LONDON HAS FALLEN

(2016) 99 Minutes, Rated R

Bean’s Review: Great action packed movie.  This is what I was expecting and I was not disappointed.  Some of the action scenes are unbelievable, but still highly entertaining.  Gerard Butler is a pleasure to watch in action.  I enjoy his no “bleeding heart” character.  I really liked him in Olympus Has Fallen and liked his progressed characterization in this movie.

Aaron Eckhart’s character, the President, delved more into the action in this movie as opposed to Olympus Has Fallen.  The development of his action scenes and “take charge” attitude were fun to watch along with his rapport with Gerard Butler.

I did not think the death of Angela Bassett’s character was necessary and I am not sure of the reasoning behind that storyline.

Morgan Freeman is always a reliable, solid actor and enjoyable to watch.

Best scene:  The helicopters scene.

Bean’s Rating:  Full Price – I would watch it again.

A.C.'s Review:  The Secret Service agent played by Gerard Butler returns along with Aaron Eckhardt as the US President in the sequel to the successful OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN action flick that returned such movies to their glory not seen since the heyday of the 1980’s. Given how intense that film was and how wonderfully it was executed I had high hopes for the sequel. Unfortunately they were not fully met.

This time the US Officials convene in London for the funeral of the British Prime Minister. As it turns out the whole thing was a set up by a terrorist with a grudge against the President’s administration which ordered a drone strike the killed and crippled most of his family. The elaborate plan manages to accomplish the assignation of the leaders of Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany and France but as Admiral Kirk famously taunted Khan in STAR TREK II “You keep missing the target” as in the main target …the US President…so as that failed they decided to hunt him down and execute him live on the internet. It’s up to the heroic secret service  agent to get the President to safety. I can’t even remember the character’s name that is how light of impression it made on me.

This film looks to me like it was rushed into production to capitalize on the success of the first film. It’s evident in some of its flaws. First the stakes don’t feel very high…the last movie the US faced nuclear Armageddon but in this one its basically just the President in danger for most of the film. London landmarks getting leveled meant nothing since I don’t even know what they are…they could have least destroyed Big Ben because everyone know what that is. .It’s just a very thin weak script.

I suspect the budget wasn’t very high because conveniently the terrorist stage a black out of London and the police order people off the street s so the whole movie the Prez and Butler are running around the darkened empty streets. The CGI is the most evident of a low budget. The explosions were laughable...I miss the days when the studios would pay a pyrotechnics expert to stage a real explosion with real fire. The CGI flames were terribly apparent.

I could go on but the bottom line is this is a rushed looking product and it shows. Quite a letdown. If they do a third one bring it back to the States...write a script people can get invested in like having terrorist threatening to destroy icons like Mt. Rushmore or the Statue of Liberty and only the Secret Service agent can stop them.

Best Scene: The highlight of the film was the sequence assassinating the world leaders.

A.C.'s Rating: A reluctant Matinee


Mike's Review:  To give you some by the by movie reviews history Olympus Has Fallen was the first movie ever reviewed on this blog.  And now almost three years later here we are reviewing the sequel.

As with the first movie this one is pretty much the same thing only its taking place in London.  It is still a good action movie with some good fight scenes and one liners.  I think I enjoyed this a little more than the first just because it seemed to have some better humor in it.

Best Scene:  Getting back the President.

Mike's Review: (Again) Worth the price of the ticket.