What is the reason why anybody would try to make a “Die Hard”ish movie involving the hijacking of the White House and the kidnapping of the President? Because “Die Hard” is awesome of course. Why is it awesome? Because it is the perfect storm of ruthlessly violent action mixed with politically usually un-correct humour and an adorably vulnerable hero.
Now “Olympus Has Fallen” has some bits of action, especially involving a bulky Korean airplane rampaging its way through the Washington airspace like a bull through a China shop. Everything else it does not have:
Gerard Butler is not a very interesting actor to begin with, and what he is most is not funny (well, he can be” “Sparta says NO” was funny, in a bad way).
- Aaron Eckhart is given absolutely nothing to do as the President of the US, being tied to a rail and to Melissa Lei. While at it, he is constantly un-funny.
- Morgan Freeman is probably bored by himself after playing Presidents or Gods in 20 movies and counting, and is not funny (with the exception of one scene where he stuns his staff with the request for a cup of coffee. Seriously the comedic highlight of the film).
- The opening sequence involving the President’s wife is even less relevant to the rest of the film than a pre-title Bond sequence is. It’s not funny, either.
- The villain is almost a caricature of all the Die Hard villains, only that he’s not funny.
- The plot device that drives the whole story, the evil dude’s more evil plan against America, is lame to say the least. Needless to say that it is not even funny.
In short, that film is a bit of nonsense, even though there is no reason for that. How difficult can it be to write an even more blunt copy of Die Hard by just MAKING SOME JOKES??? One-liners? Funny t-shirts? A comic relief character that is then killed off in a hilarious fashion? Who thinks that playing such kind of story straight would make any sense? Not me… Disappointing waste of talent (i.e. of Melissa Leo).
thomas4cinema 