London Has Fallen

London fell down and the damage is irreparable.  London Has Fallen is the sequel to 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen.  The film was directed by Babak Najafi and features Aaron Eckhart, Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett all reprising their roles as President Asher, Mike Banning, Alan Trumbull and Lynne Jacobs respectively.  This time around following the death of the British Prime Minister all of the world leaders gather to pay their respects to the man who held Britain in his hand.  As with the previous film a terrorist leader has a grudge against the United States and wishes to retaliate against us for an attack on their soil two years prior.

London Has Fallen is a much weaker sequel than I had ever imagined it would be.  The reason Olympus Has Fallen succeeded so handedly is because the first film was cut off to just the White House and because of that the film felt claustrophobic in a natural way.  There was a number of stakes because there are only so many place Banning can go before he was discovered by the terrorists.  In contrast to that, because the attack occurred in London there are entire sections of the city that can be utilized as refuge and that took away a majority of the tension for me.

The action still felt very kinetic to me and there was little to no shaky cam used in this film which I appreciated however another major negative of the film comes from the fact that they basically recycle the same exact plot from the first film.  There are no major differences between London and Olympus.  My question then became why on Earth would you hire writers if you’re not going to advance and evolve the characters or the story?  Because of this the film is comes off and is entirely a cash grab.

The one small saving grace the film has is that it is fun to watch the supporting cast elevate the material they were given.  Morgan Freeman in particular commands the screen again as now Vice President Alan Trumbull and the scenes he shares with this sequel’s big bad are the only real compelling and unintentionally funny moments of the film.

One smaller complaint that I have with this film is that the relationship established between Mike Banning and President Asher is almost entirely deleted and in its place is a ton of dialogue that follows the “how are we going to get out of here” mantra.  The fact that film resolves to use these action clichés is unnerving to me due to the fact that the first film worked so diligently to make sure it wasn’t just another standard action movie and the second film does everything it can to reverse all the good work done in the first film.

Integration of the SAS and MI-6 was appreciated because aside from being a film critic much of my spare time is invested in British dramas.  The acting by the British forces was passable at best.  Colin Salmon of Goldeneye and Arrow fame plays a superintendent of police and he does absolutely everything he can to give the movie he is in some gravitas.

London Has Fallen could have been a superb follow up to Olympus but instead it fails on every level.  I can only hope future action movies learn from this film’s many missteps.