Review of London Has Fallen (2016) by Richard V — 28 Apr 2016

Look, the first movie, Olympus Has Fallen, set a high bar in the popcorn-munching, action-packed, "Die Hard In A ____" genre. And while it was nice to see the entire cast return, this movie just couldn't hold up. It's not to say it's a terrible movie. It's a step above generic and just decent, which is a shame because of how great the set-up is (World's leaders are drawn into a trap by a terrorist faction.) The problem could be that it seems to be on a lower budget, or simply that the new director, Babak Najafi, tries his best and it doesn't work. Though, a scene that appears to look like it was done in one-shot was interesting.

The problems are simple:

Most of the original cast is relegated to cameo roles, which makes sense for the purposes of the film - the President's son is written out as being "elsewhere" while the cabinet from the first film just gasps every few minutes. But there's a brief moment where it seems Melissa Leo's character has a near-panic attack, which makes sense because of her circumstances in Olympus, but it's never mentioned again, probably to keep it a tight action movie. Why not use these characters and delve into the fact that this is a sequel, that two years after the worst attack in history nearly killed them all, they're having to relive it. Hell, the White House and all of Washington, DC looks completely recovered and there's barely any mention of the events of the first film.

The CGI is pretty awful. I'm not expecting Avatar-like special effects, but when the attack on London occurs, it feels more like the sort of things you might see in a SyFy original movie. Plus, all of the world leaders are killed such a rapid fashion, it seemed like there was no weight to their deaths. They were just extras, basically. Hell, the entire "attack" sequence is handled so quickly and abruptly, there's very little drama. The "attack" sequence in Olympus was shocking, terrifying, and horrifying. It evoked emotion. This...doesn't. Also doesn't help that almost every beat of this film is insanely heavy-handed with its predictability. There's not a moment of surprise anywhere.

The villains in this movie are less interesting. In fact, the main villain is killed in a way that doesn't quite make sense, consider how the film started. Plus, there's a subplot about how the city was able to crumble so quickly that felt like elements of it were removed, because the resolution feels sudden and asked more questions.

But if you to want a violently pro-American, flag-waving, Gerard Butler-stabbing-in-the-head symphony of bullets - and you already watched the superior Olympus Has Fallen - then give this movie a shot. I just hope that if they make a third one, they bring back Antoine Fuqua to direct and a bigger budget for the action.