Review of London Has Fallen (2016) by Simon C — 03 Oct 2016

One liners, epic explosion, reckless car chases, a sneaky double agent, a tense time stressed hostage rescue, and the list goes on and on. Action movies have an entire group of clichés. It becomes more and more difficult for an action movie to stand out in such a cluttered genre. How does London Has Fallen do it? Well it doesn't. London Has Fallen falls flat on its face in this disappointing movie.

The plot of London Has Fallen is as effortless as they come. Leaders from all over the world are forced to attend a funeral after the surprise death of the Prime Minister of London. Security is tight and tensions are high. Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is tasked with keeping President Benjamin (Aaron Eckhart) alive and safe throughout the remainder of the movie. Of course, nothing goes as planned, and the entire city is turned into a war zone within minutes. Soon terrorists own the city of London. At this point the action begins and it doesn't slow down for nearly the remainder of the movie.

Headshot, headshot, knife to throat, and one liners are the easiest way to describe the action in London Has Fallen. The explosions look nice due to the special effects, but that can only take this piece of junk so far. About an hour into the film and it becomes more of a chore to watch. Banning's near death escapes and ridiculous accuracy is just too much. At one-point Banning is surrounded by multiple, well trained terrorists with assault rifles. Then Banning does the unthinkable. Kills all of the them with a bullet to the head without getting a scratch.

Boring plot? Check! Repetitive action scenes? Check! Want the trifecta of an awful movie? London Has Fallen has zero-character development. As much as I love Morgan Freeman, even he falls victim to no development as the Vice President Trumbull. Then we have Mike Banning.

The movie wants you sympathize with Banning because he's forced to go to London to protect the president and must leave his pregnant wife behind. However, you just watched Banning kill probably 50 plus men, and laugh as he repeatedly stabbed a man to death so the man's brother could hear him die over a walkie-talkie. Try a different direction next time. Maybe less stabbing and more babies?

To sum it up, this movie is a miss. The action is too much for most viewers, characters mean little to nothing, and the plot is too generic. Sure the special effects are great, but it's not setting the new standard for action movies. A moment or two will make you chuckle because of the stupid one liners and over the top action, that's it. With a budget of over $60 million you should expect impressive special effects and at least a decent plot. Only getting one of these is a slap to the face for moviegoers. I'd recommend passing on this fail of a movie. Go see Mad Max for a real action movie.