Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen - Dir. Antoine Fuqua (2013)

In 1997, a small town in the Pacific Northwest and the city of Los Angeles were threatened by the sudden eruption of volcanoes in Dante's Peak and Volcano. A year later, the Earth is nearly destroyed by two cataclysmic asteroids in Deep Impact and Armageddon. In 2013, the White House is in jeopardy not once, but twice. Roland Emmerich will direct Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx in White House Down, which will be released in June by Sony. Meanwhile, Millennium Films and FilmDistrict have beaten them to the punch with Olympus Has Fallen.

One snowy night, President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) is on his way to a Christmas fundraiser when an accident causes his limo to swerve off a bridge. Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) saves the President's life, but is unable to save the First Lady (Ashley Judd). Over a year later, Banning is still haunted by his failure and exiled to a desk job at the Treasury Department. He races back into action when the nation's capital is attacked during a meeting between President Asher and the South Korean Prime Minister. In the film's most gripping and prolonged set piece, a cargo plane outfitted with Gatling guns literally causes monumental destruction. Not since Earth vs. the Flying Saucers has the Washington Monument suffered such damage. Garbage trucks doubling as armored vehicles roll up Pennsylvania Avenue while a blitzkrieg of armed assailants (disguised as tourists) breach the White House lawn killing dozens of security personnel and police responders. The ringleader is Kang (Rick Yune), a wanted terrorist who has infiltrated the South Korean government. He takes the President, V.P. (Phil Austin), Secretary of Defense (Melissa Leo), and other key members of staff hostage inside an underground bunker. Of course, there's only one man who can save them…Mike Banning.

If the plot sounds familiar, it's because Olympus Has Fallen is yet another graduate from the school of Die Hard with the White House standing in for Nakatomi Plaza. The similarities are so prominent and frequent that screenwriters Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt (in their first credit) could be charged with outright plagiarism. Gerard Butler leaps off an exploding rooftop while a helicopter crashes behind him. He also taunts the villain over radio with tired one-liners ("Let's play a game of fuck off. You go first."). There's a scene where Banning bumps into one of the bad guys who pretends to be a frightened good guy. Banning's warnings against a foolhardy attempt at breaching the terrorists' defenses fall on deaf ears. Not to mention In the Line of Fire already did the Secret Service agent in search of redemption to greater effect.

Realizing the inherently silly nature of their film, the producers have loaded their supporting cast with actors who can effortlessly convey dramatic gravitas. The obligatory command center scenes feature Angela Bassett as the head of Secret Service and Morgan Freeman as the Speaker of the House now the acting president. Robert Forster portrays a hard-assed general who fills the role of Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson. Dylan McDermott makes a scenery chewing appearance as a turncoat agent though Rick Yune fails to lend anything memorable as the lead villain. Radha Mitchell gets a rather thankless role as Banning's worried wife. Aaron Eckhart is perfectly cast as the defiant authority figure and it's nice to see Gerard Butler in an action flick after doing so many terrible romantic comedies.

Antoine Fuqua is a solid action director, but aside from the opening salvo on D.C., there are not a lot of spectacular sequences. The majority of the film takes place inside a darkened White House, one that's so dark that you can hardly see any of the fights or shootouts. The darkness may have been to just hide the poor choreography or subpar CGI.

Olympus shamelessly exploits post-9/11 anxiety and xenophobia. Some viewers will be turned off at watching an airplane crash into a landmark as debris crushes people below it. The movie tries to have its cake and eat it too with terrorists that are clearly North Korean while straining to portray them as having no allegiance. These themes are only re-enforced by an overblown "America, Fuck Yeah," attitude, including one character defiantly reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as they are dragged and beaten.

Olympus Has Fallen plays as mindless, red meat entertainment in spite of its queasy politics and thoroughly derivative script right down to a climatic countdown in massive, bold numbers. Although it's a blatant knockoff, Olympus is actually more enjoyable than the latest Die Hard sequel.

Rating: ** (*****)

The Campaign

The Campaign - Dir. Jay Roach (2012)

"War has rules. Mud wrestling has rules. Politics has no rules."

            -Ross Perot

Will Ferrell comedies are pretty easy to conceive. Simply drop the comedian into an environment like NASCAR or professional ice skating and then let him run loose with his trademark absurdist ravings. And what better place for those lunatic rants than the wacky world of politics.

Ferrell is Cam Brady, the Democratic Congressman for the state of North Carolina. He has run unopposed since his election and is about to enter his fifth term. That all changes when billionaire tycoons, Glen and Wade Motch (John Lithgow & Dan Aykroyd as thinly veiled parodies of the Koch Brothers) take a vested interest in the election as means to bring cheap Chinese labor to the U.S. The Motch Brothers choose Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), the tourism director for the small town of Hammond as their candidate. Huggins is the son of Raymond Huggins (Brian Cox), a bigwig in the Republican Party who has always seen Marty as a constant embarrassment. In steps campaign manager Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott), a shadowy fixer sent in to butch up the effeminate Huggins. His chubby family is kept out of the public eye while his pugs are replaced by more American dogs, a golden retriever and a chocolate lab.

The Campaign was written by Shawn Harwell (HBO's Eastbound and Down) and Chris Henchy (The Other Guys) while Jay Roach handled directorial duties. Roach is best known for directing Austin Powers and Meet the Parents. He's had experience in political comedy as he helmed Recount and Game Change for HBO. The Campaign isn't exactly razor sharp satire and Roach's work here lies somewhere in between. The humor doesn't break any new ground as the film depicts politicians has inept, greedy, and just plain horny.

Ferrell plays it to the hilt as Brady is a concoction of Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and Ferrell's own impression of George W. Bush. He's an unrepentant philanderer spouting pedantic sound bites to rile up the rubes ("America. Jesus. Freedom"). Meanwhile, Galifianakis recycles his portrayal of his mustachioed "brother" Seth as Marty Huggins. Their rivalry begins with trash talking and rises to absurd levels as Brady drunkenly steals a police car and punches a baby in the face. At one point, Brady runs a campaign ad connecting Huggins' facial hair to that of Saddam Hussein and bin Laden.  There's a dinner table scene at the Huggins house that's reminiscent of Talladega Nights. Dylan McDermott and Karen Murayama provide funny supporting performances with the latter as a housekeeper paid extra to speak like a stereotypical mammy.

The Campaign lacks any teeth as the filmmakers try their best to straddle the thin line between red and blue states. They attempt to skewer everyone with gags relying on raunchiness and slapstick. If you want profanity and intelligence in your satire, Armando Iannucci's In the Loop is a better bet. Still, The Campaign is amusing enough and moves at a brisk pace.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)