Freeworld disorder

FILM OF THE WEEK Olympus Has Fallen (15) Reviewed by Demetrios Matheou

IF I were Barack Obama, I’d be concerned that Hollywood may be capturing an antsy zeitgeist. This year sees not one, but two movies in which terrorists come gunning for the president, right at his front door. In September Roland Emmerich, who usually concerns himself with alien invasions and natural disasters, will place Jamie Foxx’s black president under attack in White House Down. First, though, we have Olympus Has Fallen, Olympus also being Washington’s premier address, little of which is left by the end of the film.

This is a lone- hero- againstthe- odds action movie, Gerard Butler the only secret service agent left standing as terrorists hold his president prisoner. Director Antoine Fuqua and his writers coat their popcorn with a nod towards current affairs by making their insurgents North Korean.

Before that, a potent prologue i ntroduces us to president Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his favourite security man, Mike Banning (Butler), as boss and bodyguard prepare for a charity event near Camp David. It’s winter. The roads are icy. Asher’s wife and son are travelling with them. Banning has a choice to make, which leaves him in the doghouse. Fuqua directs this fairly straightforward sequence with flair and boldness, and a willingness not to hold his punches that will inform what follows. He really isn’t messing about.

Ei g ht e e n months l a t e r, Banning is pushing papers in a government building, looking wistfully at the White House across the way. An enormous aircraft flies towards Capitol Hill, heralding a lengthy, bril-