Olympus Has Fallen

When the White House is infiltrated by terrorists, it's up to Gerard Butler to save the day in this fast-paced thriller. He stars as Mike Banning, a former bodyguard to the US president (Aaron Eckhart) who is being held hostage. Using his inside knowledge of the building, the resourceful Banning wages a one-man war against the bad guys, even as they threaten to disarm America's missile defences, but he must also find the president's young son (Finley Jacobsen) who is hiding somewhere in a network of secret passages. Director Antoine Fuqua wears his action movie influences on his sleeve - substitute the White House with a Los Angeles skyscraper and you've essentially got the first Die Hard movie. The momentum drops off after the initial, audaciously staged terrorist attack, and Butler isn't quite spot on at delivering the pithy one-liners, but he is solid and capable as the hero who's got what it takes to get the job done.