London Has Fallen is the sequel to 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen. Just like the original, this one contains a lot of action, and then more action, and then there are some chases and shootouts, and…and… Oh, who am I kidding? This movie is nothing more than a bombastic, overblown rehash of the original.
If you were a fan of the original, then this sequel will be right up your alley once again. If not, then there’s no use convincing you to go see this one. If you were forced into seeing it, well, chances are you probably had nothing better to do.
Gerard Butler returns as Secret Service agent Mike Banning who’s once again assigned to protect the President (Aaron Eckhart) as he’s been called to attend the funeral of the British Prime Minister in London. Lo and behold, a terrorist organization strikes at the funeral leaving Butler and Eckhart to fend for themselves as they try to dodge the faction. That’s pretty much the setup and payoff for the rest of the film.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, the Vice President (Morgan Freeman) and his staff do everything they can to deal with the situation and bring down the terrorists. All that’s missing is Harrison Ford and Glenn Close getting in on the action.
The movie relies on a lot of durable action movie clichés and plot devices that attempt to give the movie momentum including a moment when the President is inevitably captured and held hostage awaiting his execution.
London Has Fallen basically amounts to having your typical share of action sequences that are loud and look like well-choreographed stunts from a ’90s action movie. But it also contains cardboard characters who exchange witless one-liners before moving on into the next action sequence.
The movie is about 100 minutes long. I would venture to say that 102 minutes after it starts, you are already thinking about something else.
Grade: C+
(Rated R for strong violence and language throughout.)
