2013

'A Good Day to Die Hard' in the White House

'Olympus Has Fallen' is the first of two ‘Die Hard set in the White House’ movies scheduled for release this year, the other being the more literally titled ‘White House Down’ starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx.  Directed by Antoine Fuqua (‘Training Day,’ ‘Tears of the Sun,’ ‘Shooter’), I expected OHF to be a solid and entertaining action flick if nothing else, and on that score it delivered admirably.  After the bitter disappointment of the latest ‘Die Hard’ installment, I was beginning to wonder if this time-worn genre has finally gone stale, but this movie put my question to rest.
 
The very premise of a White House takeover by terrorists requires that we suspend our disbelief to a certain degree, and the movie took no small amount of liberties and assumptions to paint a scenario in which it 'might' happen.  That the bad guys somehow can plan and execute something of this magnitude and has the resources (even an AC-130 Spectre gunship with an innovative close-in anti-missile system) to pull it off, or turn a member of the president’s protective detail into a traitor are really beside the point.  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
 
Gerard Butler proved once again that, as long as he’s not trying to star in a romantic comedy, he can be one of Hollywood's top action stars.   His rugged and grizzled appearance (he's no 'pretty boy' like that Channing Tatum, after all) makes him a believably tough larger-than-life action hero.  Aaron Eckhart also came across as a 'harder' president than Harrison Ford's in 'Air Force One.'  He even sparred with Leonidas, erm, Butler in the opening scene and held his own.
 
I don’t know if ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ is the actual top secret code phrase denoting that the White House is compromised, like ‘Broken Arrow’ translates to the loss of a nuclear warhead unaccounted for, but the movie definitely lived up to its cool sounding namesake. 
 
Grade: B+  

At least it wasn't a flying saucer that blew up the WH this time....
 photo Olympus-Has-Fallen-Poster-Official_zpsd5e9e349.jpg

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