London Has Fallen
London Has Fallen is a pure Hollywood sequel at it's finest. It's predecessor Olympus Has Fallen from 2013 was such a simple blockbuster that left my brain immediately after watching it. A film that just threw at a lot of action at you and it followed the same format of director Antoine Fuqua's other filmography who's known for making action films. Olympus Has Fallen so much exceeded expectations at the box office so it only makes sense a sequel follows.
Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is now expecting his first child and looking to resign from his Secret Service duties protecting the president. After the British Prime Minister dies, the funeral is must-attend for world leaders and terrorists launch an attack in London. It's up to Banning to save U.S. President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) in a wild cat-and-mouse game in the streets of London.
When you think of this series, you don't think of characters but as much as anything this film is all about Mike Banning and Benjamin Asher. Banning is made out to be a bad-ass and he does very well in the action scenes. Butler is very likable and you wish the character was in really a different series. The only thing the character does is basically protect Asher so don't expect a lot of secondary elements to him. Even though I've always liked actor Arron Eckhart, Asher doesn't have much to him compared to Banning and really he is a dull President. You do have big names in secondary roles like Morgan Freeman or Angela Bassett but the script is made for Butler to do the most work.
As much as the Olympus Fallen plot, the London Has Fallen plot is ridiculous. I understand that terrorist attacks can happen any day and that terrorists can be capable of a lot of things but this attack on London seems to be a bit too much. Every landmark in London seems to be down and London police are nowhere to be found. All we see are terrorists running around and really we should have seen more military than what we saw. Even more so, the British Prime Minister's death is never explained.
The only thing the film does really well is depicting London as the setting. From set locations, culture, and the British people, it surely feels like London even with it being just a Hollywood film. If this film makes money, (I think it will) expect the next installment to be in another famous and glamorous city like Paris or Los Angeles. So far, the settings of these films are the main selling point.
London Has Fallen is basically what most February blockbusters are. A mindless film with some pretty good action. London Has Fallen literally falls though.
