Year: 2013
Summary: Former Special Forces U.S. Army Ranger Mike Banning (Butler) is the lead Secret Service agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail. He maintains a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart), First Lady Margaret (Judd) and, especially, their son Connor (Jacobsen). During a Christmas evening drive from Camp David to a campaign fundraiser, a tree branch falls and strikes the front of the president’s convoy, making the vehicles skid out of control on black ice on a bridge. The lead vehicle crashes through the guard rail and falls into the icy river below, leaving the presidential limousine teetering on the edge of the bridge. Banning is able to save President Asher, but Margaret and two other agents die when their vehicle falls and crashes.
Eighteen months later, Banning works at the Treasury Department, within sight of the White House. He has been removed from the Presidential Detail because the sight of him triggers Asher’s memories of the night Margaret died. During a political meeting between Asher and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim), North Korean-led guerilla forces, under the guise as local garbage services and a crowd of tourists, mount an air and ground assault. Aided inside the White House by treasonous members of Prime Minister Lee’s detail, Dave Forbes (McDermott), an ex-US Secret Service agent turned private contractor, and aerial cover fire from a US military gunship, the attack results in the eventual capture of the White House. Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker, where Prime Minister Lee is killed. Before he is killed, Agent Roma (Hauser) alerts the Director of the Secret Service Lynne Jacobs (Bassett) that “Olympus has fallen”.
The attack has been masterminded by Kang Yeonsak (Yune), a Korean terrorist who appears to be motivated by hope for a reunification of Korea. Kang seeks to use Asher’s hostage status as leverage to force U.S. officials to withdraw military forces from the Korean Peninsula, allowing the civil war to end. He also seeks to destroy all of America’s nuclear weapons in their respective silos across the country, turning U.S. into an irradiated wasteland as revenge for the deaths of his parents (his mother having been killed by an American landmine, and his father having been executed). To accomplish this, he requires the access codes to Cerberus: a fail-safe device that self-detonates any U.S. nuclear missiles during an abort, which are held by three top government officials within the bunker, including the president. Asher orders the other two officials to reveal their codes to save their lives, certain that he will not give up his code.
During the assault by Kang’s forces on the front lawn, Banning joins the White House’s defenders. He falls back into the building, disables the internal surveillance and gains access to Asher’s satellite phone, which he uses to maintain contact with Jacobs and Allan Trumbull (Freeman), the Speaker of the House who is now the Acting President. Authorized to proceed, Banning’s first act is to save Connor, who Kang plans to use to force Asher to reveal his Cerberus code. Despite resistance, Banning finds Connor hiding in the hidden tunnels behind the Lincoln bedroom walls, thanks to the training Banning had given him before, and sneaks him out of the White House before beginning reconnaissance and reducing the terrorists’ numbers one by one. This includes Forbes, but not before Banning convinces Forbes to report to Kang that he killed Banning. Meanwhile, Army Chief of Staff General Edward Clegg (Forster) convinces Trumbull to order an aerial SEAL assault on the White House in an attempt to enter through the roof and shut down Cerberus, but Kang’s team deploys an advanced anti-aircraft remote gun system called the Hydra 6, a fully automated weapons system capable of seeking targets independently. Discovering this, Banning advises Trumbull and Clegg to abort the mission, but it proceeds and the Hydra 6 annihilates all but one of the six helicopters before Banning can stop it. Kang retaliates for the attempted infiltration by killing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Phil Austin) on an open line to the Pentagon crisis room.
After Banning disables Kang’s communications, Kang tries to execute Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Leo) outside the White House in front of the media, but Banning's intervention allows her to escape and he takes out several more of Kang’s men in the process. With Kang’s forces dwindling, he fakes his own death as well as Asher’s by sacrificing several of his men and the remaining hostages. However, Banning believes that Kang has faked his death and will attempt to sneak away. Kang eventually cracks Asher’s code and activates Cerberus. As Kang attempts to escape with Asher, Banning kills the remaining terrorists, but President Asher is shot by Kang in the abdomen when Asher tries to fight Kang. Banning kills Kang by stabbing him in the head with a knife after overpowering him in hand-to-hand combat. Banning disables Cerberus with the assistance of Trumbull with only seconds to spare. During daybreak that day, Banning walks out with Asher and is received by the soldiers posted to await their arrival. Sometime after the events, Washington begins to heal from the terrorist attack, while Banning once again becomes head of the Presidential Detail. Then Banning, Jacobs, Clegg, and Connor shown observing President Asher as he addresses the public.
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