Rated: MA15+
Directed by: Babak Najafi
Screenplay by: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John, Christian Gudegast
Story by: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt
Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Alan Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Melissa Leo and Radha Mitchell.
A sequel to the 2013 film, Olympus Has Fallen, London Has fallen is an action thriller that was better and bloodier than expected.
Obligated to attend the state funeral of the British Prime Minister, the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart), along with the majority of the world’s leaders, come under attack by the Pakistani terrorist and arms dealer, Aamir Barkawi (Alan Moni Aboutboul).
Gerard Butler playing the secret service agent, Mike Banning, isn’t my favourite action man. And the chemistry between Mike and his wife Leah (Aussie actress, Radha Mitchell) was strained if not painful to watch. But there were glimmers of a personality under all that strutting – ‘I don’t know about you but I’m thirsty as fuck,’ being one of the very few human moments. He’s a man made of, ‘Bourbon and bad decisions’. But yeah, some of the dialogue was pretty bad.
This is a big budget film with buildings blown up, the Chelsea Bridge disintegrating and the top of Westminster Abby toppling to the streets of London. If it wasn’t for the seeming required cheese that these ‘American President versus Terrorist’ movies always seem to require, this would have been a very good film.
I like my thrillers and there was plenty of action here – car chases and machine guns popping like fireworks. There were moments reminiscent of an Army Action kill ‘em all PlayStation game. Good stuff!
Having the Brits on board only helped balance the typical cheese of the American style, one-sided ideal of the live and die mantra for the American Dream. Even with Morgan Freeman’s baritone, some of the dialogue was hard to swallow.
The screening of the movie is timely with the recent terrorist attacks on Brussels. A very sad day. And some politics are discussed here. The required need to continue the fight against terror rather than do nothing. To engage the world. The fact America has been under attack for centuries and that they will remain. It is frightening, this terror business, this blowing up of innocent people. And I don’t want to get into politics here. But there are attacks happening and I guess the movie shows a perspective. Anyway.
A lot of cheese, but some good action here with a big budget to make the film look impressive on the screen.