‘London Has Fallen’ Review

“Olympus Has Fallen” was a pornographically violent crapfest that took the standard “Die Hard” template, located it within the confines of a White House being attacked by Korean terrorists and tried to use such sights as the White House in flames, hundreds of corpses on the front lawn and the female Secretary of Defense being brutally beaten as the inspiration for the ensuing orgy of shootings, stabbings, neck-breakings and quips delivered by star Gerard Butler. A truly odious work, it wasn’t even the best White House-set “Die Hard” knock-off released in 2013—the Channing Tatum/Jamie Foxx vehicle “White House Down” was an infinitely better film that didn't make you feel as if you needed a shower afterwards—but, presumably because it happened to come out first, it was the more successful of the two films. As a result, we now have “London Has Fallen,” a horrible and wildly unnecessary follow-up that might actually be worse than its predecessor.

As the film opens, our hero, Mike Banning (Butler), the personal Secret Service agent assigned to guard President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), is contemplating resigning his post in order to spend non-lethal quality time with his wife (Radha Mitchell) and their about-to-be-born child when duty calls once again—the Prime Minister of London has just died suddenly and he is to accompany Asher to the funeral, which will be attended by most of the leaders of the free world. As they all begin to congregate for the funeral, however, a series of coordinated attacks begin involving bombs, rocket launchers and hundreds of fake cops mowing down people in the streets that allow viewers to see most of London’s landmarks blown to smithereens and presumably thousands of people—including the leaders of France, Canada, Italy and Japan—killed in any number of gruesome ways. Happily, thanks to Banning’s decision to move President Asher’s arrival ahead of schedule, they manage to escape and even survive a crash landing when Marine One is shot down—perhaps the only time in the film when something crashes and does not instantly go up in a massive ball of flames, other than the film itself.

This all turns out to be the doing of Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul), a Middle Eastern terrorist who, according to Vice-President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), has “killed more people than the plague.” (Oddly, this only earns him a #6 ranking on the Most Wanted list—what does an international criminal have to do to crack the top five these days?) Asher called in a drone strike on Barkawi a couple of years earlier that went sideways when the location turned out to be his daughter’s wedding. He is so bound and determined to get revenge that even though he presumably intended Asher to be killed in the initial strike, he nevertheless has set up a Plan B that involves capturing his foe and streaming his execution online for the world to see. While Trumbull and the cabinet try to figure out a way of extracting Asher, Banning tries to keep him out of harm’s way with the aid of Jacquelin Marshall (Charlotte Riley), a spunky MI-6 agent who is determined to figure out who is the agency's mole that helped allow the attacks to happen—a challenge since virtually every British governmental, police or intelligence worker is portrayed as either a vile traitor or a clueless idiot.

Whatever the flaws of “Olympus Has Fallen,” it at least had a certain unity of purpose. It was determined to show the White House under a full-scale assault in the loudest and goriest manner imaginable. By comparison, “London Has Fallen” feels as if it originated as just another tired “Die Hard” knockoff that the producers came across in a pile of unproduced scripts and awkwardly rejiggered into a sequel with minimal effort. (That would at least explain why so many cast members from the original—including Freeman, Mitchell, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster and Melissa Leo—have been shoehorned into the proceedings without being given anything of note to do.) It certainly seems curiously uninterested in its own equally gauche premise. If you are planning on going to see it primarily to see London’s most famous landmarks in action, you should realize that after the major assault early in the proceedings, the locations shift away from the familiar facades to largely anonymous streets and building spaces that only barely disguise the fact that most of the film was actually shot in Bulgaria.

The elements that do carry over from the original film are, alas, some of its most loathsome characteristics. Once again, the violence is way, way over the top. While there is nothing quite as grisly as the aforementioned beating of the Secretary of Defense, the sheer amount of people getting gunned down, blown up or stabbed in the head gets a little sickening after a while and that is even before factoring in the idea of watching a cartoonish entertainment along these lines so soon after the attacks on Paris last fall. The film also tries to punctuate every violent bit with a quip of some sort but fails so badly that it just adds another unpleasant edge to the proceedings. (Example: After the president, who has been stashed in a room for safekeeping, bursts out to shoot a terrorist who has gotten the drop on Banning, Banning responds by saying, “I was wondering when you were coming out of the closet.”)

Other than serving as proof that Gerard Butler can make movies that are even worse than “Gods of Egypt” (not that this should be encouraged), there is absolutely nothing of value to “London Has Fallen” and the fact that it will no doubt pull in more money at the box office in its opening weekend than Terrence Malick's “Knight of Cups” will gross in its entire run is too depressing to even contemplate. Unless you have some insane desire to see what will surely go down as one of the very worst films of 2016, you would be far better served staying at home and finally giving “White House Down” a look.

London Has Fallen 2016 Audience Review

When you see what the U.S. president in London Has Fallen goes through, you have to wonder why Donald Trump wants this gig in the first place. A pointless sequel to 2013’s surprise hit Olympus Has Fallen — in which the commander in chief and the White House were under siege by terrorists — now sees the same scenario played out on a global basis as the world’s leaders gather in London for the funeral of the British Prime Minister, who died suddenly. Considering the high level of terrorism today, you might think this would be the most protected, impenetrable place on Earth. Uh, no.

Before they can kneel down to say a prayer for the poor bloke, all bloody hell breaks loose as multiple heads of state are assassinated and several of the city’s famed landmarks are blown to bits. Once again, Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is there to protect President Asher (Aaron Eckhart), who is thrust into the middle of all the carnage when lethal arms dealer Aamir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul) targets him for a death to be seen worldwide via the Internet. It seems a U.S.-backed drone hit his daughter’s wedding two years earlier, killing her and many guests. It is sweet revenge time, and the trophy he really wants is the president’s head.

After all he went through when the White House was taken over, you would think better precautions might have been taken than just having Banning and Secret Service director Lynn Jacobs (Angela Bassett) along for the ride. But as he proved before, Banning is really more than just a Secret Service agent: He’s a Rambo-like fighting machine who can take out 100 terrorists with no problem. Of course, in London Has Fallen‘s swift running time he helps to maneuver the prez in and out of terrible scrapes including car chases and helicopter crashes before the Chief Executive is (once again) nabbed by the bad guys and prepared to have his head chopped off live on the web. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, er, White House, new Vice President Trumbull (Oscar winner Morgan Freeman) — the last one was killed off in the first movie — presides over a situation room full of clueless U.S. officials. Occasionally he gets on the phone with Barkawi, but mostly he reacts with horror on his face and lines like, “Oh my God.” Also watching things unfold as events are reported is Banning’s concerned pregnant wife (Rahda Mitchell).

But most of the film is just an excuse for nonstop action of the most ridiculous kind. As I say in my video review (click the photo above to watch), I sort of was entertained by the first film in this hoped-for franchise, but this one, despite a bigger canvas, is rather boring and completely predictable. The sight of the president of the United States as basically a punching bag and gun-toting leader of the free world is even more absurd than anything playing out this election year (well, almost). 

On the plus side, Butler proves his mettle as an action star, and the film’s casting is refreshingly diverse with both Freeman and Bassett in roles that might have gone to white actors in another era, or in her case, a man. It’s a shame, then, that all they are given are LOL cliche lines both these fine actors could deliver in their sleep. Oscar-nominated stars Jackie Earle Haley and Robert Forster are given virtually nothing to do but look concerned. Director Babak Najafi knows how to blow stuff up, if nothing else. The script remarkably wasn’t made up as they went along and somehow is credited to four writers: the original’s creators Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt and Christian Gudegast and Chad St. John. Producers are Butler, Alan Siegel, Mark Gill, John Thompson, Matt O’Toole and Les Weldon. Gramercy Pictures, a division of Universal, presents the film in association with Avi Lerner’s Millennium Films and releases it Friday.

Do you plan to see London Has Fallen? Let us know what you think.