Antoine Fuqua delivered another actioner with Olympus Has Fallen. Taking an obvious page from the Die Hard playbook of the lone hero taking on seemingly insurmountable odds, the story casts Gerard Butler in the role of Mike Banning, a secret service agent no longer on the President’s (Aaron Eckhart) protection detail after a horrific accident that saw the First Lady (Ashley Judd) dying.

Now working in the Treasury, and working on the relationship with his wife, Leah (Radha Mitchell) Mike’s day is about to get a lot worse. It seems a North Korean, Kang (Rick Yune) has an inside man in the White House, and is about to launch the largest terrorist attack on the nation ever. He and his team pull out all the stops, decimating the White House and countless civil servants and civilians in an attack that lays waste to large swaths of Washington.

Banning is able to get into the White House amidst the attack and destruction, and now, he’s the man on the inside, the one who is going to mess with Kang’s plans.

Across town, the Speaker of the House, Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) is made the interim President due to the emergency situation, and he finds himself advised by the Secret Service Director (Angela Bassett) and General Clegg (Robert Forster).

Kang’s plan involves getting access to a next gen weapon system, having the American forces withdraw from South Korea which will allow North Korea to reclaim it, and now settle a personal score with Banning.

It’s a fairly paint-by-numbers action story, anyone whose seen Die Hard can tell you the beats that will need to happen, but they’re still fun to watch play out as Banning kicks ass and takes names.

Fuqua delivers an expansive, engaging action film that has some nicely sequences, and attracts his usual level of talent, some great names and abilities that are able to bring the story a gravitas and seriousness that helps ground the story.

Sure, it’s troubling to see the White House take its hits, or even the slaughter that cuts across Washington, especially after the 2021 insurrection, as it’s not hard to imagine things playing out horrifically like that had things escalated, but it’s a solid action film.

Had this come out in the 80s, or 90s I think this one would have just soared, but with so many films released through the course of a year, it’s easy for some films to get lost, buried, forgotten, or overlooked. Not to mention that a similar film, White House Down, came out the same year.

Sure this one spawned two sequels, but even then, they were never on my radar. Now that I’ve found time for this one though, I enjoyed it. let’s see what I think of the sequels.