On the plane to Amsterdam, I watched two movies: The Call and Olympus Has Fallen. Both were actually okay. The Call was intense, and Halle Berry gave a solid performance. It just had one of the worst endings of any movie I've ever seen. (Right up there with The Devil Inside, if not worse.) It literally just stopped. You had your rising action and climax, but no falling action or resolution. You don't know whether it's a happy ending or sad for the main characters because they don't come down from their heightened emotional level. The entire film is a frenzy with police officers traversing L.A. looking for a kidnapper and his victim. Everyone's in a tizzy, and they stay that way the entire time. There's no breath of fresh air or sigh of relief to be had with The Call, even though it was consistently intense and featured fine acting performances.
6/10
Olympus Has Fallen was Training Day director Antione Fuqua's attempt at out-Die Hard-ing this February's A Good Day to Die Hard; something that, in my opinion, shouldn't be hard to do. Gerard Butler plays our John McClane-esque hero Mike Banning, a former Secret Service agent who is forced to use his old knowledge in order to rescue the president (Aaron Eckhart) from an underground bunker after terrorists launch an attack on the White House.
It's entertaining, despite some pretty horrific CGI, an entirely far-fetched premise and maybe one or two hokey stunts. But it's also a classic, badass "damsel-in-distress" / "save America and, essentially, the world at the same time" story. Olympus Has Fallen also boasts a stellar cast, featuring Butler, Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo, Rick Yune and Radha Mitchell. Regardless, I couldn't help but feel ho-hum as the credits rolled across my 4 inch x 4 screen.
7/10
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