Review // London Has Fallen

[projekktor id=’23332′]

This weekend will see the release of the most unnecessary sequel made in recent years, London Has Fallen. Tone deaf and out of touch, the shoot-em-up follow up to the surprisingly likeable Olympus Has Fallen (2013) is a far cry from the original. Olympus heralded a redemption story, one with guns and national pride, but at its core a story of redemption and reconciliation. London Has Fallen is completely devoid of any story, so it’s a little surprising they even tried to establish character motivation or bothered with a screenplay at all.

The loose premise is that after Britain’s Prime Minster dies unexpectedly, the leaders of the western world congregate in London to attend the state funeral. Unbeknownst to them, the funeral is the catalyst for a coordinated attack on the western heads of state by a notorious arms dealer Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul). Barkawi’s looking for revenge after a UN sanctioned drone strike (because that happens…) led to the death of his daughter on her wedding day. That’s basically all you need to know – that and Gerard Butler’s Mike Banning is considering leaving the Secret Service because his wife is about to give birth to their first child. Banning doesn’t have time to hand in his resignation however because he has to accompany his best bud, President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) to London.

London Has Fallen basically exports American bravado overseas. As all of the world leaders are killed off the only security team quick enough to react to the multiple attacks is the American Secret Service headed by the fast acting Agent Banning. While his colleagues are gunned down, Banning escorts the President to an MI6 safe house. When it becomes clear that Barkawi’s men are only hunting the president in order to execute him live on the internet, Banning agrees to kill the President himself if he is unable to keep the POTUS out of enemy hands.

In the course of the attack Banning manages to spout out some of the most ludicrous and inane one liners. From chugging water at the safe house, to misguided pledges of the American spirit, to just unnecessarily offensive statements that even the President isn’t getting down with. Banning comes off as a psychopath with a gun. His nonchalant attitude towards torture, and his shoot first, never ask questions motto makes him more of an antagonist than a hero. Halfway through the film I just wanted him to die so he wouldn’t get a chance to corrupt his unborn child. Spoiler alert – he doesn’t.

As I watched this film I became more and more embarrassed for the filmmaker, Babak Najafi. It was clear this wasn’t the cut he wanted to share but given the reality of the world – the recent terrorist attacks overseas and in the states – concessions had to be made. That’s not to say the directors cut would necessarily have been better, but then maybe the story would have made more sense. Barkawi’s nationality is purposefully kept vague, and his motives are purely about revenge and not ideals.  There’s so much censorship that when one off-colour joke actually gets approved it throws the otherwise PC tone completely out of the water, making that one line far more offensive than it should be. If the film as a whole was just fun and mindless it might be acceptable to turn a blind eye to the subtle hatred it perpetuates, but it isn’t. London Has Fallen clumsily tries to infuse every frame with some political message. Not the regular pro-America propaganda we’re used to seeing from Hollywood but bigoted crass representation of a country with little regard for foreign policy or human rights. London Has Fallen celebrates the version of America that Team America: World Police (2004) satirized.

Granted, the appeal of these types of films isn’t plot, it’s high octane action. I’d like to say the action makes up for the dismal story but it doesn’t. There’s one cool action sequence, a long take where Banning is in top form, but otherwise the explosions look cheesy and there isn’t much else to discuss. Olympus Has Fallen made a substantial amount of dough at the box office, so it’s no wonder it garnered a sequel. But it really shouldn’t have. If you’re looking for something to get your adrenaline going this weekend just see Deadpool (again).

Reviewed by Vithiya Murugadas.