MOVIE REVIEW: LONDON HAS FALLEN (2016)

From IMDB:

Storyline

After the British Prime Minister has passed away under mysterious circumstances, all leaders of the Western world must attend his funeral. But what starts out as the most protected event on earth, turns into a deadly plot to kill the world's most powerful leaders and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. The President of the United States, his formidable secret service head and an English MI-6 agent who trusts no one are the only people that have any hope of stopping it.

27 Metascore From metacritic.com

Reviews 24 user | 103 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

MOVIE INFO

The sequel to the worldwide smash hit "Olympus Has Fallen." The story begins in London, where the British Prime Minister has passed away under mysterious circumstances. His funeral is a must-attend event for leaders of the western world. However, what starts out as the most protected event on Earth turns into a deadly plot to kill the world's most powerful leaders, devastate every known landmark in the British capital, and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. Only three people have any hope of stopping it: the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart), his formidable Secret Service head (Gerard Butler), and an English MI-6 agent who rightly trusts no one. (C) Focus

Rating: R (for strong violence and language throughout)

Genre: Action & Adventure

Directed By: Babak Najafi

Written By: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John,Christian Gudegast

In Theaters: Mar 4, 2016 Wide

Runtime: 1 hr. 40 min.

Focus Features - Official Site

TOMATOMETER 27%

Average Rating: 4/10 | Reviews Counted: 100

Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 73

Critics Consensus: London Has Fallen traps a talented cast -- and all who dare to see it -- in a mid-1990s basic-cable nightmare of a film loaded with xenophobia and threadbare action-thriller clichés.

AUDIENCE SCORE 63% liked it

Average Rating: 3.5/5 | User Ratings: 18,279

LONDON HAS FALLEN OPENS IN THE US ON THE 4th OF MARCH AND IN MALAYSIA ON THE 3rd OF MARCH. TO FIND OUT WHEN IT OPENS NEAR YOU CHECK HERE. 

You go to a friend's funeral and suddenly all hell breaks loose. ©Lionsgate Films

First it was Olympus now it's London. What next?

So the not so long awaited and not much asked for sequel to the Antoine Fuqua directed 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen was released a few days ago. Olympus Has Fallen was somewhat entertaining and interesting if a little over the top in terms of what you are expected to believe is happening and the violence. But it was saved by a good cast and a director who kept the story pace nice, tight and exciting. 

This is the French President. Sitting out in the open alone on the river in a boat. ©Lionsgate Films

London Has Fallen picks up where Olympus left off with Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) in charge of the security detail for American President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart). The film opens with us being introduced to Kamran Barkawi (Waleed Zuaiter) and his father Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul) at the wedding of Aamir's daughter's wedding. These men are arms dealers and they have been targeted for elimination with extreme prejudice. A drone delivers the confirmation of the location and an on ground informant confirms that the target is there, soon after a missile arrives and decimates the area.

So these are the terrorist hunting down the President. ©Lionsgate Films

Two years later news arrives at the White House of the sudden death of the British Prime Minister and the President makes last minute plans to attend the funeral much to the dismay of the Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs (Angela Bassett) and Mike but the President trust that all will go well with Mike planning the security around the trip. On arrival everything seems fine but just as the President Asher is greeted by a representative of the British government all hell breaks lose when a terrorist attack occurs, their target President Asher. The attack is a signal for other groups to launch their own attacks on other heads of state. Mike Banning goes to work protecting the President and soon becomes the only man standing between the President and the terrorist.

Here's Secret Service Agent Mike Banning showing a terrorist how much he doesn't like violence. ©Lionsgate Films

This movie ups the extreme action and violence quite a bit but it also ups the ante on the believable factor. The situation and events that occur in this movie is so extreme that it's hard to suspend your disbelief and just enjoy it. The first one was only ever so slightly better when compared to this one in that aspect. The original cast is back and to their credit they do a good job but unfortunately all they had to work with is a story that's unoriginal and somewhat predictable. The situations were hard to believe especially the ones where the other heads of states were assassinated and of course how easily the British Intelligence and the Security and Defense services were infiltrated and overwhelmed. Then of course there's the terrorist which were numerous and came from what appears to be a multi-national one. 

He goes from Speaker of the House to Vice President and through two attempts at the President's life. Pretty weird luck. ©Lionsgate Films

A lot of this film is hard to believe and the weak story doesn't help much. All you're left with are the action scenes which are pretty good although occasionally a little too graphic with the violence. This movie isn't for those looking for a meaty story too follow this one is purely for those looking for a violent back to back testosterone fest. That part of me enjoyed the movie somewhat but with all the other elements not helping out I couldn't enjoy the whole movie thoroughly. So I'm going to give this movie a halfway decent 2.8 out of 5.

Check out the trailer.