Director: Babak Najafi
Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Basset, Radha Mitchell
Country: United States
Rating: R
Run Time: 99 min
London Has Fallen is the sequel to Antoine Fuqua's Olympus Has Fallen, a Die Hard rip-off from 2013 with some of the worst special effects in Hollywood history. I figured that I would give my own mini-review of the film before I dive into its sequel in order to give you all a contextual understanding of the series and my opinion of it thus far. While I have no qualms with a film being a Die Hard rip-off, it's one of contemporary action's greatest traditions (i.e. Under Siege, Speed, Sudden Death, Passenger 57, Air Force One, Paul Blart: Mall Cop), I had major issues with Olympus Has Fallen's brutal depiction of the North Korean's attack on Washington D.C. Interestingly enough, Olympus Has Fallen proves Die Hard director John McTiernan's point that no viewer will have fun watching a movie where terrorists murder countless innocents. Oops, looks like Fuqua skipped out on that lesson of Action Filmmaking 101. I was also immensely disturbed by the first film's treatment towards its characters, as several of the President's cabinet members are brutally mauled and tortured in an unnecessarily malicious matter. All in all though, if Olympus Has Fallen had been directed more competently and lighter on the horrid terrorist violence, than it could have been a fun but brutal take on the Die Hard formula for a new age. That concludes my mini-review for the first film, now on to the sequel.
The sequel, which now takes the political carnage from Washington D.C. to London, is not nearly as brutal or mean spirited as its predecessor, although it is far more malicious in its jingoism. The special effects may be slightly better and the action competently shot, but London Has Fallen is just as meat headed as its predecessor, and proof that this series is surviving simply on box office dollars, not stalwart storytelling. All in all, the action fanatic in me wants to see this series continue on simply to bask in its B-movie simplicity, but the human side of me wants it to end in order to eradicate the jingoism put forth by its story and setting. It's just a shame that this one wasn't called, "London Bridge is Falling Down," or that nobody said it in the movie.
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| Here we go again. |
Since the events of Olympus Has Fallen, Secret Serviceman Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) and President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) are buddies again. Elsewhere in the world, the British Prime Minister passes in his sleep, thereby leading to a gathering of the Western world's leaders in London for the funeral. Banning, accompanied by Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett), the Director of the Secret Service, join the President on his trip to London. In order to ensure their protection on such short notice, Banning moves up their schedule in order to get them to the funeral far ahead of time. However, disaster strikes when all of the world's leaders are simultaneously killed by terrorist leader Aamir Barkawi in London at various locations. Due to Banning's protective strategy, he and the President survive the attack. After further surviving a downed helicopter, the two make their way through the streets of London in search of rescue all the while fighting off Barkawi's men. It's a classic case of, "How could the same thing happen to the same guy twice?" in a sequel that diverts from the Die Hard formula in favor of a disaster/survival plot.*
The biggest issue with London Has Fallen is not that its special effects suck, but that it bases its plot around a terrorist attack all too real in today's day and age of terrorist threats while also trying to be intensely patriotic. When I initially reviewed Stuart Baird's Executive Decision, a fantastic suspense thriller from 1996, I commented that the film could never be made today because its plot would never fly as an entertaining blockbuster in a post 9/11 world. Nowadays, suspense thrillers based around terrorist bombings and real world threats have to be respectful and serious along the lines of Paul Greengrass' cinema or Zero Dark Thirty, foregoing blockbuster pleasures for a more docudrama like take on the matter.
Unfortunately, London Has Fallen completely disregards this sense of respect altogether and shoots purely for blockbuster pleasures. It's a bold move, albeit one made all the bolder based on its shamelessness. If that wasn't enough to damn the picture, the intense jingoism, especially in the form of both Butler and Freeman's speeches on America towards the end of the film, clashes with the blockbuster sentiments of the picture. Here we have an action film that tries to send a message about American patriotism, but also deliver blockbuster entertainment in the form of Gerard Butler gunning down countless Arab terrorists. Call me crazy, but I don't think that either of those messages or tones can blend with one another in a realistic matter, especially in a film where Butler utters lines like, "Go back to f***headistan or wherever you guys come from!" London Has Fallen is exactly the kind of action film that came out at the end of the 80s in America when some filmmakers were still hung up on demonizing the Russians (i.e. Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III), but less sensitive to the times and more hard headed. Therefore, meat headed right wingers who like politics mixed in with their violence will go nuts for this film.
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| The world's most lethal secret serviceman is back. |
All politics aside, London Has Fallen follows in the footsteps of its predecessor by coming off immensely cheap despite its rather large budget of $60 million. Although the sequel desperately desires to be a blockbuster, signs of DTV cinema creep in to the picture and drag it down to the depths of action movie hell. For example, an exchange early on in the film between Freeman and Butler's characters was clearly never filmed in the same room. Therefore, director Babak Najafi opts for a shot/reverse shot of the conversation. This shameful scene is made all the more cringeworthy when a body double who is supposed to be "Freeman" walks away from Butler with his back towards the camera. Some research will reveal that Butler shot many of his scenes separate from most of the actors in the film besides Eckhart. This is why so many of the film's other notable character actors appear in a room away from the action or off screen. Regardless, London Has Fallen takes some obvious tips out of the Steven Seagal playbook on lazy filmmaking.
However, the DTV shoddiness doesn't stop there. Hilarious stock footage and freeze frames of exterior buildings abound throughout the picture. I nearly laughed out loud during my screening when the film cut to stock footage of motorcycles cruising through the streets of London that looked as if it were pulled from a news broadcast. The most heinous moment of stock imagery can be spotted in a shot where a still image of the White House is shown as an exterior and the "camera" zooms in on it. If you look carefully enough, you can spot a dark security guard who doesn't move at all during this zoom. Later on in the film, stock footage of Time Square and other cities is used in order to show the President's near assassination on the live screens within the footage. However, if you look at the people walking around the cities, none of them react to the massive image of the President on their screens! Anybody who declares London Has Fallen a solid action picture needs to check their I.Q., because low budget atrocities like these permeate the entire experience and ruin what should have been a more professionally made theatrical release.
From an action stand point, the sequel is a huge step up from its predecessor, especially in its second half. Unfortunately, the first half of the film, which is where it most desperately wishes to be a blockbuster, crumbles due to poor framing and awful computer generated effects. The entire inciting incident, and the ensuing helicopter chase, is so poorly rendered and shot that it begs to be seen purely for laughs. Fortunately, the action becomes much better in the second half as the fights and shootouts are scaled down and brought to a more personal and manageable scale considering the budget at hand. In all honesty, there is some very solid action during the second half of the film, as Butler's Secret Servicemen kicks major butt during some solid shootouts that feature some good stunt work and cinematography. I lost count, but I'll take a guess that that Butler kills a whopping 60 or so Arabs in this film.
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| The easiest acting job that Freeman could ask for. |
With the release of last month's Gods of Egypt and now this, Butler has officially sunk to the level of B-movie star and joined the ranks of Seagal and Van Damme at the end of their own theatrical careers. After nearly ten years since the release of his break out film, 300, Butler has done nothing but coast on mediocre scripts and generic actioners for almost a decade. I for one declare that his A-list label be torn from his name sake and tossed to the dirt. That being said, Butler still does a solid job with the action sequences, and imbues a certain sense of fun with the character of Mike Banning. Banning is a combination of Under Siege's unstoppable Casey Ryback and Rambo III's intensely patriotic John Rambo rolled up into make shift action star. He's far from original, and in no way deep, but he gets the job done, especially while everyone else sleep walks through the picture.
While it must have been fun to see such an extraordinary cast in a B-picture like Olympus Has Fallen the first time, its simply embarrassing to see them all here again and working with worse material than before. The surprisingly impressive supporting cast of Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Jackie Earle Haley, Angela Bassett, Radha Mitchell, and Robert Forster is simply shocking. Every single one of these actors has given far better work within far greater films, and yet here they all are embodying some of the flattest characters imaginable. Freeman, one of the more legendary actors still working today, deserves to have his feet held to the fire for his performance in this film. He barely does anything other than sit in a chair amongst his cabinet members and talk to a giant screen. The many terrorist negotiation scenes strongly resemble the ones found within Seagal's Under Siege series. You know your sequel to a Die Hard rip-off sucks when you can't even top Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, another sequel to another Die Hard rip-off, for goodness sakes.
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| Butler and Eckhart run from their critics. |
A ridiculous sequel like London Has Fallen should be fun to watch, much the same way that Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Taken 2, Predator 2, Transporter 2, and Death Wish 2 were to their own series of ridiculous violence and ludicrous action. Unfortunately, the mean spirited tone and intense jingoism holds the sequel back from fulfilling its entertainment duties, which is more or less what a blockbuster of such nature should do. Najafi does a fine job taking over for Fuqua, who is more or less a sleepwalk director for hire anyways. However, it seems that Najafi does nothing more than join the ranks of another foreign director turned blockbuster director, Jose Padilla of RoboCop fame, with a lousy studio film that fails to showcase its director's talents. Only time will tell if another city gets destroyed in another "*Insert City Name Here* Has Fallen" film. Let's just hope that the special effects are more convincing than the ones found here. While die hard action fans may get a kick out of the film, as I temporarily did during its action sequences, London Has Fallen is mostly a dreary picture that is also mercifully short. Expect this one to land on the list of the worst action films of 2016 at the end of the year.
*I've retroactively realized that although London Has Fallen does not resemble Die Hard, it does in fact closely resemble Die Hard With a Vengeance with its terrorist bombings, city centric plot, and buddies on the run repertoire. So, I guess it still is a Die Hard rip-off. Here's to originality.
Franchise:
Olympus Has Fallen (Antoine Fuqua, 2013)
London Has Fallen (Babak Najafi, 2016)
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