A North Korean terrorist may be responsible for taking the president hostage, but it’s Bulgarian-made CGI that does the most damage in Antoine Fuqua’s intense, ugly, White-House-under-siege actioner Olympus Has Fallen.

Cut past the pic’s superficial patriotism, and the message is ironically clear: Never outsource your visual effects when a domestic shop will do.
Courageously representing the human element in this mostly digital assault on American soil, Gerard Butler holds his own as a one-man-army. Millennium was wise to push this grim act-of-war movie out three months ahead of Columbia’s like-minded “White House Down.
Olympus Has Fallen” helmer Fuqua, who’s known for bringing an unflinching toughness to inner cities (“Training Day”) and ancient history (“King Arthur”), sticks to the “Die Hard” model here, minus most of the tossed-off one-liners.
In ex-Special Forces pro Mike Banning, Butler presents a gritty but humorless hero who cusses, bleeds and occasionally pauses to remove shards of glass from his wounds.
Olympus Has Fallen

Reviewed at Aidikoff screening room, Los Angeles, March 18, 2013. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 120 MIN.
A Film District release of a Millennium Filmspresentation of a Nu Image/Gerard Butler/Alan Siegel Entertainment production. Produced by Antoine Fuqua, Butler, Siegel, Ed Cathell III, Danny Lerner, Mark Gill. Executive producers, Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Boaz.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Screenplay, Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt. Camera (color, widescreen), Conrad W. Hall; editor, John Refoua; music, Trevor Morris; production designer, Derek R. Hill; art director, Karen Steward; set decorator.
Cathy T. Marshall; costume designer, Doug Hall; sound (Datasat/Dolby Digital), Steve C. Aaron; supervising sound editor, Mandell Winter.
re-recording mixers, Chris David, Daniel Leahy; special effects coordinator, Jack Lynch; visual effects producer, Scott Coulter; visual effects, Worldwide FX, Ghost FX, Base FX; stunt coordinator, Keith Woulard; associate producer, Danielle Robinson; second unit director.
Jamie Marshall; second unit camera, Gary Capo; casting, Cathy Sandrich Gelfond, Amanda Mackey, Ryan Glorioso.
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