London Has Fallen (2016) Gramercy/Action RT: 99 minutes Rated R (strong violence and language throughout) Director: Babak Najafi Screenplay: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John and Christian Gudegast Music: Trevor Morris Cinematography: Ed Wild Release date: March 4, 2016 (US) Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Jackie Earle Haley, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Charlotte Riley, Sean O’Bryan, Colin Salmon, Patrick Kennedy, Bryan Larkin, Waleed Zuaiter, Mehdi Dehbi, Adel Bencherif. Release date: $62.7M (US)/$205.8M (World)
Rating: ***
You know the old saying about one man’s trash being another’s treasure? It’s a useful saying; it can be applied to many different things including movies. London Has Fallen is an action junkie’s dream and a serious moviegoer’s worst nightmare.
In this sequel to Olympus Has Fallen (one of the two “White House under siege” flicks released in 2013), Middle Eastern terrorists take over London in order to kill all the world’s leaders who have gathered for a must-attend funeral for the country’s Prime Minister. That, of course, includes our own Commander-in-Chief Benjamin Asher (Eckhart, The Dark Knight) accompanied by Secret Service agent (and close friend) Mike Banning (Butler, 300). It’s only a matter of minutes until they’re running for their lives.
London Has Fallen is fairly simple and straightforward. It’s highly enjoyable if taken on its own terms which action junkies are fully capable of doing. Others might not be as tolerant. London Has Fallen totally delivers on its promise of action and mass destruction, but the narrative is messy. This movie has plot holes big enough to fly Air Force One through. It’s extremely far-fetched. There’s zero character development. Plot elements that initially seem important take a back seat to the mayhem. The critic in me knows I should tear London Has Fallen to shreds, but my inner teen action junkie won’t let me. I think in this case, I’ll remain true to my old self and say that it’s a cool kick-ass action flick.
He’s had a good run as the President’s personal guard, but Banning is considering calling it a day. His wife Leah (Mitchell, Silent Hill) is two weeks away from giving birth to their first child. Then he gets the call. The British PM has suddenly died and all the world’s leaders (with the exception of Russia) are expected to attend his funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, a scenario described by Secret Service director Lynne Jacobs (Bassett, What’s Love Got to Do with It?) as “a logistical nightmare”. What she should be saying is “It’s a trap.”
As everybody congregates for the funeral, a series of coordinated attacks and bombings begin. Terrorists disguised as cops and Buckingham Palace guards open fire. Famous landmarks- e.g. Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, etc.- are destroyed. The leaders of Japan, Canada, Italy and France are killed. The next target is the President, but it won’t be easy since he has something they don’t, Banning.
So who’s behind it all? That would be Aamir Barkawi (Aboutboul, Body of Lies), a Middle Eastern terrorist presumed killed in a drone strike (ordered by Asher naturally) two years earlier. He wants two things: (1) to make a political statement and (2) revenge. You see, his daughter was killed in the drone strike. In fact, he was attending her wedding when the missile struck. She died, but luckily he and his three sons survived. What are the chances?
This is the first scene of London Has Fallen and it raises a very interesting question. How could the US government NOT know he was attending the wedding when they fired the missile at his location? They had him under surveillance; surely they would know this and not risk the lives of possibly innocent people. That’s just one of many plot holes in London Has Fallen. I could ask many questions. How did the terrorists manage to infiltrate the Buckingham Palace guards? How did Barkawi manage to plan and coordinate the attacks in just two years’ time? His plan seems to hinge on a lot of what-ifs. This movie is preposterous! It sure is a lot fun though.
Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room for a moment. It preys on audiences’ fears of ISIS and another attack like the one in Paris last year. It’s racist, jingoistic and simplistic in its politics. So what? You can’t take a live-action cartoon like London Has Fallen seriously, not even for a second. It’s not all that different from the 80s action movies with their anti-Soviet angles.
Butler, once again, makes a formidable action hero. He racks up a very impressive body count, shooting, stabbing and breaking necks in the name of democracy. He has some great lines too. In one scene, when Asher asks whether a stabbing was really necessary, he simply says, “No.” At one point, he refers to the terrorists’ home country as “F***headistan”. That’s hysterical!
There’s no point in discussing the acting in London Has Fallen since it’s really not all that important. Nobody comes to a movie like this expecting stellar, Oscar-caliber performances anyway which is good since most of the characters aren’t developed at all. Actors like Freeman (Million Dollar Baby), Leo (The Fighter), Forster (Jackie Brown) and Haley (Little Children) do little more than sit around the Situation Room watching the events unfold on large TV screens. The only one not completely wasted in Freeman; he has more than one or two lines of dialogue.
While London Has Fallen has action, violence and mayhem aplenty, there’s very little in the way of plot development. Director Babak Najafi (Easy Money II: Hard to Kill) introduces the idea of a mole inside MI6 but does next to nothing with it. By the time this person’s identity is revealed, it’s like an afterthought. Besides, it isn’t all that hard to figure out anyway. The action scenes are well-done. The destruction all looks convincing. London Has Fallen is a full-blooded, full-tilt-boogie, totally OTT action flick. Most of the time, it’s absurd, but it’s always fun. It’s a great Saturday matinee picture.
