OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

Reviewed by Paul Gibbs
GRADE: D

Starring Gerard Butler, Arron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Basset, Dylan McDermott. Melissa Leo, Rick Yune 
Directed by Antwone Fuqua

Do you miss that period during the 90's when there was always a thinly disguised Die Hard rip-off in theaters? Neither do I. But for some reason, Hollywood has decided to make two Die Hard In The White House movies for release in 2013. We can only hope that the better of the two is the one directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Channing Tatum. Because yes, the one directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Gerard Butler really is that bad. In fact, it's enough to make the disappointing A Good Day To Die Hard look like an action movie classic by comparison.

       Butler stars as Mike Banning, a crack Secret Service Agent/Former Special Forces soldier who has a special bond with the first family, from the President (Aaron Eckhart) to his young son Connor. But when an accident which takes place on his watch results in a tragic death, Banning blames himself (because he's seen In The Line of Fire and Cliffhanger and knows that's what you do in an action film), and goes into a deep depression, leaving the Secret Service. But Banning still happens to be near the White House when North Koreans attack and take over in one of the most wildly improbable scenes in recent cinematic memory (a scene which veers from simply ludicrous to shockingly tasteless with its pseudo-9/11 imagery), and manages to fight his way in to go John McClane on the bad guys who have taken the President hostage. Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman, playing the role of Glenn Close in Air Force One (this time Speaker of the House rather than Vice President), must assume temporary leadership of the nation and semi-negotiate with the North Korean terrorists.

      There's not a single moment in Olympus Has Fallen  which isn't directly stolen from either Die Hard, Ai Force One or In The Line of Fire. And while of course AirForce One was also a Die Hard rip-off, it managed to work on its silly level because it starred Harrison Ford at a time when he could carry a movie better than anyone. But Gerard Butler is no Harrison Ford. In this movie, he's not even Steven Segal. Butler snarls and smirks his way through a truly dreadful performance, spitting out an atrocious American accent as he makes it hard to remember how charming he was in films like the indie drama Dear Frankie, and how his expressiveness behind the mask made some of us forgive the failure of  his singing in The Phantom of the Opera. Here he's so unexpressive that he is unable to earn even a twinge of sympathy for the guilt he's feeling. In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about how much more emotion Sylvester Stallone drew out of the same situation in Cliffhanger. And Butler gets no help from his supporting cast, which also seems to be trying to make us forget how good they've been in other films. Eckhart is decidedly bland, and Morgan Freeman sleepwalks through a performance that would embarrass Al Pacino at his laziest.

        All of this might be mildly forgivable if director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) were able to stage the action in a way that provided any thrills. But his shrill emulation of Michael Bay is just irritating, and the violence in the film is so needlessly brutal that it had me feeling repulsed within its first 30 minutes (and I recently sat through and enjoyed an all-day marathon of all 5 Die Hard movies).  I found no enjoyment to be had in this creatively bankrupt retread, and found its attempt at the end to stir the audience with patriotic emotion to be downright offensive considering the pointless bloodbath we'd just witnessed.

       Gerard Butler has shown genuine talent and charisma in his earlier career, but after a string of critical and commercial flops he needed a comeback, and I can't imagine this movie will be it. Instead, it puts him in desperate need of making a better film to have any chance of avoiding a slip to television or straight to DVD fare.

     Olympus Has Fallen is rated R for wall-to-wall profanity and brutal violence. If you feel like seeing a violent action movie, pop in any one of the Die Hard or Lethal Weapon films instead of this. Even the worst of those series, bad as they are, are better than this waste of time.