MoovieGab

fiLmReviEw
LONDON HAS FALLEN 
[2016, US - English]
Antoine Fuqua’s 2013 action thriller Olympus Has Fallen has been a box office success, reaping in more than $160 million against a $70 million production budget. Despite its crummy premise of one superhero who outwits and defeats all the villains and single-handedly saves the White House from being taken over by terrorists, Fuqua managed to make it one of the few full-blown action films that I have enjoyed. Minus the poor scripting, it does boast a series of competent action sequences and performances by the strong supporting casts. 

Iranian-born Swede Babak Najafi takes on the sequel titled London Has Fallen, and expands the battleground from the White House to the capital of England. Previous main casts return including Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster and Melissa Leo. In a world where all Westerners are innocent targets of terrorism and Muslims are single-minded extremists, the show opens with the demise of Britain’s Prime Minister as the premise for the gathering of all the world leaders, obliviously walking into a trap of grand scale massacre. Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Butler) is on the verge of resignation following the expecting of his first child with wife (Radha Mitchell), as he finds himself thrown into the massive terrorist carnage striking London city while escorting the US President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart) to the funeral. As we watch the decimation of London’s biggest landmarks, one can’t help but be disconcerted with just how blatantly xenophobia and American jingoism are paraded throughout. And to make things worse, the whole ruthless barrage is in fact the result of a man’s (terrorist mastermind Aamir Barkawi portrayed by Alon Moni Aboutboul) personal revenge towards the US President. Yes, why not. Scheming at great lengths including infiltrating the London police force, setting up a funeral to gather all the political leaders, annihilate half of London city, just to get to one single target. All in all a film that does not require much thinking, and not even half as entertaining as its predecessor.

Rating: C-

#LondonHasFallen #GerardButler #BabakNajafi#AaronEckhart #MorganFreeman #AngelaBassett#FilmReview #MovieReview #ActionMovies#Movies #AlonMoniAboutboul #OlympusHasFallen