Morgan Freeman Week: Olympus Has Fallen

Morgan Freeman Week continues...

Directed by Antoine Fuqua.

2013. Rated R, 120 minutes.

Cast:

Gerard Butler

Aaron Eckhart

Morgan Freeman

Rick Yune

Angela Bassett

Dylan McDermott

Finley Jacobsen

Robert Forster

Melissa Leo

Radha Mitchell

Cole Hauser

Ashley Judd

When the limousine carrying President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart) and his wife (Judd) is involved in an accident Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Butler) reacts immediately and saves the Commander-in-Chief's life. Unfortunately, he cannot rescue the First Lady. Even though the two men are friends, the president has Banning transferred to a desk job so that he doesn't have to be reminded of what happened whenever he sees his face. Fast forward eighteen months and President Asher and his son Connor (Jacobsen) appear to have adjusted as well as possible. Still, as presidents must, he's dealing with another crisis. This one involves meeting with the South Korean president to discuss how to keep their neighbors to the north at bay. If you guessed that the North Koreans crash this little party with guns blazing, give yourself a cookie. No extra points for guessing they put a pretty good hurtin' on our nation's capital, White House included. The Prez is taken to his bunker, but yeah, there are bad guys there, too. Okay, you only get one shot at this one. Guess who is the only person who can save the day? So yeah, Agent Banning spots all the mayhem from his office window and springs into action.

Typical of just about every movie where a foreign entity invades the U.S., we get an exercise in flag waving. We also get an oversimplification of our place in the world, at least from our point of view. It's all America good, everyone else evil, or weak. With this comes hokey dialogue, faceless villains from whatever country we think is most dangerous to us when the film is made, and lots of hand-wringing over what our heroes' next move should be. Anyone expecting anything more is setting themselves up for disappointment.

Even with expectations properly set, there are some less than exemplary aspects to Olympus Has Fallen. For starters, Pres. Asher comes across as less brave than his subordinates and explicitly goes against the only policy the movie bothers to mention: The United States will not negotiate with terrorists. Part of the plot is the North Koreans trying to gain access to a system that will effectively shut down all of America's nukes. To do this they need three codes which three separate people, all in the bunker, including the president, have one each. When the others are pressed a bit, he immediately caves and implores them to give up the goods. What the movie wants us to think is that he's saving the lives of those with him and is even willing to sacrifice himself. This is why he says to both, when he tells them to spill the beans, "They'll never get mine!" In reality, he's giving up our nation's security without much of a fight even though it's painfully obvious the bad guys can't just kill these people and accomplish their objectives.

Another issue is that our villains willfully put themselves in position to be defeated. We're told, without qualification, that no one can get into the president's bunker. As I mentioned, every person the North Koreans need is already in there with them. Everything they want is at their fingertips. Why keep talking to those who have assumed power in the president's absence? By the way, that person is Morgan Freeman and Speaker-of-the-House Trumbull. More tactically important, why send anyone out, or open the door for any reason until the mission is complete? If I'm the bad guys, whatever Banning is doing outside is largely irrelevant. I've got whatever need in the bunker with me and he can't get to me. Of course, that would make this a far different movie, so I understand why it was done. It just makes them look stupid, and in turn, the movie looks this way, too.

Without some idiocy by the villains, the movie wouldn't have as much of what it does best: action. There is plenty of it. During it, star Gerard Butler kicks all sorts of ass. In other words, people looking for a shoot 'em up get what they came for. It's all well done with lots of casualties on both sides. This keeps the movie entertaining even if it is eye-roll worthy. Things speed by pretty quickly as they go boom left and right. Yup, Washington DC is torn up good. All in all, it's similar to the recent remake of Red Dawn. That doesn't even take into account the apparent similarities it has to a movie I haven't even seen yet, but will soon, White House Down. OHF has loads of chest thumping patriotism, explosions, gunfights, and problems with its plot.

MY SCORE: 5/10

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Shooter

Directed by Antoine Fuqua.

2007. Rated R, 125 minutes.

Cast:

Mark Wahlberg

Danny Glover

Kate Mara

Michael Pena

Rhona Mitra

Ned Beatty

Tate Donovan

Elias Koteas

Justin Louis

Rade Serbedzija

Bob Lee Swagger (Wahlberg), what a name, is a former military sniper who was part of one of those missions that can't be confirmed nor denied. Rather salty about how the whole thing went down, he's now become a bearded recluse living in the mountains with just his dog. One day, the government comes calling, in the form of Colonel Isaac Johnson (Glover). The colonel says he has reliable intel that an attempt will be made on the President's life during an upcoming speech and that the shot will be fired from an incredible distance. Since our hero is the only one known to have made such a long shot, they are asking his help in figuring out how and from where the deed could be done in order to prevent it from happening. One thing leads to another and before you know it, Bob Lee winds up with a couple bullets in him and is on the run from the authorities.

This is a movie built on the cat-and-mouse between Bob Lee and the colonel. It works pretty well as the two make formidable adversaries. Wahlberg gives us the scowling hero look which has served him nicely in the past. It does here, as well. Glover is really a slimy sort. He gives the most interesting performance in the film. I don't think he gets enough credit for playing bad guys. I've seen him give audiences a good one a few times. I guess it's tough to escape the long shadow he himself cast as half of the Lethal Weapon duo. Ned Beatty is also solid as a crooked politician. Meanwhile, Kate Mara does nice work as the girl who believes our hero.

Besides Glover, the standouts are Michael Pena and Rhona Mitra. Pena plays the rookie FBI agent who smells a rat and is determined to get to the bottom of things. Mitra is a fellow agent who slowly comes around to the right side of things. They have their own little cat-and-mouse going with the agency at large as they do their snooping from within the system. Neither is doing award-worthy work her, but they provide some nice interludes between the scenes involving our stars.

In all, Shooter is a passable flick. It's solid action fare that provides enough excitement and suspense for us to make it through no worse for the wear. The ending that's better than the rest of the movie may elevate it in some people's mind beyond what it likely deserves. It deserves to be thought of as decent, definitely worth a watch, but not something that really stands out.

MY SCORE: 6/10

Brooklyn's Finest

Directed Antoine Fuqua.
2010. Rated R, 132 minutes.
Cast:
Don Cheadle
Ethan Hawke
Richard Gere
Wesley Snipes
Will Patton
Lili Taylor
Ellen Barkin
Wass Stevens
Vincent D’Onofrio

Three Brooklyn police officers with various problems try to do their jobs and gain control of their personal lives. Tango (Cheadle) is so deep undercover he’s starting to forget who he is. Sal (Hawke) is trying desperately to move his family into a bigger, better house. Not only does he already have six kids, his wife Angela (Taylor) is pregnant. Finally, Eddie (Gere) is a mere week away from retirement. Apathy has set in. He’s also a heavy drinker who happens to be in love with a prostitute.

The question of right and wrong is at the heart of all three stories. More importantly, what the benefits are of each and just who is actually benefiting is analyzed. As we follow these three men, these themes arise time and again. Actually reaping rewards for your work is something that seems just out of reach.

Antoine Fuqua, most known for directing Training Day, crafts another engaging cop drama with three situations that feel genuine and have no easy solutions. In fact, many have compared this to TD but I think that’s a mistake. BF is told in a similar style but is a very different film. TD is much more black and white. There is very clearly a hero and a villain. Here, there are plenty of villains. However, it seems that other villains control our heroes. The powers that be are as self-centered and self-preserving as the criminals they purport to hunt.

If there is a movie BF reminds me of, it’s The Departed. Don’t go getting your panties in a bunch. I’m not saying this is anywhere near as good. I am saying that the storyline with Tango is similar as are the fireworks that play out at the end.

Don’t go looking for a Steven Soderbergh style linking of the stories, either. They’re only connected by proximity. None of our three leads seems to know either of the others and only pass one another on the streets a couple times while on their disconnected paths. I suspect this is the source of much of the hatred directed towards this movie since this gives it a disjointed feel. When we come back to one storyline or another we realize it’s been a long time since. In addition, we keep waiting to see how the stories are linked and though it happens physically, it never does on any level worthy of our anticipation. It could just have easily been three separate movies.

Our three leads all turned in outstanding work. There doesn’t seem to be a sour note hit. It is also nice to see the return of Wesley Snipes from his problems with the IRS and the straight-to-DVD hell his career was stuck in. Among the supporting players, Ellen Barkin stood out and displayed a commanding presence during her few scenes.

For me, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It seems to have received a lot of negative backlash for some of the reasons I gave above. It’s also not one of the best crime dramas of all time, like it was hyped to be. Still, it is a lot more cerebral with less action and more to think about than TD. Like I said, there are no easy answers. The masses tend to shy away from puzzles that aren’t solved for them.

The Opposite View: Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic

What the Internet Says: 7.0/10 on imdb.com (8/11/10), 43% on rottentomatoes.com, 43/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 7.5/10