Olympus Has Fallen (2013): Review

Tonight I went and see Olympus has fallen and there were parts that I really enjoyed and others that were slightly distracting.  Overall I thought I was a quality action movie, except for the poorly done special effects.
Olympus Has Fallen stars Gerald Butler as Mike Banning, a secret service agent who is responsible for protecting the president.  Withing the first minutes of the movie (as shown in the trailer) Banning makes the decision to save the President Asher, played by Aaran Eckhart, in a car accident that kills the First Lady.  Because of this he is reassigned but finds himself put into the situation of having to save the day after the White House is taken over and President Archer is taken hostage by Kang, played by Rick Yune, who is hell bent on destroying the United States.  With Banning as the only contact within the White House, Speaker Trumbill, played by Morgan Freeman, and Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs, played by Angela Bassett, work to save the president and prevent world destruction.
While watching this movie I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I enjoyed the main action and plot elements.  I found that the story kept movie and that it had enough suspect and pace to keep me interested.  Yes, there were moments that I could see coming, but for they type of action movie this was, I did not mind this.  The action level was kept high and at times I was on the edge of my seat exciting watching the fight scenes.  There was some emotional connection to the film and what happens, especially with Conner the president's son.  I think that this movie was very well cast and I think there were strong performances all around, and I am surprised to say that because I generally do not like Aaron Eckhart. I really like Gerald Butler as an action hero, and I liked how the characters interacted with each other.
There were two main negatives for me whit this movie, the most significant being the poorly done special effects. They were so past their sell by date that I found it distracting and wishing that they did not spend the time with them, I think it would have been better if they tried to shorten them and spend more money on each one.  This problem dropped my score of the movie and if it was better, or not there at all it would be a solid action movie.  The other negative, is something that I continue to complain about, which is the close up, jerky action fight scenes. This was used quite a bit in this movie, but again if the CG was better it would not have been too bad.
Overall I liked this movie, but be warned that it is very violent and gory.  It seemed like all of the deaths, and there are a lot of deaths, were there for shock value and they show a lot of splatter and people being shot and stabbed through.  Be prepared for this if you chose to go see it. I do recommend this movie for people who like R rated action movies. 

My Rating: 2-