{"id":12376,"date":"2025-07-07T23:41:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T03:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12376"},"modified":"2025-07-07T23:41:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T03:41:56","slug":"london-has-fallen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/07\/07\/london-has-fallen\/","title":{"rendered":"London Has Fallen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"London Has Fallen<\/strong> (2016)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gramercy\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 99 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong violence and language throughout)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Babak Najafi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John and Christian Gudegast\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Trevor Morris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ed Wild\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 4, 2016 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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\u2019Bryan, Colin Salmon, Patrick Kennedy, Bryan Larkin, Waleed Zuaiter, Mehdi Dehbi, Adel Bencherif.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: $62.7M (US)\/$205.8M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0You know the old saying about one man\u2019s trash being another\u2019s treasure? It\u2019s a useful saying; it can be applied to many different things including movies. London Has Fallen<\/strong> is an action junkie\u2019s dream and a serious moviegoer\u2019s worst nightmare.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In this sequel to Olympus Has Fallen (one of the two \u201cWhite House under siege\u201d flicks released in 2013), Middle Eastern terrorists take over London in order to kill all the world\u2019s leaders who have gathered for a must-attend funeral for the country\u2019s 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\u2019s only a matter of minutes until they\u2019re running for their lives.<\/p>\n

\u00a0London Has Fallen<\/strong> is fairly simple and straightforward. It\u2019s 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<\/strong> 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\u2019s extremely far-fetched. There\u2019s 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<\/strong> to shreds, but my inner teen action junkie won\u2019t let me. I think in this case, I\u2019ll remain true to my old self and say that it\u2019s a cool kick-ass action flick.<\/p>\n

\u00a0He\u2019s had a good run as the President\u2019s 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\u2019s leaders (with the exception of Russia) are expected to attend his funeral at St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral in London, a scenario described by Secret Service director Lynne Jacobs (Bassett, What\u2019s Love Got to Do with It?) as \u201ca logistical nightmare\u201d. What she should be saying is \u201cIt\u2019s a trap.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0As 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\u2019t be easy since he has something they don\u2019t, Banning.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So who\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is the first scene of London Has Fallen<\/strong> 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\u2019s just one of many plot holes in London Has Fallen<\/strong>. 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\u2019 time? His plan seems to hinge on a lot of what-ifs. This movie is preposterous! It sure is a lot fun though.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Okay, let\u2019s address the elephant in the room for a moment. It preys on audiences\u2019 fears of ISIS and another attack like the one in Paris last year. It\u2019s racist, jingoistic and simplistic in its politics. So what? You can\u2019t take a live-action cartoon like London Has Fallen<\/strong> seriously, not even for a second. It\u2019s not all that different from the 80s action movies with their anti-Soviet angles.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Butler, 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, \u201cNo.\u201d At one point, he refers to the terrorists\u2019 home country as \u201cF***headistan\u201d. That\u2019s hysterical!<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s no point in discussing the acting in London Has Fallen<\/strong> since it\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0While London Has Fallen<\/strong> has action, violence and mayhem aplenty, there\u2019s 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\u2019s identity is revealed, it\u2019s like an afterthought. Besides, it isn\u2019t all that hard to figure out anyway. The action scenes are well-done. The destruction all looks convincing. London Has Fallen<\/strong> is a full-blooded, full-tilt-boogie, totally OTT action flick. Most of the time, it\u2019s absurd, but it\u2019s always fun. It\u2019s a great Saturday matinee picture.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London Has Fallen (2016)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gramercy\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 99 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong violence and language throughout)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Babak Najafi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John and Christian Gudegast\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Trevor Morris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ed Wild\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 4, 2016 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kick-ass-actioners","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/London-Has-Fallen-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12376"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12444,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12376\/revisions\/12444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}