Mt Olympus Has Fallen; A Fun Yet Disturbing Ride Through Our Empire

KingDude’s Rating = 2.5/4 Reagan’s

Mandeville, LA – In Mount Olympus has Fallen the White House is take control of by a special ops force of elite North Koreans, decimating the entire defense system of the President and leaving the President & his top 3 advisors in the White House bunker with the masterminds of the operation. Only 1 man remains either not killed or close enough to do something about the plot to remove the U.S. from South Korea. Sound far-fetched?

Reagan Memorable: Morgan Freeman (Speaker Trumbull) pledges to hold a press conference and re-assure that “These United States” remain in control of their government” but at the film’s end President Asher’s presser says “The United States”. I’d rather Trumbull to Asher.

Well it is but there is just enough plot twist and just fine enough performances from the cast to pull this film off. Gerard Butler stars as ex Secret Service agent Mike Banning who loses his Presidential detail creds in the film’s opening sequence and spends the first 20 minutes as a desk-jockey Treasury agent lobbying his former boss, played by Angela Bassett, for his old job back.

Aaron Eckhart turns in a decent performance as President Ben Asher and Morgan Freeman is his usual, stoic yet believable and sagacious character as Speaker of the House Trumbull. Butler’s  special-ops wisecracks are better than anything Schwarzenegger ever delivered on film but just short of Liam Neeson’s deadpan delivery, still you’ll wind up cheering for him by the movie’s 2nd act.

While I enjoyed the fantastical use of firepower and very believable destruction of Mordor on the Potomac via CGI special effects, by the 3rd act they serve as glaring reminders that the cost of maintaining our empire and the consequences of it are lamentable. An entire team of Navy SEALS aboard 6 attack choppers, is taken out by a super weapon of our own design, codenamed “Hydra”. The fictional “Cerebus” nuclear fail-safe, co-opted by the North Korean terrorists, is an all-too-real reminder of the unfathomable firepower the United States possess via the atom, locked away in secret “silos” across the amber waves of fuel.

In the end the bad guy “loses his head” and Banning saves the day though I doubt many will be cheering for the entire Pentagon team that includes the quid pro quo seeking Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Robert Forrester (Jackie Brown). Ironically, President Asher’s closing speech sounds like it might have been delivered by President Ron Paul save for the “The United States” reference. This film is VERY violent, far fetched and gory but, suspending those apprehensions (if you can) is an entertaining if not subtly disturbing way to spend 1 hour and 5o minutes. Libertarians may be disturbed by the egregious displays of the WarFare State while DeceptiCONS will be chanting “USA, USA” by film’s end.

KingDude’s Rating = 2.5 Reagans for Empire, violence, gore and language. NOT safe for most children

TheKingDude

Host of the Mike Church Show on The Veritas Radio Network's CRUSADE Channel & Founder of the Veritas Radio Network. Formerly, of Sirius/XM's Patriot channel 125. The show began in March of 2003 exclusively on Sirius and remains "the longest running radio talk show in satellite radio history".

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