kellym40 film review, Uncategorized

‘Olympus’ sequel, ‘London Has Fallen,’ falls under its predecessor

Rating 2.5/5

Last July I reviewed ‘Olympus Has Fallen,’ which was released in 2013, in anticipation of the sequel that has just been released. Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt who penned ‘Olympus,’ wrote this sequel with a new director, Babak Najafi. His previous directing credits are mostly short films. Together, they seemed to fail to deliver a tense action-drama from three years ago. Don’t get me wrong. The film did have some tense moments and it did deliver explosions, gunfire, and car chases, but did not seem to be any different than previously seen in most any other film in the genre.

The film sets up the players and introduces the antagonist Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul), an arms dealer who is a very bad man. Well, what arms dealer is a good man? Tragedy strikes Barkawi and his family and he then blames the United States, primarily President Benjamin Asher, portrayed once again by Aaron Eckhart. After the tragedy, it flashes forward two years later where we see Asher jogging with Secret Service Agent Mike Banning. Gerard Butler reprises his role as ex-special forces turned Secret Service Agent. There’s the usual banter between the two and they have picked up nicely from the events of ‘Olympus.’ Banning and his wife Leah (Radha Mitchell) are expecting a child. We also learn that Banning is considering his resignation.

An international incident (the death of London’s Prime Minister) then propels the story forward, which prompts the gathering of world leaders and the U. S. President to London for the funeral. The President and his staff have days to plan the trip to London, unknown to them the Prime Minister’s death was just a ploy to gather the world leaders. The day arrives and the leaders gather in London making. Moments later, the attacks begin. As the story unfolds, plot points are revealed and the audience learns of the plot as information is revealed to the U. S. and London officials. Morgan Freeman returns and now is Vice President, Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs (Angela Bassett) returns, Robert Forster reprises his role as Gen. Edward Clegg, and returning Defense Secretary Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo) rounds out the key players for the United States. However, they all seem to take a back seat to the action as Banning and Asher are at the forefront this time around. Charlotte Riley is introduced as MI-6 Operative Jacqueline Marshall, who helps Banning and works with the rest of MI-6 and others to uncover the threats from Barkawi.

Butler portrays his character with the same intensity as before. But it didn’t work as well this time around because, as stated, the driving action was similar to other films in the genre. Eckhart’s President Asher did get a little more action in this film as he was running and firing guns as opposed to just being tied up and pushed around, and was believable but just not anything special. The rest of the supporting cast, from the United States personnel or the London operatives were decent in their respective roles. Aboutboul was not real convincing as the antagonist Barkawi. The fault there, I think, was that it didn’t feel like the character was written with enough dimension. Even his son, Kamran Barkawi (Waleed Zuaiter) appeared as a carbon copy of most other terrorists in action films such as this one.

From the onset, one can see the opening attack was a well-coordinated attack. As with ‘Olympus,’ there might have been a couple of things that might make you scratch your head. For example, knowing where the world leaders would be at the exact moment of the planned attack might have been questionable. But again, like its predecessor, it follows the idea that this was a well-planned attack. But if it took Barkawi two years to plan this attack, he must not be as good as an antagonist. This film, while it had its moments, seemed to have missed the mark on creating a worthy sequel.

kellym40 film review

‘Olympus Has Fallen’ a familiar action film that delivers

Rating 3.5/5

This film was released a little over two years ago. It is from Sony Pictures and runs just under two hours. Director Antoine Fuqua, who directed “King Arthur” in 2004, “Shooter” in 2007, and most recently last year’s “The Equalizer” with Denzel Washington, has taken the script from Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt and delivered a tense action-drama. And with the pending release of a sequel entitled “London Has Fallen” to be released early next year, I decided to go back to the film and offer my take. You can watch the trailer for the sequel below.

London Has Fallen

Is the film a masterpiece? Not quite. Was it a runaway hit? Not hardly. Or at least not the hit the filmmakers possibly hoped it would be. However, with a budget of $70,000,000 and grossing more than $160,000,000 worldwide, it did carry its own. I will mention there are some spoilers. The ‘Olympus’ trailer can be viewed below.

Olympus Has Fallen

When it was released, there were several comparisons to “Die Hard.” I would agree that it had some similarities as it was about a former Secret Service agent Mike Banning, played by Gerard Butler, who now has taken a desk job in the treasury after a winter car accident results in the loss of the First Lady. However, a terrorist attack on the White House springs him into action and Banning finds himself in the White House, unbeknown to the terrorists at first, and tries to figure out what is going on. I believe that’s about as close to “Die Hard” it gets.

The day begins like any other day. U. S. President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) is meeting with the South Korean Prime Minister. After the attack, the President is rushed to the bunker and goes against protocol to allow the Prime Minister and his team in the bunker as well. From there, the terrorists carry out their plan by someone inside the Prime Minister’s detail, who we find out later is a known terrorist known as Kang (Rick Yune). Kang was not necessarily real threatening as a villain but was believable as a man who thought what he was trying to do was right. With the president and vice president being held hostage, the duties of the acting president fall under the Speaker of the House Alan Trumball, played by Morgan Freeman. He was calm and collected, yet forceful when needed, as the acting president. Eckhart was believable as a strong president and a loving father to his son.

Olympus Has Fallen

To me the film had elements of the television series “24” with its inside job players. The most notable is a former Secret Service agent played by Dylan McDermott. He is at the White House on the day of the attack and is supposed to be in retirement, although his presence is never quite fully explained. But I guess the terrorists can’t have the access they have without someone being there on the inside that was part of the government. The majority of the film also took place within a 24-hour period, much like the series. Additionally, Butler’s character was ex-special forces, similar to Kiefer Sutherland’s character on “24.”

From the onset, one can see the attack on the White House was a well-coordinated attack. There might have been a couple of things that might make you scratch your head. For example, a bus was blown up at a certain time for a distraction. It might make you wonder how the terrorists would know that the bus would be there at that exact moment for their plan to work. But again, it follows the idea that this was a well-planned attack. Additionally, the terrorists did have some help from the inside as well. I’m sure that made things a little easier to coordinate. All in all, the action seemed to flow at a good pace and seemed enjoyable as an action-drama.