A solitary bird launched itself from the great dome, swooping through the rare quiet. Then it began: the slow boom of the black-clad drums and the rattle of gun carriage wheels as the coffin made its way into view. For the lady who was not for turning there was no turning back.

In his new movie, Olympus Has Fallen, the Dark Knight star plays US President Benjamin Asher, the man in charge of the White House when terrorists strike. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), and with Morgan Freeman as House Speaker and Scotland's Gerard Butler as a secret service guard, Fuqua's film flies the stars and stripes so high it makes Yankee Doodle Dandy look a shade pinko.