Olympus Has Fallen
for strong violence and language throughout.
Reviewed by: Pamela Karpelenia
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Extremely Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults |
| Genre: | Action Crime Thriller Drama |
| Length: | 1 hr. 40 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2013 |
| USA Release: |
March 22, 2013 (wide—3,000+ theaters) DVD: August 13, 2013 |
terrorists
kidnapping / kidnappers
courage / bravery / self-sacrifice
honor
FILM VIOLENCE—How does viewing violence in movies affect families? Answer
“VOTING” FOR BAD MOVIES—Every time you buy a movie ticket or rent a video you are casting a vote telling Hollywood “That’s what I want.” Why does Hollywood continue to promote immoral programming? Are YOU part of the problem? Answer
| Featuring |
Gerard Butler … Mike Banning Aaron Eckhart … President Benjamin Asher Morgan Freeman … Speaker Trumbull Angela Bassett … Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs Melissa Leo … Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan Radha Mitchell … Leah Ashley Judd … Margaret Asher Dylan McDermott … Forbes Rick Yune … Kang Cole Hauser … Roma Phil Austin … Vice President Charlie Rodriguez See all » |
| Director | Antoine Fuqua — “Training Day” (2001), “The Equalizer” (2014) |
| Producer |
Millennium Films Nu Image Films See all » |
| Distributor | FilmDistrict, Millennium Films |
“They’ve taken the White House.”
Sequels: “London Has Fallen” (2016), Angel has Fallen (2019)
Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) was a head of President Benjamin Asher’s (Aaron Eckhart) secret service security team. He had friendship with the leader of the country and his wife and son. Until one snowy night on their way to a routine fundraiser banquet, tragedy struck. A car accident claimed the life of the First Lady (Ashley Judd). Mike Banning was unable to save her, and that caused him to be reassigned from the President’s detail, to his lasting regret. After 18 months of working for the treasury, on a typical day, the White House is taken over by Korean terrorists; Banning is the only one left who can save the President.
As a fan of Gerard Butler and Angela Bassett, I really wanted to see this film. I wasn’t disappointed, overall, the film is well done. The acting is quite satisfactory, and Butler and Eckhart’s performance is great and very compelling. A recently widowed President, an ex-security personnel looking for redemption, their roles are well conveyed and received by the viewing audience. Bassett and Morgan Freeman did adequate jobs, as well. The plot is straight and to the point, easy to understand and follow.
Now to the objectionable content, sadly there is plenty. The most offensive is the violence; people are shown being graphically shot, stabbed and beat up. It was almost too much for my sensibilities. In addition is the profane and vulgar language; sadly, this has become a trademark of most secular films, regardless of content—the gratuitous blasphemy of the Lord’s name. The film is exciting, but it would have been far better without the vulgarity and profanity.
The film deals with timely themes (terrorists, war, civil unrest), all which can fill us with fear, doubt, and unsettling longing for hope in the midst of it all. As Christians, we have nothing to truly fear.
“When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” —Psalm 56:3-4
FEAR, Anxiety and Worry—What does the Bible say? Answer
The film also deals with redemption. This is connected with fear, because of our redemption through the blood of Christ Jesus, that cast out fear and gives us everlasting hope.
As for a recommendation, I like the film, but the violence is on the extreme side, and the repeated blasphemy brings the film down, and made it difficult to truly enjoy, for me.
Violence: Extreme / Profanity: Extreme— “Jesus Christ” (2), “Jesus” (2), “For Chr*st’s sakes,” “G*d-d*mn” (4), “My G*d” (3),“God,” OMG, f-words (36+), s-words (13), “hell” (12), ass (7) including some “assh*le,” SOB / Sex/Nudity: Mild
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4
On the other hand, it had some content that could have easily been left out, and this would have still been a superb action flick. This includes violence in nearly every scene in the movie, sometimes accompanied by blood, and language… I counted 15 F-words, and an assortment of other profanities. Thankfully, there was no nudity or sexual content to speak of. See all »
Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3½
Is my life better for seeing it? Certainly not, although, for the movie, it was a well made movie. Not anything Christians need to fill their head with, that is for sure. And I do like the movies like the Bourne series, so it’s not that I can’t handle some violence in movie, this was very extreme, the most I have seen in a very long time.
Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5
I think it’s important to realize that the only thing that will work when it comes to over the top Hollywood movie content is voting with our wallets. This is something that we can change—Christians make up a significant percentage of the movie going public. If we were to refuse to spend money on seeing films with over the top content things would change, because at the end of the day those working in Hollywood care about making money.
Every time we just shrug our shoulders and go to the cinema anyway it tells the Hollywood directors and producers that it doesn’t matter what they put into a movie because millions will go and pay money to see it no matter what. So, while I really was looking forward to seeing this film, I think I’ll have to wait quite a bit longer until the edited version makes it to TV.
PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4