Movie Info

Former Special Forces soldier Mike Banning (Butler) is the lead U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to head the U.S. Presidential detail. Banning maintains a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart), First Lady Margaret (Judd) and their son Connor (Jacobsen). During a snowy Christmas evening drive from Camp David to a campaign fundraiser, the car transporting the First Family crashes; Banning saves Asher, but Margaret dies.

Eighteen months later, having been removed from the presidential detail, Banning works at Treasury headquarters. During a meeting between Asher and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim), terrorists led by Kang Yeonsak (Yune), a North Korean terrorist driven to reunify Korea, mount an air and ground assault that results in the capture of the White House. The group is aided by treasonous members of the prime minister's own detail, including Dave Forbes (McDermott), a former Secret Service agent. Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker; Prime Minister Lee is executed on live video. Before his own death, detail agent Roma (Hauser) alerts the Director of the Secret Service Lynne Jacobs (Bassett) that "Olympus has fallen".

Kang seeks to use Asher's hostage status as leverage to force U.S. officials to withdraw the Seventh Fleet and U.S. forcesfrom the Korean Peninsula, removing American opposition from a North Korean invasion of South Korea. He also seeks to destroy the American nuclear weapons stockpile by detonating them in their respective silos across the country, turning the U.S. into an irradiated wasteland as revenge for the deaths of his family. To accomplish this, he requires the access codes to a system in the bunker called Cerberus, 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 initial assault by Kang's forces, Banning joins the White House's combatants. He falls back into the White House, disabling the internal surveillance and gaining access to Asher's satellite ear phone, which he uses to maintain contact with Jacobs and Allan Trumbull (Freeman), the Speaker of the House, now the Acting President. Authorized to proceed, Banning’s first act is to save Connor, whom Kang plans to use to force Asher to reveal his Cerberus code. Banning finds Connor hiding in the walls, thanks to the training Banning had given him, and sneaks the boy to safety. Banning begins reconnaissance and reduces the terrorists' numbers. Banning kills Forbes, first convincing the traitor to report to Kang that Banning is dead. Meanwhile, Army Chief of Staff General Edward Clegg (Forster) convinces Trumbull to order an aerial SEAL assault on the White House. Kang deploys an advanced anti-aircraft gun system in his possession. Discovering the system, Banning advises Trumbull and Clegg to abort the mission, but the new weapon system annihilates the assault force before Banning can stop it. Kang retaliates for the infiltration by killing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Phil Austin).

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 rescues her, taking out several of Kang's men in the process. With his forces dwindling, Kang fakes both his own death and 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 using a computer algorithm to focus on Asher's over the other codes and activates Cerberus. As Kang attempts to escape, Banning kills the remaining terrorists, but Kang shoots Asher in the abdomen when the president tries to resist. Banning kills Kang by stabbing him in the head with a knife then 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. After the events, the U.S. begins to heal from the attack, while Banning once again heads the president's security detail. President Asher addresses the public while Banning, Jacobs, Clegg, and Connor observe.