Gerard Butler, as US Secret Service Agent Mike Banning, is clearly trying to outmuscle and outgun Bruce Willis, as NYDP police officer John McClane (Die Hard), if his latest high-octane thriller, London Has Fallen, is anything to go by. The intent is no let up in the action or in the suspense from go to whoa (or should that be woe?).
This is the follow up to the 2013 hit Olympus Has Fallen, with not only Butler returning, but Aaron Eckhart as the US President Asher and Morgan Freeman, as the now-Vice President Trumbull. The idea is simple – terrorists want revenge in all its death-defined glory. They want victory steeped in blood and specifically the blood the US President – who they would like to execute live on the Internet. Charming! But let’s step back and find out why.
A lavish wedding party gets underway in Lahore, Pakistan. The father of the bride is Aamir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul), a lethal arms dealer and one of the world’s most wanted men. A drone strike swiftly kills revelers – including Barkawi’s daughter – although he escapes serious injury and he and his sons vow vengeance. Two years later in Washington, D.C., Banning and his wife Leah (Radha Mitchell) eagerly await the imminent arrival of their first child. Having remained the Secret Service Agent assigned to the President, Banning is always on alert.
When the British Prime Minster dies unexpectedly, Banning knows it is his duty – along with that of Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) – to accompany the President to the state funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. With every powerful global leader set to attend, the funeral should be the most protected event on Earth. Yet within moments of arriving, heads of state are assassinated and many of the great London landmarks are attacked. Asher, Banning and Jacobs are ambushed and retreat amidst a hail of gunfire and explosives. The devastated British capital goes into lockdown. London police and armed forces realise that they have been compromised with all communications being intercepted.
Tasked by Jacobs with keeping Asher safe, Banning must go off the grid and under the radar to stay one step ahead of what he learns are relentless operatives deployed by Barkawi. They have infiltrated the city through the careful plotting of Barkawi and his son Kamran (Waleed F. Zuaiter).
London Has Fallen picks up the characters a couple of years after Olympus Has Fallen left off. In the original terrorists overran the White House, so it was only logical that the filmmakers would up the ante and involve all the major world leaders, spearheaded again by the US President. The highly clichéd bravado and muscle of Butler’s character is regularly on display here. To me he looks significantly more aged and grizzled. The fact that he can take on a veritable army of terrorist assassins all but single handedly – as most others fall by the wayside – becomes more and more preposterous as the stakes get ratcheted up and up.
That is to say nothing of the notion that the Middle Eastern terrorist cell has infiltrated London in great numbers and managed to coordinate an attack involving seemingly hundreds of armed gunmen. They strike on foot, by car, on many, many motorbikes and in the air. And, by the way, they accomplished that having planned the attack over two years without any of the world’s superpowers getting even a whiff of it. Plausible? I think not or, perhaps that should read, I certainly hope not!
There is no questioning how good a number of the action sequences look (and London is mighty pretty), but some of the dialogue is downright cringeworthy, reflecting a lack of thought and judgment. Perhaps adrenaline junkies and video gamers will enjoy the exploits most and set aside the giant leaps in plotting. Four screenwriters (including the two from the first installment) were responsible, while the director of Olympus, Antoine Fuqua, has given way to Babak Najafi, who helms this one.
Rated MA, London Has Fallen scores a 5½ to 6 out of 10.
Director: Babak Najafi
Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Charlotte Riley
Release Date: 17 March 2016
Rating: MA 15+ – Strong action violence
Alex First
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television
