Review of London Has Fallen (2016) by Grant D — 09 Apr 2016

Quick Review: London Has Fallen.

The sequel to 2013's "Olympus Has Fallen" is exactly what you would think it would be. It's a lot the same plot elements and action beats, just in a different location. First it was the White House with North Koreans wanting to kidnap the President and Gerald Butler storms in to kick ass, take names, and drop some amusing one-liners. Now, Islamic terrorists have executed a hostile takeover of the city of London to... yep; kidnap the visiting U.S. President with Gerald Butler once again killing his way out of a sticky situation.

I rather enjoyed this movie. I'd call it a perfect guilty pleasure movie. There's nothing overly amazing about it. It doesn't particularly stand out from contemporary action films like "Olympus" did, but it's still very entertaining. My biggest complaint is that the movie takes a while to get going; like 30 minutes or so. But when the attack on London begins it's all chaotic fun from then on. Gerald Butler gets some pretty good kills in that made me laugh several times: "Fuck me? Fuck you!".

And unlike garbage movies like Die Hard 5 or Lucy, "London" doesn't come off as cynical or lazy. It's clear genuine effort was put into this to make it entertaining and MOSTLY fast-paced and you walk away feeling content, not annoyed or tired.

So yeah, I say check it out. It's fun, bloody, and unapologetic about what it is. Be sure to check out the admittedly superior "Olympus Has Fallen" beforehand and make it a double feature.

Score: 6.5/10.