"One of the 50 Coolest Websites...they simply tell it like it is" - TIME
Olympus Has Fallen | 2013 | R | - 2.8.8
A former Special Forces agent (Gerard Butler) leads the US Presidential Detail of POTUS (Aaron Eckhart). After a fatal accident on the detail, he is demoted to desk duty at the US Treasury, but when the White House and the President are captured by a Korean terrorist (Rick Yune) the agent is the only man in position to help stop a global disaster. Also with Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Dylan McDermott, Ashley Judd, Melissa Leo and Robert Forster. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. [2:00]
SEX/NUDITY 2 - A man in bed is shown bare-chested and in long boxer shorts. Two men in a boxing ring wear loose shorts that reveal knees and lower legs. A woman wears a knee length sleeveless dress that is close fitting and reveals cleavage, bare arms and bare lower legs. Female tourists of all ages wear shorts that reveal most of their bare legs and T-shirts that reveal cleavage; in one scene, some of the women run down a street and their bosoms bounce.
► An older woman suffers a torn blouse that falls away to reveal a slip strap, bra straps and a little cleavage when two men pull her across a floor by her arms a short distance (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details) and her knee length skirt rides up to show the top of her thighs (we do not see underwear).
► A husband and his wife hug and kiss goodbye briefly. In a home, before a party, a husband and his wife embrace and kiss briefly. A husband and his wife kiss briefly in a limousine.
VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - A paramilitary group of about 100 Koreans launches air and ground assaults on the White House with a plane, missiles, mortars, grenades, guns and knives while the South Korean prime minister visits inside: a plane uses four machine guns to down two USAF fighters overhead in loud crashes with flames and smoke; a plane fires on the White House with flashing shots and loud noises, then skims the Washington Monument, which crumbles off at the top third and kills visitors on the ground with large chunks of falling debris; a man straps an explosive backpack to the White House fence as four large garbage trucks pull up, open panels and fire huge machine guns at crowds of visitors, White House staff and military; dozens of people fall to the ground, their heads jerking as they die (no blood is seen) and a woman receives a wound to the temple and we see a spot of red on her head as she dies; several parked cars explode into flames or are shown with shattered windshields, with glass all over the hoods and the ground and a bus and a cruiser also explode and turn over in flames; dozens of terrorists walk onto the White House lawn, shooting guns and getting into fistfights with Secret Service and military and we see several men on both sides being shot in the neck, with much blood flowing from their wounds through clasped fingers; a man suffers several automatic shots from behind, and shooting through his chest as blood spurts (he falls and dies with his eyes open); after an extended period we see the White House lawn and foyer scorched, littered with dead bodies and burning in several places as the roof erupts with an explosion and we see automatic rifle bullets tear up the US Flag, which a terrorist lowers and flings over the roof and onto the ground.
► A Special Forces agent stabs several terrorists in the head in different fights, leaving large pools of blood under their heads as they hit the ground; in one scene he stabs an enemy in the throat instead, creating a flow of blood down the man's chest as he dies. A Korean terrorist tells the acting US President over a video feed that the US interfered in the Korean War and he now wants to reopen it; several times, he puts a US Cabinet official in front of the camera and shoots the man or the woman in the back of the head (we see a flash as the person falls off screen) and he also kills the South Korean prime minister in this way.
► There is heavy bloodshed in several shootout scenes, with blood spraying out the backs of men's heads and onto walls as they are shot in the throat and we also see small red entrance wounds. A German shepherd dog is knocked down and shot in the head in a shadow on the ground as we hear its loud dying yelp.
► During a snowstorm at night, a limousine and surrounding cars in its entourage skid and collide into one another on a bridge, cracking windshields as we hear skidding; the limousine hangs halfway over the bridge above frozen water as a woman in the back seat sways, cries and displays blood on her head and neck while others in the vehicle escape; the woman's seat belt sticks and the vehicle falls over the bridge to break the ice below (we hear that she died as her young son comes running from another vehicle, crying).
► An agent fights alone in darkened hallways and secret passages against Korean terrorists in the White House: he rescues a boy, sends him up a ventilator shaft to freedom and the agent engages in a dozen hand-to-hand combat situations with Koreans and a White House staffer, killing each one with a stab to the head that leaves a pool of blood; the fights entail fist fighting, struggling against knives, choking and martial arts and in one scene he kills a terrorist by smashing his head with a bust of Lincoln, off screen. An agent breaks the neck of a Korean man. An agent questions two terrorists that he has tied to chairs; he stabs them in the thighs with a knife (we see blood), and he stabs one in the throat to kill him and create a lot of blood in order to scare the other man into giving information. An agent stops the missile countdown and finds a terrorist and the President in a scuffle; the terrorist stabs the President and we see considerable blood on his abdomen (he later recovers), and the agent and the terrorist fight until the agent kills the terrorist with a knife to the head (we see a small pool of blood under the head).
► A woman in her 50s is repeatedly beaten by a man; several times punched in the face, kicked in the abdomen and knocked to the floor, with blood dripping from her mouth and eyes and bruises forming on her upper and lower arms. A man is punched in the face several times, knocked down and picked back up to his feet again in an underground bunker. Several times terrorists kick or punch hostages as they sit with their hands tied over their heads.
► Heavy artillery machine guns pop out of the top of the White House and other US federal buildings; the gun on the White House shoots at six US helicopters that are shooting at the building and we see each of them crash to the ground in smoke; the final copter crashes into the roof and a man on the roof shoots the machine gun on the roof, and then falls through to a floor below without permanent injuries (we hear that the occupants of the helicopters died). Eight American hostages are hooded in black and connected to one another with ankle chains, they are marched to a helicopter on the White House lawn, placed into seats and as the copter lifts off, and it explodes in a huge ball of fire and smoke. US Army personnel arrive in tanks and a Korean man fires a rocket launcher into the front doors of the White House, blowing off the doors and a group of Koreans charge into the building.
► A man is bent over a chair, with a knife pressed against his ear, and forced to give a secret computer code to a terrorist. An injured woman (from beatings) is dragged through the White House by her wrists by two men, set upon her bare feet and told to walk outside over debris and multiple dead bodies (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details). An agent tells a man that he will stick a knife in his brain.
► A seven-year-old boy lies unconscious on a hospital gurney after having been in a mass shooting and we see bandages around his lower legs and shoulders (all edges are red with blood); two women stand in the hallway, their abdomen and faces red with blood, holding their stomachs and calling for help; several military men in wheelchairs and gurneys are pushed down the hall and we see their faces burned black and red with flesh peeling off and one man is shown missing an arm and we see his bloody elbow; an elderly man with blood on his face and throat screams in pain and a younger man rocks back and forth while sitting on a gurney, screaming and crying. An agent suffers a bloody hand and a cut lip, showing some blood.
► In a brief scene, Pennsylvania Avenue is filled with ambulances and survivors of a terrorist attack are treated on the scene and taken away to hospitals. During a terrorist attack the President, the South Korean Prime minister, and other officials are taken to a secret underground bunker and once locked inside, Korean bodyguards and a few of the President's staff pull out handguns and tie all the officials to a railing as hostages.
► During a terrorist attack, several federal level officials argue loudly and curse one another.
► Two men practice boxing in a ring and we see them sweating as one is punched in the face without damage. A young boy plays a violent video game in which his character, a man, shoots at a large dinosaur with an automatic handgun.
► A Korean terrorist sets up a US computer that launches nuclear missiles, but adjusts it to blow the missiles in their silos in order to destroy America. We hear that North Korea is testing nuclear missiles. On a TV newscast, we hear that half the White House went up in flames.
LANGUAGE 8 - About 38 F-words, 7 scatological terms, 9 anatomical terms, 13 mild obscenities, name-calling (old man, traitor, hot head), stereotypical references to men, women, terrorists, Blacks, whites, Koreans, the Chinese, elderly white men in positions of power, warmongers, heroes, conservatives, liberals, politicians, Corporate America, billionaires, military teams, nurses, 6 religious profanities, 9 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - A nurse puts down a hypodermic syringe while seeing a male patient and tells someone to make sure that the patient receives morphine. A man smokes a cigarette in two indoor scenes with significant smoke curling upwards.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Terrorism, war, North Korea, nuclear weapons, politics, justice, heroes, freedom.
MESSAGE - America can be attacked by terrorists from abroad, but has the ability to survive.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
how to
support us
PLEASE DONATE
We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.
NO MORE ADS!
Become a member of our premium site for just $1/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we don't always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.
how to
support us
PLEASE DONATE
We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.
NO MORE ADS!
Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.