CliqueClackGerard Butler still has it – Mount Olympus style
Gerard Butler still has it. In ‘Olympus Has Fallen,’ a film starring contemporary cinema gods like Morgan Freeman, Gerard Butler seamlessly pulls off a contemporary ‘Die Hard’ set in the White House.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) started my lifelong crush on Gerard Butler. Unlike Daniel Craig’s pale vanilla Alex in the first film, Butler provided a beefier and more intense love alternative for Angelina Jolie’s character. He brought an intense underlying tension and, in the love scenes, an incredibly expressive face. I followed his career to the awesome Dear Frankie (2004) and cheered when he scored the Phantom of the Opera gig. But somewhere along the way Gerard Butler stopped acting and started churning out bad rom com after bad rom com (The Bounty Hunter, The Ugly Truth, P.S. I Love You). His awesome intensity and his frame, which previously reflected his characters’ intense physicality, all exited stage right. The Gerard Butler who I previously analogized with quality and acting strength I now viewed equal to terrible movies.
After giving up, I caught Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus last year. Butler’s Tullus Aufidius provided an excellent antagonist and the cherry on top of an amazing Shakesperean adaptation. I declared “FINALLY! Gerard Butler is acting again!” and fell back in love. But, like a maiden with a previously broken heart, I remained tentative. I deliberately avoided Playing for Keeps and wondered if I’d ever see the Gerard Butler I loved return. After watching, Olympus Has Fallen, I rescind my opinion. Gerard Butler is back, in spades, re-assuming his acting throne on Mount Olympus.
While I hate to disagree with my esteemed colleague, Jeremy, Olympus Has Fallen is an awesome film they should’ve run in the summer. I loved it so much, I restrained myself from running home and typing an uber-giddy review. It’s ironic the film’s called Olympus Has Fallen considering it features contemporary cinema gods, one of whom played god. Every single cast member rocked it from point one, including Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Aaron Eckhart, and Ashley Judd. Can you imagine the daily set experience’s awesomeness? I bet the casting directors and producers high fived themselves continuously. I loved watching Angela Bassett as the Secret Service head and Morgan Freeman as Speaker Trumball. Melissa Leo did an excellent job as the Secretary of Defense. No seriously. She mother-fucking rocked it. Also, Dylan McDermott finally found a film role where he absolutely stood out. In Three to Tango and Miracle on 34th Street, he faded into the wallpaper, lacking the fire, passion and intensity displayed in The Practice. But, here, he brings it 157%. And, yes, Ashley Judd proved equally memorable in her brief role. And, yes, Rick Yune was awesome. No one disappears in this, even supporting actors such as Radha Mitchell and Cole Hauser.
Another reason I loved this cast surrounded the years of professionalism and experience that effortlessly rolled off their shoulders. Cohesively, they portrayed the script’s underlying stories through their casual interactions with each other. I could see Angela Bassett and Gerard Butler’s characters having a long-standing brunch and Freeman’s character reluctantly deferring to those placed over him. I loved the multiple husband and wife relationships. I loved that Butler’s character attempted to recover from his earlier decision despite its detrimental effects. Although isolated, people still respected and admired him.
Whenever I forgot Butler’s presence in the other storylines, he popped up, reminding me why I tattooed Gerard on my chest. Although Scottish, he pulled off the American hero well. Plus, Gerard Butler is H-O-T. Forget 50 Shades of Gray, Butler is seven shades of hot. Yes, ladies, the six pack is back. However, after years of action films, Butler’s fight scenes proved realistic and believable. Yes, this film has tons of violence, but not on a Criminal Minds level. Butler’s facial features are amazing. His fiery blue eyes are incredibly intense and his features relay grizzled well. Plus, I love his physicality expressed through his forearms, shoulder stance and gait and I loved his wry humor. Maybe Butler is so good because the film isn’t about Butler’s charm, it’s about his character. Mike Banning’s a survivalist which Butler portrays to a T.
Because of Olympus Has Fallen, I’ve fallen back in love with Butler. But, I won’t lie, sometimes Banning’s ability seemed a wee bit preternatural. His ability to use his unprotected body as a bullet proof shield is laughable. I can’t walk down the street without spraining my foot. But, Banning can withstand suicide bombers and bullets from close range and he can drop terrorists from afar without a sniper rifle. And, yes, his final monologue went on too long when it veered into melodramatic.
Although it’s over a decade after 9/11, I still feel uncomfortable watching the cinematic destruction of American icons. In Independence Day, it looked awesome. But, post 9/11 I find myself disturbed and wonder why filmmakers delight in the filmic destruction of American icons. Did some shots look beautiful? Yes. All the same, similar to 9/11, the film’s terrorists used every day American objects/routines against the military, including their willingness to cooperate believing it will save hostages. And, yes, some parts of the film made me cynical. The collective leadership came across as a bunch of paper pushers that seemed too afraid of taking aggressive action, where inexplicably only one man could save the day. Also, I refuse to believe that only a limited amount of White House security wore bullet proof vests, that only a limited number of airborne support could reach the White House and that the White House rarely changed their passwords/hiding places.
While I questioned 20% of the film, I still loved 80%. Olympus Has Fallen is a smart action film which brings Butler’s intense on-screen talent and character dedication back to the forefront. Who knows, maybe Butler read some of the 578 daily e-mails I sent him and used his earlier hideously terrible roles to abate my mega-crush. But, now my crush is back. And, so is Gerard Butler.
4 Comments on “Gerard Butler still has it – Mount Olympus style”
I was actually going to write up my thoughts, but I’m not sure Olympus has Fallen deserves a third post from CliqueClack. My main point was simply that while it was fun — a lot of fun actually — it insulted the intelligence of its audience way more than it should have:
* A rogue AC-130 gets all the way to Alexandria before it is challenged (This was one of those things that you have to be willing to suspend disbelief on for the movie to work; I would have had it not been for everything else).
* The Secretary of Defense and not SecState is in a meeting in the White House with a foreign diplomat? I can conceive scenarios where SecDef would be there, but in none of those would SecState NOT be; at least give a “he/she’s out of the country” mention.
* The insurgents got very lucky that most — if not all — of the White House’s defenses all came streaming out of the front door.
* You mentioned the fact that the code on the safe in the Oval hadn’t changed in the 18 — or whatever it was — months that Banning had been off the Detail.
* The only thing the film got right about Presidential Succession was that the Speaker of the House comes after VPOTUS. He doesn’t, however, walk into a room where the Director of the Secret Service “deems” him the “Acting President.” They’d get a judge and swear him in has “The President” with all that goes with it.
* Could the film make up its mind about whether or not to use the President’s son’s Name or Code Name over the radio. The first 10 minutes it was his name, and then it switched to his Code Name Sparkplug. It SHOULD have been the Code Name the whole time, but definitely not both.
* This may have just been an earlier print I saw, but one of the news outlets that they kept cutting to spelled it “Whitehouse” on their graphics.
* The MacGuffin was HORRID: The United States builds this system that allows us to destroy our nuclear missiles mid-flight if we made a mistake, but limits its use to only three people (POTUS, SecDef, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs).
– The ability to launch the nukes has a mechanism in place for if the President is captured, but ability to stop them doesn’t.
– If this system existed, why would you want to limit control? I’d want more people, like Strategic Command, to be in as well.
– And there’s no failsafe to ensure it can only be used when the missiles are in flight?
(And that’s just what I remember 2.5 weeks later)
I’m sorry, An: I liked Olympus has Fallen, because it was fun and popcorny. But the film was the oppositie of “smart.”
I stand by the assertion that it’s a smart film, especially because they maintained the thesis and didn’t become overtly bogged down by side details.In the big scheme of 1.5 hours, do we need to spend 5 min finding a judge and an additional 5-10 min adding ANOTHER interim character? While I will give you the opening strike and a plot hinged on the expectation the president will take BOTH the visiting representative AND his staff into the bunker AND would rather avoid seeing his staff harmed. Things I enjoyed included the relationship between POTUS and FLOTUS; the comment on ‘i’d rather die …’, the utter normalcy of the event that changed Banning’s life (it could happen to any of us); the strong cast performances; the covert pointing out of potential holes in our current systems and practices; Butler’s believably grizzled performance; a cohesive, well-flowed script that didn’t jump about irrationally in the narrative and the writers not turning the Banning character, post-event, into a sad, ostracized alcoholic while granting him a healthy relationship with his wife all make it smart.
I forgive a couple inconsistencies (which I only viewed as 20% of the film) because it is an action film, first and foremost, with a focus on entertainment. But, unlike action films I’ve seen in the past, it doesn’t drop the plot or lose focus. Although we disagree on execution, at least we agree that we both enjoyed the film –
There’s a lot I could say but… I though Gerard Butler was good, and I actually said that in my review. Morgan Freeman was phoning it in and Aaron Eckhart had terribly written lines that couldn’t be saved by any acting prowess. Other actors were pretty decent. “Looked pretty, good lead performance, terrible writing” is my summary and I stand by that.
If you are interested in Gerard Butler as an actor, you do yourself a disservice not to see both Machine Gun Preacher and Chasing Mavericks (neither of which are romcoms and in both of which he’s very, very good). I happen to think he’s also very good in Playing for Keeps, despite a wildly uneven story (It’s not a typical “romcom” either), but it won’t be everyone’s cuppa.