Rating of
2.5/4
America!
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 03/24/13
Tell me this. How is it that a mediocre Gerard Butler vehicle is closer to a proper Die Hard sequel then the actual freaking Die Hard sequel?
Honestly it would be more accurate to call this a Die Hard remake then a sequel. The plot is almost identical to the 80’s classic. I know that there is a Die Hard rip-off coming out almost every year (often two or three,) but they are rarely ever as blatant as this.
Sure there are some differences between this and Die Hard (for example Butler is no substitute for Bruce Willis.) but they aren’t enough for one to not constantly confuse the two movies. Last years Dredd had some similarities to Die Hard, but there were enough differences and twists in the movie so that it could still be enjoyed as an individual film. Olympus has fallen just takes to much from Die Hard to really separate itself from it.
But it’s similarities to Die Hard aren’t the only problem. Some of the massive leaps in logic the characters make to get the plot were it’s supposed to be are just hilarious (apparently the life of the President is more important then the lives of every other person in America combined.) I found myself trying not to shout at the characters, “why did you do that! it doesn’t make any sense!” honestly the terrorists shouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the White House if are governments military forces were even the least bit competent.
The movie also relied heavily on patriotism to arouse emotion in its audience. This would have been okay in small doses, but the film goes way over the top. I half expected them to play America F*ck Yeah (from America: World Police) over the credits. Though honestly it didn’t need to, the image of a woman saying the pledge of allegiance while being dragged to her death is hilarious enough on its own.
This movie really wasn’t all that bad. In fact I kind of enjoyed it. It’s an action movie so al it really needs are a couple of solid one liners, some proper explosions and a mildly entertaining premise to get a passing grade, but it’s just to much of a blatant Die Hard rip-off for me to give it the full 3 star treatment. There have been much better big dumb action movies released this year (namely The Last Stand, seriously go see The Last Stand.)
