The Stars Fall in 'Olympus Has Fallen'

By Warren Rojas

Posted February 28, 2013 at 11:51am

The main problem with playing a pol in Hollywood is the whole topsy-turvy power structure.

Take the looming perps-invade-1600-Penn thriller “Olympus Has Fallen”:

One-time fake POTUS Morgan Freeman — he shouldered the load of a doomed Earth as President Beck in “Deep Impact” — drops down the political food chain to be House Speaker Martin Trumbull in this outing. Both roles, of course, are a step down from ruling all creation in “Bruce Almighty.” Same goes for Gerard Butler. The once heroic Spartan — his hunky King Leonidas handily dispatched many an ill-fated Persian in “300” — has been demoted to disgraced Secret Service agent Mike Banning for this go-round. The only one who has, debatably, most moved up in the world is Aaron Eckhart. Here he’s been promoted to commander-in-chief — he portrays terror-plagued President Benjamin Asher — after pulling smarmy lobbyist duty in the satirical “Thank You for Smoking.” Meanwhile, in a bit of art imitating life serendipity — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s life, to be specific — Ashley Judd flexes her administrative chops as first lady Margaret Asher. In real life, she keeps stringing along political writers with the will-she-or-won’t-she drama of maybe, possibly launching a formal bid to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. </body>