Like many moviegoers, I enjoy a good action movie once in a while. While these movies often fail in the areas of acting and reasonable plots, they can overcome these flaws through thrilling action and special effects. Unfortunately, the recent released thriller “Olympus has Fallen” failed to do so.

The audience is first introduced to Mike Banning, a Secret Service agent who heads the Presidential security detail. He is very friendly with President Benjamin Asher, his wife Margaret, and their son Connor. However, on a drive from Camp David to a Christmas party, the car transporting the president and his wife crashes, and Banning is unable to save Margaret.

Eighteen months later, Banning now works in the Treasury Department, but wants to return to his previous position in the White House. He gets his chance when a simultaneous ground and air attack by North Korean terrorists succeeds in the capture of the White House, the president, and many members of his staff. The North Koreans are led by Kang Yeonsak, a man who wishes to force the United States to withdraw their troops from Korea. He later viciously tortures the President and his remaining officials in part of a plan to obtain access codes to Cerberus, a system that would allow him to detonate all the nuclear weapons in the United States.

Banning notices the ground attack on the White House and manages to get into the building without getting noticed by any of the surviving terrorists. He then begins a solo assault against the remaining terrorists, eventually culminating in his victory over Yeonsak and his redemption in the eyes of President Asher.

It is impossible to deny that this movie was filled with action; Banner engages in several well-coordinated attacks against the equally skilled terrorists and the initial assault on the White House was an incredibly tense firefight between the defending Secret Service agents and the North Korean attackers. The film also did a fairly decent job, for an action movie, in developing Banner and his desire to correct his past mistakes. And Connor, the son of the president, did an excellent job of being terrified, but not taking his emotions over the top.

However, this movie was far too similar to “Die Hard” to prove itself as an original action film. Like Bruce Willis in “Die Hard,” Banner is alone inside an isolated location trying to defeat the villain. Not only that, he is hampered by the decisions of Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull and General Edward Clegg, just as Willis was by outside police forces in the 1988 movie. As the final straw, both Willis and Banner mistook bad guys for good guys and almost die because of them. In short, “Olympus has Fallen” can best be summarized as “Die Hard” in the White House.

To be clear, I liked “Olympus has Fallen.” The plot was surprisingly developed for an action movie, the action itself was exciting, and the tension between North and South Korea early in the film was strikingly similar to the real-life situation today. However, anyone expecting an original film will be sadly disappointed. You’ll be entertained, but this movie doesn’t break any new ground. #