Olympus Has Fallen (DVD)

Reviews

"Olympus Has Fallen" by Micky B - 1 August 2013

This American action thriller is “hot off the press,” so to speak – having been released only towards the end of March 2013! The nitty-gritty of the story is that of a North Korean-led guerrilla assault on the White House, and focuses on an American Secret Service man who tries to stop them. Former U.S. Army Ranger Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is the lead Secret Service agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail. Butler maintains a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart;) First Lady Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd) and particularly their son Connor Asher (Finley Jacobsen). During a Christmas evening drive from Camp David to a campaign fundraiser, a tree falls in front of the President’s convoy, making the vehicles skid out of control on black ice on a bridge. The lead vehicle in the convoy falls into an icy river while the Presidential limousine teeters on the edge for a minute before falling as well with Margaret still unconscious inside. Banning is able to save President Asher, but Margaret and two other agents die in the crash.Banning is then demoted from the Presidential Detail as the sight of him triggers Asher’s memories of the night Margaret died. However, during a meeting between Asher and South Korean President Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim), Korean-led guerrilla forces, aided by treasonous members of Prime Minister Lee’s own detail, which include Dave Forbes (Dylan McDermott), an ex-US Secret Service agent turned private contractor, mount an air and ground assault that results in the capture of the White House. From here on, the story gets too fast moving to go into here...but you can be assured of action a-plenty! And yes, Morgan Freeman <i>is</i> in it too! He gets third billing as Allan Trumbull, congressional speaker of the House. Incidentally, the title forms part of the code which enables the North Koreans to access the American top secret computer files. (A thought: can Mr Edward Snowden have had anything to do with this...???)