Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 171
Fresh: 81 | Rotten: 90
It's far from original, but Olympus Has Fallen benefits from Antoine Fuqua's tense direction and a strong performance from Gerard Butler -- which might just be enough for action junkies.
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 19
It's far from original, but Olympus Has Fallen benefits from Antoine Fuqua's tense direction and a strong performance from Gerard Butler -- which might just be enough for action junkies.
liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 13,148
My Rating
Movie Info
When the White House (Secret Service Code: "Olympus") is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning's inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger crisis. Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) directs an all-star cast featuring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart,
Cast
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Gerard Butler
Mike Banning -
Aaron Eckhart
President Benjamin Ashe... -
Morgan Freeman
Speaker Allan Trumbull -
Angela Bassett
Secret Service Director... -
Melissa Leo
Secretary of Defense Ru... -
Ashley Judd
First Lady Margaret Ash... -
Rick Yune
Kang -
Dylan McDermott
Forbes -
Radha Mitchell
Leah Banning -
Robert Forster
General Edward Clegg -
Cole Hauser
Agent Roma -
Finley Jacobsen
Connor -
Phil Austin
Vice President Charlie ... -
James Ingersoll
Admiral Nathan Hoenig -
Freddy Bosche
Diaz -
Lance Broadway
O'Neil -
Sean O'Bryan
Ray Monroe -
Keong Sim
Lee Tae-Woo -
Kevin Moon
Cho -
Malana Lea
Lim -
-
Mike Snyder
News Reporter #1 -
Josiah D. Lee
Korean Pilot -
Edrick Browne
Head Technician -
Sean Boyd
Raptor Pilot -
Hunter Burke
Army Tech Officer -
Aonika Marie Laurent
News Reporter #2 -
Jace Jeanes
Sniper #1 -
Sione Maumalanga
Sniper #2 -
Tory Kittles
Agent Jones -
Shane Land
Agent Davis -
Shanna Forrestall
Mary Jane Fuller -
Ian Casselberry
Long-Haired EMT -
Dorothy Deavers
Mrs. Mosely -
Amber Dawn Landrum
Nurse -
Han Soto
Male Doctor -
Kenneth Wayne Bradley
Crisis Room Radio Man -
Bill Stinchcomb
Watch Officer -
Michelle Celeste
News Reporter #3 -
Met Salih
News Reporter #4 -
Darrell L. Connerton
CIA Director -
Terry Dale Parks
Army Commander -
Michael Stallings
Army Lieutenant -
Elliott Grey
FBI Assistant Director -
Scott Walker
Male Reporter -
Catherine Shreves
Female Reporter
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Olympus Has Fallen Trailer & Photos
All Critics (171) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (81) | Rotten (90)
The thrills and the effects are cheap, but this is in hard-driving, good-humoured command of its own silliness.
Top CriticThis ludicrous actioner strives to be as loud, violent, and patriotic as possible.
Fuqua doesn't deliver on what he has set up.
Olympus Has Fallen is a disgusting piece of work, but it certainly hits its marks - it makes you sick with suspense.
The carnage is cruel and crude.
A typical slab of Hollywood action in which the White House crumbles under attack, the American flag is tattered and tossed aside by baddies, and clichés rise like gods.
Butler's presence makes perfect sense. He's an empty, mindless vessel. Just like his movie.
A fiery pile of turdy dialogue, turgid action, and xenophobic boosterism for the frequently 'God bless!'-ed US of A. This movie's so stupid, the only suspense it offers is if your brain can avoid falling into a coma before the screen finally goes to black
Provided you can handle such deliberate over-kill in the chaotic swirl that goes on here, Olympus Has Fallen offers a super-sized serving of grit-tinged fantasy action guaranteed to satisfy those who don't mind splatter over style.
In reinventing an old tale in a smart and engaging way, it's a thoroughly entertaining and often riveting way to spend two hours.
With guns blazing and spouting one-liners, Gerard Butler revels in being the tough guy and leads a decent cast, with all-American Aaron Eckhart a worthy addition to the hallowed list of movie presidents.
Olympus Has Fallen is the stupid, dark fantasy of backward white trash America that needs another domestic threat to trigger war.
Gruesome, cliché-ridden terrorist attack on the White House actioner has a lot of energy to go along with its relentless and well-choreographed carnage.
t's a terrible action film but a brilliant piece of North Korean propaganda. The American characters act so stupidly that you're pretty much rooting for Kim Jong-un. THAT'S HOW BAD IT IS.
There's a single line of dialogue that interrogates America's sanctions against some of the poorest people in the world. And who said this kind of thing couldn't be thought provoking?
The movie is preposterous, paranoid, solemn and - though not I think intentionally - something of a laughing matter.
What the studio's calling 'an action movie' - the Secret Service will call 'a comedy'.
As bystanders get mown down, the Washington monument topples and the Stars and Stripes is shredded, the onslaught delivers a real taboo-busting frisson... the sequence would pack an even bigger punch if the CGI special effects weren't quite so cheesy.
Having stayed up much of the night to watch the hunt for, and ultimate take down, of Suspect 2 in the Marathon Bombings, it was particularly distressing to watch this vile abomination of a movie whose "relevance" only adds to its dishonor.
Whether Hollywood is right to keep prodding North Korea simply because it's not a valuable trading partner, only time will tell.
Antoine Fuqua is a dependable action director whose talents will never be maximised while the 1980s continue to be over.
As this massive blockbuster thriller progresses, it's impossible not to become amused by how ridiculous its script becomes.
Reactionary fantasy, then - but what else are action films for?
Some will find it ridiculously entertaining. I found it entertainingly ridiculous. Either way, it's a guilty pleasure.
Olympus Has Fallen may be pure Hollywood hokum but it remains tense, exciting and credible enough right through to the suspenseful climax, even if the dialogue is laughable at times.
A movie that looks like a Die Hard film, feels (sporadically) like a Die Hard film, but lacks the wit and coiled adrenaline that made that series' debut a classic.
Audience Reviews for Olympus Has Fallen
Super Reviewer
Easily reckoned though are the facial expressions of Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, a Secret Service agent and good friend of president Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), whose relationship in turn to wife and son reminded me of a German candy commercial. Remaining characters are more or less stereotypes to boot. Fancily dressed mannequins, molded from mass production rather than real human beings.
On their way to a Christmas party, they have a car accident where the First Lady tragically loses her life. Mike is demoted to a desk job and spends a great deal of his intellection contemplating his failure.
When so Korean terrorists (timely enough) suddenly invade the White House, he gets the opportunity he's been waiting for. A chance to redeem his honor. Possessing, as an ideal hero, cognizance of the building's every nook and cranny, certainly comes in handy when the president is taken hostage and the White House's well-trimmed lawn takes on the atmosphere of an all-out war zone.
Training Day-director Antoine Fuqua, whose name here could easily be replaced by Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich without prompting any reaction, checks off a long list of has-been-done-befores, not seldom accompanied by a strong impulse to facepalm.
Most painful of all is to see the thespian gifts of Melissa Leo and Morgan Freeman totally squandered. The focal point has instead been placed on soulless hyper-violence and propaganda-esque "God Bless America" speeches. But surely the screenplay is irrelevant as long as it bolsters the national morality?
Built after the same blueprint as Die Hard and 24, it meets, however - by a hair's breadth I should say - the criteria for a passable piece of theatre fare. Just don't forget your barf bag. It's going to be the best friend you've ever had as the end credits roll.
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Super Reviewer
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- Mike Banning: 40 commandos breached the gate, 28 are left.
- Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs: How do we know we can trust the information?
- Mike Banning: I just asked nicely.
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- Mike Banning: You speak English? They teach you that where you come from? 'Cause you know what they teach me? Is how to extract information from people like you.
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- Mike Banning: Classified? Really? Well right now, I think I have the proverbial need to fuckin' know.
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- President Benjamin Asher: United States of America doesn't negotiate with terrorists.
- Kang: Who said anything about negotiating?
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- Army Lieutenant: Olympus has fallen! Olympus has fallen!
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- President Benjamin Asher: You should be.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| MY REVIEW | 7 days ago | 0 |
| Wow, this looks like shit | 29 days ago | 39 |
| Garbage | 29 days ago | 119 |
| What's wrong with this movie? | 29 days ago | 44 |
| stop using the same argument. | 29 days ago | 3 |
Latest News on Olympus Has Fallen
March 22, 2013:
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March 21, 2013:
Aaron Eckhart Talks Olympus Has Fallen"I think I could be more fulfilled if I become more involved in the movies that I do."
March 20, 2013:
Five Favorite Films with Antoine FuquaAfter rising through the ranks of music video auteurs in the 1990s, director Antoine Fuqua has...
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Foreign Titles
- La Chute de la Maison Blanche (FR)
- Objetivo: La Casa Blanca (ES)
