Olympus Has Fallen

Description

Disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds
himself trapped inside the White House in the wake of a terrorist attack;
using his inside knowledge, Banning works with national security to rescue the
President from his kidnappers. One of the great virtues of the Die
Hard action movie model is its compactness, with the limited surroundings
giving filmmakers license to explore–and often detonate–every nook, cranny,
and air duct of a confined space. The techno thriller Olympus Has Fallen
doesn’t deviate much from the established lone wolf/terrorist formula, but the
White House setting adds a definite kick to the proceedings. Even when the
plot starts to get a bit too implausible, the novelty of seeing, say, a knife
fight in the Lincoln bedroom keeps it humming right along. Following a tragic
prologue set at Camp David, the film wastes little time in getting to the main
event, as the president (Aaron Eckhart) and his staff are held hostage by an
army of mercenaries. Enter Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), a former Secret
Service agent with deadly knowledge of the Oval Office’s crawlspaces and
ambush spots. Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) keeps the proceedings lean
and fairly mean, with a sense of geography that allows the audience to clearly
see the succession of national landmarks getting blown up real good. The
director also makes expert use of an unusually qualified supporting cast,
including Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, and especially Melissa Leo, who goes
way, way beyond the call of duty as the secretary of defense. The film’s ace
in the hole, however, proves to be the amusingly surly Butler, whose habit of
issuing oddly specific threats of bodily harm lends an unexpected touch of
black comedy to the final act. Any good guy can take out a bad guy, but how
many call the shot beforehand? –Andrew Wright

Features:

Product Details:

• Genre: Action, Thriller
• Format: AC-3, Dolby, Color, NTSC, Closed-captioned, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Contributor: Antoine Fuqua, Cole Hauser, Radha Mitchell, Rick Yune, Finley Jacobsen, Angela Bassett, Dylan McDermott, Gerard Butler, Melissa Leo, Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Robert Forster, Aaron Eckhart See more
• Language: English
• Runtime: 2 hours
• Digital Copy Expiration Date ‏ : ‎ December 31, 2016
• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 2.40:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ R (Restricted)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 Ounces
• Audio Description: ‏ : ‎ English
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ 621574
• Director ‏ : ‎ Antoine Fuqua
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ AC-3, Dolby, Color, NTSC, Closed-captioned, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours