When the White House is attacked initially it has a bit of a "bro" action film feel to it and entertains for a while. Once the negotiations start though it's a very typical average film.

Did you enjoy seeing Melissa Leo brutalized?

It had its comedic moments.

You're damn right it does.

america, fuck yeah!

Olympus Has Fallen

A good action flick. Gerard Butler proves yet again that he's got the chops to be our modern day action hero on a par with Jason Statham, especially when the competition consists of morons like Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Channing Tatum. The movie starts out great, with a proper suspensful take down of the White House, and then it simmers along very well until the last few minutes where it all gets a bit eyeroll inducing -- the President lives, the baddies gets killed, the USA is saved!! Hooray! Nah, I'd have wanted something to have not ended perfectly. I mean, the joint-chiefs of staff got killed, if I remember correctly, but the cheering in the end made it seem like that was perfectly acceptable collateral damage. I suppose it was given the circumstances of 600m deaths, but still...I'd have liked it if the film didn't gloss over this like it was a straight sets victory for the US of A. I'd also have liked it if the Korean bad guy started shooting hostages much sooner to get the President to give him the Cerberus code. I'm sure that would have worked. But the Korean bad guy seemed like he wanted to take his time. Also how the same pieces of dialogue keep coming out of every. single. US. terrorist. movie. ever. made. made me want to kill myself yet again..."The United States of America does not negotiate with terrorists" and then the pledge of allegiance yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, these are minute nitpicks. Overall the film was good weekend action entertainment.

Butler had some great action scenes, consisting of him kicking ass and killing terrorists with one shot to the head (which I digged). Leagues better than that piece of shit, White House Down. The actors for the same roles were just much, much, much, much more likeable here, and the comedy wasn't present in Olympus like it was so stupidly in White. Eckhart is miles better than Obama, Butler miles better than that model, and Freeman miles better Richard Jenkins.

Not as good as Die Hard, but was it trying to be? Hmm, not sure. When Roger Federer beats Rafael Nadal, is he trying to beat Pete Sampras or Jimmy Connors? I don't believe so. You can only compete with your recent opposition, and in Olympus Has Fallen's case, that is White House Down, and it trounces that piece of shit.

B+

I pretty much loved it, and I should have totally gotten myself to see it earlier. Best action film of the last couple of years for me (haven't seen any of the Raids yet). It totally reminded me of Die Hard in a good way, I'd even generously say it's the best Die Hard since Die Hard. Sure, the film isn't original, but it's execution is nearly perfect to the execution of a 90's action film to it's best. It has a great cast too, with Butler superb in the lead role, and nice supporting roles for Eckhart and Freeman as well, while the rest of the cast (Radha Mitchell, Melissa Leo, Ashley Judd, fit in nicely too). Especially Freeman in his role as acting president couldn't have been better either. The action is just great, and validates Fuqua as perhaps the best action director out there right now. The White House siege was one of the best action sequences ever, and it totally holds up till the end. Sure, it's full of action film tropes, but for nostalgic purposes it's what I love about it. It downright gritty, with excellent kill scenes and a fitting score. The film is often dark, that's something I wish could have been better, but in comparing it to White House Down it so easily wins as the action film to take more seriously. Looking forward to seeing London Has Fallen now.

A-

That's insane.

There are loads better. Paul Greengrass, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Mann, Christopher McQuarrie, and even John Hillcoat.

All fine directors, most great in their own right, but for an action film I'd choose Fuqua over all of them.

This was an absolute surprise and has aged well, I saw it this March before LHF and found this so much better than that. GB does good job here and no idea why Ackhart is not getting more roles.

7/10.

With the series going downhill with each installment I saw the trilogy again last weekend. This time I didn't like the movie as much as last time. I liked the invasion scenes but after that it becomes dreadful. It wants to be the next Die Hard but its fails at pretty much all of it. The good thing is that it does not take itself seriously.