Olympus Has Fallen (2013) movie review

Olympus Has Fallen is a mind-blowingly stupid and ludicrous movie about Korean terrorists taking over the White House. This premise alone should tell you what type of movie it is. But you know what? I loved it. The general advice for going to these types of big dumb action movies is to shut your brain off, but honestly, I had a lot of fun laughing at all the glaringly obvious plot holes there were. The writers did just enough work to keep the movie moving at a brisk pace and to have everyone in the audience understand everything that's going on, and nothing more.  I mean, if you're someone who gets offended by movies like this where everyone (except maybe the protagonist) acts like complete idiots, then this ain't the movie for you. But hey, this might be a dumb blockbuster, but this also is a dumb blockbuster that's both better and dumber than any other dumb blockbuster in recent memory. Better than Battleship, better than 2012, and better than Transformers.  Also, surprisingly brutal violence, definitely not the typical PG-13 stuff you see these days, but some real, up-close, headshots, torture, and executions, which was, if nothing else, a change of pace.  

I also watched A Good Day To Die Hard recently, and Olympus Has Fallen, which is basically “Die Hard in the White House” after all, just blows the “real” Die Hard out of the water. That movie felt listless, like it was going through the motions; the action sequences would drag on and on,  and then the drama would be jammed in like an ice pick to the skull to kill the pacing dead in its tracks, and you'd be wishing for another action sequence to pick things back up to a sleepwalk.  The biggest action set piece in A Good Day To Die Hard involved a huge three vehicle chase sequence using a Bourne series style shakey-cam to make following what was going on a chore, and while watching it at my thoughts turned from “well, at least they seem to be using real cars instead of CGI ones” and “man, this seems like a gigantic waste of money.” 

Olympus Has Fallen doesn't include boring backstories, it doesn't include shakey-cam, it doesn't include tacked-on romances, and it doesn't waste your time (like, say, Transformers does). And that makes up for the stupidity, for me; the writers know the movie's stupid, and they're saying it's a dumb action movie and they're not going to waste your time; maybe they could've written a more logical story, but that would've just bogged the movie down with explanations and complicated the plot.  Go watch it, because even though it's played completely straight, it's one of the most fun action movies I've seen since, maybe Iron Man? And I actually liked it more than the Avengers.

SPOILERS: I'm going list some of the plot holes, brain-dead character decisions, and contrivances in the movie that I noticed while watching. Because it's fun.  Ready? Go!

A huge unidentified, military grade aircraft apparently manages to enter into Washington DC airspace with no huge alarm bells going off, before two jets come in to intercept with the threat of shooting it down if it doesn't turn back (onto the civilians below, mind you, since individual houses are visible from the height they're at). And people are still having to give up nail clippers to airport security before boarding planes? There was no distraction beforehand, no obfuscation, the terrorists' were just going to brazenly fly a single heavily armed aircraft into Washington DC and to shoot down any opposition it faced, and that was step one.

The unidentified aircraft shoots down the two jets, and then starts mowing down people in the streets and around the Washington Monument. Even this apparently isn't enough to mobilize, like, the entire Air Force; for the rest of the movie, the only other planes that ever show up are, like, one or two other jets, and then something like a half dozen helicopters later on. The jet that does manage to shoot it down finally immediately disappears from the vicinity. You know when that jet, or any other aircraft could've helped? How about when there were terrorists storming the White House lawn, or when they had a machine gun turret truck parked outside mowing down the entire Secret Service?

There's a huge Korean military aircraft coming. White House defence consists of snipers on the roof, where they're easy pickings for the armoured aircraft, and a missile turret that fires a single salvo that the aircraft deals with what I think were decoy flares. Apparently the missile turret defending the White House can only fire four missiles and is unable to reload, unless the Korean plane took it out and I don't remember.

I understand the writers wanted to quickly take out most of the Secret Service agents in the White House, but having them waltz out of the White House front doors into turret fire? Like, the turret was just pumping bullets into the front entrance and they were continuing to run directly into the gunfire. The sad music while the bodies pile up makes the sequence for me.

The entire plan of the terrorists hinges on the president deciding in the heat of the moment to order Secret Service to pull the entire Korean delegation with them into the bunker, and for the Secret Service to obey.

Shouldn't Secret Service agent Forbes know that there are secret passages in the walls? He might not know the President's kid Connor likes to hide in them, but he should know they're there.

A chimney into a simple grate that can be lifted up from the outside is all it takes to exit and enter the White House building?

The Korean commandos roaming the hallways seem awfully casual, considering that their boss' plan hinges so much on finding the president's kid, which is basically all they're doing for like, several hours, since killing off everyone else in the building was done in like ten minutes. Even after they're aware of Banning, after Banning shoots and injures one of their members and they know he's around, they're just strolling around. Show some urgency, guys! This is for your homeland!

That Hydra Six top secret classified weapon sure looks like it could've come in handy to combat that huge heavily armed military aircraft that was approaching the White House after shooting down the jet and dozens of citizens. But, hey, maybe they needed to save it until they really needed it.

Just an observation, but that female Korean hacker certainly should get some accolades, for having to monitor surveillance, communications, and even the positioning of the Seventh Fleet, all while cracking a top secret (7?!?) character Cereburus code single-handedly. Meanwhile, the 40 commandos outside the bunker can't even find one kid or take out one Secret Service agent.

Yes, Mr. President, keep that admiral alive! The secretary of defense (I think that's what she was) woman too! Make them give up their codes, even the military man who should be willing to die for his country and who definitely shouldn't, in this case, listen to your orders! You know what the next logical step is for terrorist leader Kang, though? It's torturing and shooting the admiral and the secretary of defense you just “saved”, right in front of you, since they've already given up the codes and are therefore useless now, and you've shown you're willing to crack in order to protect their lives anyways. Although Kang only ever kills hostages to make the point that he's willing to kill, and never to actually get anything, and the only way he ever considers getting the president's code is through the president's kid. We're never actually shown him trying to get the president to crack. He might to strong-willed, but come on, it's not like you have much else to do, other than peering over the shoulder of your hacker and giving maybe 2 minutes worth of speeches to the Pentagon. The president came perilously close to dooming the entire country to nuclear wasteland by giving up the two codes. And the admiral died in the end anyways.

Secret Service traitor Forbes decides to put his night-time acting classes to good use when he goes to take out Banning, taking out his smokes and starting what seemed like it was gonna be some sort of monologue about his rattled nerves, although he slips up before he gets too far into it. What the hell are you doing, man? Get him talking about his plan, maybe pump him for information if you're feeling up to it, let him take lead, and put a bullet in the back of his head when he's not looking.

Something like six helicopters is all you can muster, for this key operation to take back the White House and save the President? Six? I think the Air Force might need a budget increase.

Why, Banning, would you tell Kang that the president's kid was saved? Why?

After Banning's “I'm coming for you!” video message for Kang, Kang's reaction is to take the secretary of defense outside the safety of the bunker with something like six of his men, through the White House with a vengeful Banning hiding in the shadows, to shoot her on the front steps of the White House, and he decides he has to be the one to personally pull the trigger? I have to assume something was edited out, or some scenes were shuffled around for that, because having one follow the other doesn't make sense.

Okay, so all those armed military personnel are forced to stand around and do nothing outside the White House because the terrorists have the president as a hostage. Why, after the helicopter blows up and you think the president is dead, are they still hanging back? I mean, you still have to look through the wreckage, or at least put out that fire and look for survivors in the White House, right? Maybe everyone's too shocked to give them any orders. Then Banning calls in, says that he thinks the president and Kang are still alive, and the Speaker of the House says that Banning has to go in by himself, never mind you've got whole platoons twiddling their thumbs outside.

Also not really a plot hole, but I was sort of expecting the president to do a bit more in the climatic showdown with Kang. Instead he gets shot, and his only contribution is a moan of pain that distracts Kang enough for Banning get the upper hand and stab him in the brain. I thought the president would get to throw a KO punch at Kang, you know, since the beginning sequence showed him boxing with Banning, or at least he'd throw a gun to Banning or something.

Banning, after single-handedly taking down terrorists and saving the secretary of defense, the President's kid, and the President, has to carry the president, shot in the gut, hey, maybe in danger of bleeding out even, outside, by himself.

Hey, the president's kid is outside to greet them! Apparently he was safely being kept in a vehicle parked not two feet from the gate of the war zone that is the White House, the building filled with angry terrorist commandos armed with bombs, heavy artillery, and RPGs.