Olympus Has Fallen

***1/2

Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray

Olympus Has Fallen
"24-carat, high pressure excitement"

Move over Bruce. Gerry has taken over the Die Hard franchise and moved into The White House.

This is 24-carat, high pressure excitement, impossible odds, explosions every five minutes, torture, treachery and a plot you will pick to pieces afterwards. It comes with a triple V rating - violence, violence, violence!

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The timing is perfect. Just when the fat kid with the silly haircut is threatening the world with a nuclear attack, Olympus Has Fallen opens.

The baddies who kidnap the US President (Aaron Erkhart) and half his cabinet are - you've guessed it - North Korean. Gerard Butler plays a member of the first family's security team who takes on the terrorists single handed. Morgan Freeman displays his well pressed dignity as Speaker of the House who assumes leadership while Number One is tied up.

Thank God it's not in 3-D. The action shouts for itself and the quality of mercy has been replaced by the splatter of blood across a portrait of Abe Lincoln outside the Oval Office. No quarter is given on either side. Body count? In the hundreds. Entertainment value? Depends upon your definition of "in harm's way."

Paisley born Butler has earned his spurs after wading through rom-coms (P.S. I Love You) and coming out onto the battlefield (Coriolanus) with confidence and authority.

This is his Waterloo. He does not flinch.

Reviewed on: 04 Mar 2016
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Terrorists take the White House, and only a disgraced former Presidential guard can stop them.
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Director: Antoine Fuqua

Writer: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt

Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Rick Yune, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell, Melissa Leo, Finley Jacobsen, Ashley Judd, Robert Forster, Phil Austin, Sean O'Bryan

Year: 2013

Runtime: 120 minutes

BBFC: 15 - Age Restricted

Country: US

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