Essay On Olympus Has Fallen Review

Antoine Fuqua’s “Olynpus Has Fallen” that was released in late March, 2013 is another Hollywood-like movie that has created a great deal of controversy. It is a movie that bears many resemblances with “Die Hard” and the plot is actually about the same too: a hero is tasked to save the day. It seems like a movie with great potentials that were not utilized at their fullest, as it kept reminding of Die Hard all along. Other than that, Olympus Has Fallen is indeed an action-packed political thriller movie that pleases fans of that kind for sure.
With the 9/11 memories still burdening everyone’s minds, the movie demonstrates how easily something that is granted as the nation’s, perhaps even the entire world’s, safest place, the Presidential Residence in Washington DC, can become the target of terrorists that can penetrate the seemingly impenetrable defense surrounding the White House.
Taking a closer look at the dialogues, we can see an implied puritanism that distinguishes the Americans, when for example the First Lady kisses her husband good luck before going to the fund raiser Christmas party, for which he is rather unwilling to participate, she says: “God forbid people know we kiss” and wipes off the residues of her lipstick from the President’s face with a scornful look on her face.
Olympus Has Fallen catches the viewer’s attention from the very start; the scenery is very well set and the music engages from the first minute. It is as if we can tell that something bad is about to happen in the snowy environment, where action does not take long to start, increasing viewers’ heartbeat, when the President’s car drops off a bridge and takes the First Lady to a cold grave. The special effects are also superb and it seems that the director alongside his writing team have made a deep dive investing in detail. Every fast-pacing destruction scene appears as if it has actually occurred, while the bombing and explosions are depicted in a well-crafted manner. From a cinematographic point of view, the movie is excellently delivered, although many would question the meaning of so many unmitigated slaughter performed in such detail all along when the terrorists were attacking the White House. At this point, we can tell that the movie carries concepts of the Independence Day, where major key-cities had to be destroyed.
The movie demonstrates other interesting aspect of lie, like how everyone’s relationships change and are thrown into disarray after the initial car accident. Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, the President’s head of security, appears pally with President at first and is a role model for the President’s son, Connor, who has been taught the layout of his current residence by Butler. However, a year after the accident he seems trapped in a maze of thoughts and feelings of guilt for what he could have done to save the First Lady. It is amazing how one’s mind can be stuck in between two worlds and times so easily: one of the current life and one of where the mind has stopped; in this case, the last minutes before the fall of the car. Butler’s relationship with the President and the President’s son is destroyed; yet, fate brings the salvation of an entire nation in Butler’s hands and his only, when the President is abducted from the heart of the White House. In the end, like any other similar action movie, the hero gains his lost self-esteem and is highly praised by society.
That being said, the head of the nation, the President of the US, appears as a blunt instrument that is used to serve a devious foreign terrorist’s goals and make things easier for the latter to pass on his message. In fact, the President’s demystification is so obvious that strikes as a complete opposite of what was showcased in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. Perhaps this is the reason why Butler was loaded with such brutality in his killings: knifings, neck snaps and other lethal encounters that are full of blood-shed and profound cruelty. It was the President’s reluctance to make a decision that urged Butler to such cruelty and killings. As a matter of fact, unmitigated carnage lasts about one fourth of the actual play time, until Butler manages to gain access to the White House that he knows like the palm of his hand. It is there when he start a cat and mouse chase with the terrorist named Kang and his blood-thirsty executors.
Olympus Has Fallen does not manage to break any serious ground in the political thriller genre, since it has adopted major concepts of previously played movies. However, it does awaken deep nightmares of people living in Washington and the United States in general. It is a movie that keeps viewers’ attention from beginning to end with excellent visuals, its plot and scenario and the characters playing help add up to the overall suspense and action. On the other side, it cannot be characterized as unbiased and forwards patriotism to the extreme, via overwhelming massacres and brutality to their fullest. Although it is not an academy award material, it is a movie that leaves a good taste in the mouth of action enthusiasts, after the closing of the last scene.