London Has Fallen- film review by Jogwheel

Full-text transcript of the review:

[00:00:06] Hello and welcome to this quickie edition of Movie Night, I’m your host, Jonathan Pollard. Just one review tonight, and since it’s for an action movie, I might as well wear the best of the two White House takeover movies from 2013. Olympus Has Fallen was certainly the stronger and more mature entry. And while I’m not convinced that really needed the sequel, I’m glad it got one. So let’s review. London has fallen. If the original was a modern day die hard with a presidential twist, this follow up installment from director Bob Nurhachi feels a bit like Die Hard with a vengeance. The 60 million dollar action thriller was released nationwide on March 4th, 2016, when the leaders of the free world come together in London for a state funeral. All but one of them are wiped out by a carefully planned terrorist attack. Gerard Butler returns as the super skilled secret agent who once again must keep Potosí Aaron Eckhart alive after escaping from his initial and explosive assassination attempt. Butler handles the physically demanding lead role with precision and cheeky humor and unstoppable killing machine. He moves and shoots more like John Wick than John McClane. Eckhart, meanwhile, has given more to do this time around, even killing a few bad guys. But his hesitation and fear still helps sell the thin reality of his presidency. Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett do above average work in their simplistic roles, while virtually every other surviving character from the first film also returns. But considering many of these players were minor government types, the attention to continuity is unnecessary, however admirable.

[00:01:24] Unfortunately, there’s no mention, even in passing, of the devastating events of Part one. Washington was destroyed, a dozen cabinet members executed and the president held hostage. And yet it’s like it never even happened. I, for one, found this particularly disappointing as the world building opportunities and a post White House takeover universe are extremely fascinating. On the plus side, however, it removes the Scripps responsibility of addressing the audience’s incredulity, like, are we really meant to believe a sitting U.S. president could be kidnapped and held hostage by terrorists on two separate occasions if no one ever mentions what happened last time? The sequel can metaphorically plead ignorance. If you can get past this unbelievability of the macro structure London has fallen should go down as one of the best action movies of the year and on the micro scale to fist fights, helicopter crashes and security procedures all play out with typical Hollywood realism. Victorio. Got it, got it. Mark on your left. Really, what you want to be right now, you owe me. Not quite as overt as the imagery in the original picture, the thematic undercurrent of this movie still feels quite patriotic and extremely violent and often vulgar affair. This movie earns its hard R rating with dozens of F bombs and plenty of blood. People are stabbed, shot, blown up, drowned and decapitated without mercy, preparing for an ambitious siege of an enemy stronghold, Butler jokes.

[00:03:05] Things are going to get sporty just before he pops out from behind cover, it opens fire on a battalion of baddies. The ferocious gunfight that follows is all captured in a single two minute camera shot that floats through the carnage as terrorist after terrorist is laid to waste and only ninety nine minutes long and even shorter with lengthy credits. This movie ends just as it’s getting excellent. Nothing feels hurried, but one more action set piece somewhere in the middle would have really helped. It’s obvious to producers that as much as they could with their relatively tight budget, though, as a number of the larger special effects shots like those of famous English landmarks crumbling during an attack look no better than the stuff Freddy Wong’s team creates on YouTube every week. Although it’s shallow, convenient and too familiar to make much of an impression, the movie knows its identity and totally owns it. If you’re an action movie fan like myself and enjoyed the original, you should check this one out, at least on home media. London Has Fallen is a damn fine thriller with one bad ass protagonist. I thought it was cool. Unfortunately, that does it for this quick episode. But next time I really will be reviewing the Indiana Jones franchise. So stay tuned for that. And if you click this information icon, some related videos will slide out for you to watch. Once again, my name is Jonathan Paul. Thanks for watching and have a good movie night.