London Has Fallen Review: ...and its hero has a smart mouth and a knife

Back in 2013 the world was divided, much like the houses of government. Two similar, yet different movies were released - ‘White House Down’ and ‘Olympus Has Fallen’. Both films dealt with a lone man, protecting the President as the White House came under attack by foes. ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ appears to have won the battle and now the war, as it’s succeeded where ‘WHD’ has failed - it’s produced a sequel. We know America has its enemies but it seems that in the movie universe one particular president is really disliked.

Two years after surviving the attack on the White House, President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his trusty secret service sidekick Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) are London bound to attend the Prime Minister’s funeral after his sudden death. Playing host to leaders of all Western nations, this is of course a security and logistical nightmare. As it turns out, vengeance is a patient mistress, and after years of planning, today’s the day the terrorists decide to blow up almost every major London landmark and target as many of the 40 world leaders in town as possible. Escaping into the city with enemies around every corner, Asher and Banning are once again left to the their own devices as they try to survive and get the bad guys at the same time.

'LONDON HAS FALLEN' TRAILER

Gratuitous violence and f-bombs aside, this is pure, unadulterated action entertainment. So many one-liners fill every scene this could almost be classified as a comedy. They’re the kind of one-liners you roll your eyes at and scoff, but secretly love, appreciate and lament that they don’t make movies like this anymore.

Once again, as with its predecessor, I have an issue with Butler’s character and his executed level of violence. In ‘Olympus Has Fallen’, Banning had a penchant for stabbing people in the head. This stopped me from seeing Banning as an all-out hero and more like a man with a deep psychological issue. True, in ‘London Has Fallen’ Banning doesn’t stab anyone is the head, but he does have a Rambo-like knife and he does make with the stabby stabby... a lot. Gratuitously. To the point where even the President makes mention of it. If I were President Asher, I’d run as far and as fast as I could from Banning the second he finished saving my life, coz that dude’s twisted AF.

Gratuitous violence and f-bombs aside, this is pure, action entertainment.

Tacky dialogue, decent hardcore action - for the lovers of old school action adventure along the lines of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. Mindless, violent entertainment for those who like to sit back, watch the baddie get blown to smithereens, and the goodies to say lines like, "Get to the chopper!"

CAST:	Gerard Butler
	Aaron Eckhart
	Morgan Freeman
	Angela Bassett
	Melissa Leo
	Jackie Earle Haley
	Radha Mitchell

WRITERS:	Creighton Rothenberger
	Katrin Benedikt
	Christian Gudegast
	Chad St. John

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LONDON HAS FALLEN

...AND ITS HERO HAS A SMART MOUTH AND A KNIFE