OVERVIEW: Gerard Butler (300, Playing for Keeps), Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) and Academy Award® winner Morgan Freeman (Best Supporting Actor, Million Dollar Baby, 2004) lead an all-star cast in Director Antoine Fuqua’s (Training Day) action-packed thriller OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN, debuting on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD with Digital UltraViolet™ August 13th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. When a terrorist mastermind kidnaps the president of the United States inside the White House, a disgraced former secret service agent must save the president and take down the invaders. Grossing approximately $100M at the box office. 

SYNOPSIS: When the White House (Secret Service Code: “Olympus”) is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning¹s inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger crisis. Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) directs an all-star cast featuring Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo, Ashley Judd, and Rick Yune.

FILM REVIEW: “We are never stronger than when we are tested.”

This film really brings that statement to life. I honestly thought this was going to be just another cookie cutter, USA under siege action flick. That’s not necessarily bad, just average. Well, this movie blew me away, pun intended. It is a lot more than just an average action flick. It is intense and actually quite dramatic and patriotic. There are very few action movies that can almost draw a tear or two. This one does just that. On the flip side, it is also extremely violent and bloody; after all, it is rated R. I have a feeling Priscilla would be turned off by it as would many of you, but there are also those movie goers that are not phased by it, so on with the show. Overall and in summary, this movie kicks ass. It could be best described as Die Hard meets Air Force One and had a kid; or maybe Bruce Willis and Harrison Ford begat Gerard Butler. Well, that might be a bit much, but you get the idea. Speaking of Gerard Butler, as you would expect, he is the baddest ass in the picture. One of the more impressive features of the film is the big name cast. Besides Gerard we get some Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott, Rick Yune, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and even a little bit of Ashley Judd just to name a few. Whew! That is a packed cast. Now in a movie like this its really not about the acting because it gets overshadowed by the action so overall the performances are as good as they need to be for this genre. But even so, Aaron and Dylan stood out a bit more than the rest as far as intensity.

Boy have times changed since the White House was first built. Having seen the movie Lincoln somewhat recently and how the White House was portrayed back then to how it is now is remarkable. Most of the change is not by want but by necessity. Maintaining the White House as the most protected building in the world is not an easy task. Security detail is more intense, high-tech, complex, and difficult than ever. This film gives us a glance at that along with the world of a Secret Service Agent and his/her duties. Now if you’re like me you might wonder, “Well why do they make these movies? They’re potentially giving a lot of good ideas to a lot of wrong people.” I would expect the people in charge of security to use a movie like this as good training material for scenarios to guard against. The storyline we have here is current and feasible to a degree. But let’s not worry about that right now. The special effects were pretty darn good for the most part. Some effects looked a little cheesy though. All in all, Director Antoine Fuqua has added another brilliant, intense thriller to his repertoire. The movie is not perfect, but it sure is a lot of fun. In closing, God bless you and God bless the United States of America.

DVD: The film is presented in widescreen in a 2.40:1 aspect ration preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just flawless. Not only the picture looks great in this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 Dolby Digital in English that provides a good complement to the picture. It also includes  English  and Spanish subtitles.

VIDEO:
Widescreen (2.40:1) 16x9

AUDIO:
English  5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles - English Spanish 

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