Gerard Butler + Morgan Freeman + Aaron Eckhart= Die Hard set in the White House. Yes, please! With that kind of math, what else is there to say?
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
Just kidding!
Die Hard’s base formula is pretty simple: Hero with the odds stacked against them + terrorist takeover of a locked-down location = movie. It’s a formula executed to perfection in the original, and one which lends itself to attempted recreations. So much so, in fact, that there’s an entire sub-genre of action movies one could simply describe as “Die Hard in/on a…” Under Siege is Die Hard on a boat. Air Force One is Die Hard on a plane. Skyscraper is Die Hard in a different building. Many add their own variables to the formula, but few come close to recreating the magic of the Bruce Willis classic.
Enter Olympus Has Fallen (2013). Now, hold off on the firing squad for now. I’m not saying they’re equals, but as far as “Die Hard in/on a…” films go, this is one of my favorites.
In Olympus Has Fallen, terrorists attack Washington, destroying the Washington monument and taking over the White House. The President (Aaron Eckhart) and other super important officials are taken hostage, and there’s only one good man left standing on the inside- Mike Banner (Gerard Butler).
A “Die Hard in/on a…” movie lives and dies on the strength of its lead, and Gerard Butler shines as “screw your rules and protocols” action man Banner. Butler has plenty of experience as a kick-ass lead (This is Sparta! will probably be on his gravestone) and brings ultra-badass Banner to believable life. Banner’s full of sassafrass, especially towards pencilnecks more focused on following protocol than getting the job done. “Classified?” he says to one official, “Really? Well right now I think I have the proverbial need-to-fucking-know.” He’s not all grizzled one-man-wrecking-machine, though. Banner tries to cooperate with outside officials by simply telling them, “use me.” When those officials are later being complete dummies, he’s not afraid to call them out on it.
For those of us who are old enough to remember exactly what happened on September 11, 2001, Olympus Has Fallen deliberately strikes at some of those same nerves. The Washington monument gets toppled by a crashing plane, for cryin’ out loud. Subtle, it ain’t. When it’s not being unsubtle, OFH has some moments which are definite head-scratchers once you apply even a modicum of logic to the silly crap unfolding onscreen.
- When the President’s car is hanging off the side of the bridge, Banning farts around for a few seconds tugging on The First Lady’s (Ashley Judd) seat belt when he had a knife the whole time!?! Normally I might let that slide since forgetting about your knife is plausible during that kind of intense and panic-inducing situation… but he’s a trained secret service agent!
- When the White House is under attack there’s an army of baddies walking across the lawn with big guns a blazin’. All of the American secret service agents run out the front door of the White House like they’ve been invited to a party with a bounce houses and an open bar. You would think that maybe after the first wave of wannabe party boys get turned into swiss cheese, the ones in the back would think, “Mayhap a diff’rent approach best be taken.” But alas, no secret service agents can resist a bounce house and free booze, so they, too, end up full of daylight.
- Is the United States really saying the life of one man is more important than the whole world? The U.S. is willing to give the terrorists whatever they want, despite the dire consequences, to save the President- one man for whom there are many back-ups already in place.
Silly moments like these crop up here and there during OHF… and, y’know what? It’s still a kickass time. Lots of solid shooting, fisticuffs, and sneaking, a cast loaded down with actors giving the exact performance they need to for an adrenaline-soaked time like this (particular Kudos to Melissa Leo as the Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan. She’s one tough bastard!) Olympus Has Fallen doesn’t perfectly replicate the magic of Die Hard, but it takes that formula and adds in a few new integers to arrive to its own similar, terrific, answer.
Action Rating: 4.5 Proverbial Need-to-Fucking-Knows, out of 5
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
