How are the mighty fallen!
"Perimeter secure." Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is in charge of the detail ("Keep it tight, everybody") escorting the First Family from Camp David ("Package is on the move") to a "billionaire's Christmas party." Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mike finds it necessary to cut the ribbon and divvy up the package (“Sir, get out of the car; I'll take care of her”) leaving the First Lady (Ashley Judd) to break the ice.
If President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) thinks Christmas was bad, wait until “18 months later” (“So, how was your Fourth?”) when such fireworks (“White House is under ground attack”) were not seen since 1812 when the British burned down the House. They've got “a downed C-130 on the south lawn and a gunfight on the north.” Our military detail takes fifteen minutes to get there, but the terrorists “took it down in thirteen” (“Olympus has fallen.”)
Terrorist mastermind Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune) of the Korean paramilitary organization KUF, is holding several high ranking U.S. hostages in a secure operations room. He's for “Justice.” He wants the U.S. “to end the old war your country interrupted” by withdrawing its ground forces from South Korea and removing its Seventh Fleet from the region. The clock is ticking and his trigger finger is itchy.
President Asher, now a hostage, has opportunity to play the martyr. Kang wants to use top secret CERBERUS to cripple the U.S., but it can only be operated with three codes in tandem held by: the Pres., the V.P., and the Sec. of Defense … all of whom Kang has corralled. The president orders the other two to give up theirs to escape torture, but he will endure whatever they inflict on him never giving his up. Now instead of his wife breaking the ice, it'll be the North Korean chick trying to crack the code. Where is Bill Clinton when you need someone to obstruct “Justice”?
With the terrorists gaining the upper hand on the mighty protective services, it is up to Mike who'd been transferred to Treasury to come over and save the day. As they say, it's the economy, stupid. I'm not saying this makes perfect sense, but in today's world, does it have to?
Mount Olympus has homeland security
Olympus was, according to the Greeks, the abode of their mighty gods. In this movie it's the code word for the White House. In our Christian society we look in the Bible for what God has to say, and there's a whole chapter in Ecclesiastes that seems relevant here.
(Eccl. 11:1) “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” I cut through the park on my way to the theater and encountered a girl with a clipboard next to the footbridge over the canal. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was looking at geocaches. Of course, you are. We see Mike ghosting through the White House retrieving all kinds of Secret Service goodies cached in various places.
(Eccl. 11:2) “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.” Seven is the complete number; eight adds some reserve to it. There's a reason why top secret systems are secured with a code, by three codes in this case. It may have been unwise for President Asher to reduce them to one code. Who knows what the North Koreans have up their sleeve.
(Eccl. 11:3) “If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” In an ice storm, the tree limbs get heavy and fall to the road. If one of them hits a Secret Service limousine in convoy starting a chain reaction, and the Presidential limo ends up teetering off the side of the bridge above an ice-choked river, and it starts to slip, guess where it will end up.
(Eccl. 11:4) “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” If Mike's girlfriend a nurse, working triage at a hospital during the attack, were to watch what's happening on the airwaves, she couldn't do her job.
(Eccl. 11:5) “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.” The short version says that God works in mysterious ways. Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo) is reduced to crawling on the floor, and what does she do? She recites the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1953 when the Korean War ended with a truce—the war that Kang wants resumed—President Eisenhower added to the Pledge “One nation under God” to take a stand against godless communism. It is not unheard of for God to work through an individual to accomplish his purposes—here divine protection—, and Mike has the Secret Service skills that Kang underestimates, but he'll need one more: to be able to enter a complex code by dictation into a keypad, under stress and get it right the first time. He picked up the skill doing paperwork over at Treasury. I wouldn't have thought God would move him there by the means he did, but then that's the point.
(Eccl. 11:6) “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” America maintained a threefold nuclear deterrent during the cold war: bombers, silos, and subs. It still has the silos and subs ready to go, deployed across many time zones, so if CERBERUS were to cripple the silos, the subs are still available.
(Eccl. 11:7–8) “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.” Yeah, it's great to work outside and not be stuck behind a desk, but Mike isn't the only one it's ever happened to, getting stuck inside (“I want back in. This desk job's killing me.”)
(Eccl. 11:9–10) “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.” First Son Connor (Finley Jacobsen) liked his little games around the White House, but suddenly he's got to put to use the Secret Service craft his friend Mike taught him.
Production values
“Olympus Has Fallen” (2013) was directed by Antoine Fuqua. It was written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt. It stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman. As Speaker Trumbull, Freeman got to play the acting president during the crisis, but he landed flat-footed—maybe that's how it was written. The actors all handled their parts well, and I was especially impressed by Melissa Leo whose Secretary of Defense character really was in the line of fire, and by Rick Yune who played the villain evil and smart. Aaron Eckhart's president did okay but won't make the top ten.
The military action was incredible. Very impressive attack even though they were the bad guys. The Korean pilots were cold and deadly. The background music was sorta subdued so as not to upstage the gunfire.
Conclusion
Go into this one for the action, not for the intelligible plot.
Recommended: Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Plot
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