Olympus Has Fallen: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous edit Next edit →Content deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 17:07, 10 June 2013 editSock (talk \| contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers44,917 edits Reverted good faith edits by BattleshipMan (talk): The policy of the infobox film template is only to list those credited in the billing block,...← Previous edit		Revision as of 17:09, 10 June 2013 edit undoSock (talk \| contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers44,917 editsm Clarifying the source of actorsNext edit →
Line 8:		Line 8:
	\| producer = ]<br />Alan Siegel<br />Mark Gill		\| producer = ]<br />Alan Siegel<br />Mark Gill
	\| writer = Creighton Rothenberger<br />Katrin Benedikt		\| writer = Creighton Rothenberger<br />Katrin Benedikt
	\| starring = Gerard Butler<br />]<br />]		\| starring = Gerard Butler<br />]<br />]<!-- per billing block -->
	\| music = ]		\| music = ]
	\| cinematography = ]		\| cinematography = ]

Revision as of 17:09, 10 June 2013

2013 American film

Olympus Has Fallen
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Antoine Fuqua
Written by	Creighton Rothenberger Katrin Benedikt
Produced by	Gerard Butler Alan Siegel Mark Gill
Starring	Gerard Butler Aaron Eckhart Morgan Freeman
Cinematography	Conrad W. Hall
Edited by	John Refoua
Music by	Trevor Morris
Production company	Millennium Films
Distributed by	FilmDistrict
Release date	March 22, 2013 (2013-03-22) (United States)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million
Box office	$148,740,089

Olympus Has Fallen is a 2013 American action-thriller film. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, it stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman. The film depicts a North Korean-led guerilla assault on the White House, and focuses on a former Secret Service agent who tries to stop them. Olympus Has Fallen received mixed critical reception but earned over $148 million against a $70 million production budget.

Plot

Former U.S. Army Ranger Mike Banning (Butler) is the lead Secret Service agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail. He maintains a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart), First Lady Margaret Asher (Judd) and particularly their son Connor Asher (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, along with two other agents, die in the crash.

Eighteen months later, Banning works at the Treasury Department, within eyesight of the White House; he has been demoted from the Presidential Detail as the sight of him triggers Asher’s memories of the night Margaret died. During a meeting between Asher and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Sim), Korean-led guerrilla forces, aided by treasonous members of Prime Minister Lee’s own detail, which include Dave Forbes (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. The remaining Secret Service agents within the White House mount an unsuccessful counter attack but inflict casualties on the terrorists. Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker, where Prime Minister Lee is killed. Before he is killed, Agent Roma (Hauser) alerts head of Secret Service Lynne Jacobs (Bassett) that “Olympus has fallen.”

The attack has been masterminded by Kang Yeonsak (Yune), an ex-North Korean terrorist who appears to be motivated by hope for a reunification of Korea. Kang seeks to use Asher’s hostage status as leverage to force the U.S. military to withdraw from the Korean Peninsula, allowing the civil war to end. He also seeks to destroy all of America’s nuclear weapons in their silos and turn the United States into an irradiated wasteland as revenge for the death of his parents when his mother was killed by an American landmine and his father was executed for crimes against North Korea. To accomplish this, he requires the access codes to a system in the bunker called Cerberus: a fail-safe device that self-detonates any U.S. nuclear missiles during an abort, which are held by three top government officials within the bunker, including the President. Asher orders the other two officials to reveal their codes to save their lives, certain that he will not give up his code.

During the assault by Kang’s forces on the front lawn, Banning joins the side of the White House’s defenders. He falls back into the White House, disables the internal surveillance and gains access to Asher’s satellite phone, which he uses to maintain contact with Allan Trumbull (Freeman), the Speaker of the House who is now the Acting President. Authorized to proceed, Banning’s first act is to save Connor, who Kang plans to use to force Asher to reveal his Cerberus code since Trumbull notes that Asher would not be able to hold out under those circumstances. Despite resistance, he finds Connor hiding in the walls, thanks to the training Banning had given him, and sneaks him out of the White House before beginning reconnaissance and reducing the terrorists’ numbers one by one. This includes Forbes, but not before convincing the traitor to report to Kang that Banning is dead. Meanwhile, Trumbull orders an aerial SEAL assault on the White House, but Kang’s team deploys an advanced anti-aircraft gun system in his possession owned by the United States, called the Hydra 6. Discovering this, Banning advises Trumbull and General Edward Clegg (Forster), Army Chief of Staff, to abort the mission, but it proceeds and Kang’s henchwoman Lim (Lea) annihilates the assault force before Banning can stop it. Kang retaliates for the attempted infiltration by killing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Austin).

After Banning disables Kang’s communications, the terrorist tries to execute Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Leo) outside the front door in front of the media, but Banning rescues her and takes out several more of Kang’s men in the process. With Kang’s forces dwindling, he fakes his own death, as well as Asher’s, by sacrificing several of his men and the remaining hostages. Kang, Asher, and the few remaining terrorists stay in the bunker, unknown to the outside world. Kang eventually cracks Asher’s code, knowing that hacking all three codes would have taken more time than Kang had, but focusing on one gave him the time he needed. With that, Kang activates Cerberus as Banning realizes that his apparent suicide was staged. As Kang attempts to escape, Banning dispatches the remaining terrorists and kills Kang in a knife fight. He then ultimately disables Cerberus with the assistance of Trumbull. Banning and Asher escape the White House. After the events, Washington begins to heal from the attack, and Banning once again becomes head of the Presidential Detail, with Banning observing President Asher as he addresses the public.

Cast

Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, the main protagonist, a former member of the 75th Ranger Regiment and now Secret Service agent
Aaron Eckhart as President Benjamin Asher
Morgan Freeman as Speaker Allan Trumbull
Angela Bassett as Lynne Jacobs, the director of the Secret Service
Rick Yune as Kang Yeonsak, the main antagonist, a North Korean terrorist who disguises himself as a South Korean ministerial aide.
Dylan McDermott as Dave Forbes, an ex-Secret Service agent now working for the South Korean Prime Minister's private security detail.
Finley Jacobsen as Connor Asher, the son of Benjamin and Margaret Asher
Melissa Leo as Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
Radha Mitchell as Leah Banning, a nurse and Mike's wife.
Robert Forster as US Army General Edward Clegg, Army Chief of Staff
Cole Hauser as Agent Roma, a Secret Service agent
Ashley Judd as Margaret Asher, the First Lady of the United States
Phil Austin as Vice President Charlie Rodriguez
James Ingersoll as Admiral Nathan Hoenig, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
Freddy Bosche as Diaz
Lance Broadway as Agent O'Neil, a member of the President's security detail
Tory Kittles as Agent Jones, a member of the President's security detail
Sean O'Bryan as Ray Monroe, Deputy National Security Advisor
Keong Sim as South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo
Kevin Moon as Cho
Malana Lea as Lim, Kang's henchwoman who serves as the technical expert of the group
Sam Medina as Yu

Production

Olympus Has Fallen is directed by Antoine Fuqua based on a script by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt in their first screenwriting effort. The production company Millennium Films acquired the spec script in March 2012, and Gerard Butler was cast later in the month as the star. The rest of the characters were cast throughout June and July. In 2012, Millennium Films competed against Sony Pictures, which was producing White House Down (also about a takeover of the White House) to complete casting and to begin filming.

Filming began in Shreveport, Louisiana, in mid-July 2012. Because Olympus Has Fallen was filmed so far from its actual setting of Washington, D.C., the entire production relied heavily upon visual effects, particularly computer-generated imagery. For example, computers created nearly all of the opening sequence in which the First Lady is killed in a car accident, with chroma key greenscreen technology used to composite the actors into the computer-generated snowy scenery.

For scenes in which actors were filmed walking in or out of the White House, a first floor façade and entrance were built, and then computers added the second floor and roof, as well as the rest of the D.C. downtown landscape. Action scenes that merely had the White House in the background were actually filmed in open fields, and then the White House and D.C. were added in post-production.

Score

Musician and orchestral composer Trevor Morris produced the score. His past projects include shows The Tudors and The Borgias.

All music is composed by Trevor Morris

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Land of the Free"
2.	"The Full Package/ Snowy Car Talk"
3.	"Stage Coach Crashes / Death of the First Lady"
4.	"Rocky Road Ice Cream"
5.	"White House: Air Attack"
6.	"White House: Ground Attack"
7.	"Olympus Has Fallen"
8.	"P.E.O.C. Incarceration"
9.	"Banning Steps Into Action"
10.	"Triage"
11.	"Banning Gathers Intelligence"
12.	"Hunting Banning"
13.	"He’s in the Walls"
14.	"Saving Spark Plug"
15.	"Breaking Madame Secretary"
16.	"How Do You Know Kang’s Name?"
17.	"Any Regrets"
18.	"S.E.A.L. Helicopter Incursion"
19.	"Walking the Plank"
20.	"Pulling the Fleet"
21.	"Mano e Mano"
22.	"Stopping Cerberus"
23.	"Day Break / We Will Rise"

Release

Olympus Has Fallen was released in the United States on March 22, 2013. It was initially scheduled for an April 5, 2013 release, but moved to avoid competition with The Heat, which was to open at the same time. FilmDistrict distributed the film.

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives a score of 48% based on reviews from 128 critics, with a rating average of 5.4/10 with the site's consensus being "It's far from original, but Olympus Has Fallen benefits from Antoine Fuqua's tense direction and a strong performance from Gerard Butler – which might be just enough for action junkies". Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 41% based on 29 reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews."

Bill Zwecker of rogerebert.com awarded the film three stars.

Box office

At the end of the first weekend, the film earned $30.5 million, and exceeded Hollywood experts' predictions by $7 million. The film also was rated an "A-Minus" on CinemaScore. As of June 5, 2013 it had made a total of $148 million at the box-office worldwide.