If nothing else, this dim, drab, xenophobic sequel to 'Olympus Has Fallen' points up everything 'White House Down' did right.
“By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show,” said Samuel Johnson in 1773, as quoted by biographer James Boswell. By seeing “London Has Fallen,” on the other hand, Johnson may conversely have marveled at a veritable cornucopia of death — the grisly, indiscriminate slaying of world leaders and common men, the swift pulverization of city infrastructure, and the slower decimation of any unsuspecting viewer’s brain cells. Aiming low and still managing to limbo its way under that bar, Babak Najafi’s cement-headed sequel to 2013’s POTUS-in-peril thriller “Olympus Has Fallen” shifts and expands the battleground from the White House to the Big Smoke, while maintaining a cozily American jingoism in its narrative scope and stakes. Cruddily crafted, grimacingly performed and effortlessly racist, this sloppy dish of Gruel Britannia may just go down well enough to green-light a continuing franchise of global destruction. World capitals quiver.
benefits of a modest budget and minimal expectations. Released months ahead of Roland Emmerich’s far wittier, more accomplished but near-identically plotted “White House Down,” “Olympus” was pegged as the cheapjack warm-up act for a predicted summer smash — only to wind up outgrossing Emmerich’s superior slab of cheese by nearly $30 million. Even within the exclusive realm of bad taste, there’s no accounting for it.
Now, with Iranian-born Swede Najafi (“Easy Money II: “Hard to Kill”) filling in for Fuqua, “London Has Fallen” arrives with only the unimposing memory of its predecessor to compete against. Somehow, it falls short. Where “Olympus” was at least cloddishly good-humored in its “Die Hard” stylings, there’s something coldly snarling and vindictive about its sequel’s flag-waving — not to mention a presumptuousness that global auds will invest equally in its on-screen fight for American leaders and freedoms, at any cost to those of other nations.
London certainly provides an attractive backdrop to the carnage: If you’re going to blow up any thoroughfare, after all, it may as well be one as storied and scenic as Chelsea Bridge, while the Houses of Parliament look smashing even when smashed to suboptimal CG smithereens. In no other sense is Blighty flattered here, however, as the pic’s story (by returning scribes Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt) hinges on the country’s government, police force and intelligence service being unreservedly inept, corrupt, or some combination of the two. No wonder Secret Service director Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett, thanklessly stentorian as ever) discourages Aaron Eckhart’s President Benjamin Asher from leaving the eternally secure confines of the U.S. when Britain’s Prime Minister unexpectedly drops dead. Must he really attend the poor Limey’s funeral? Won’t a nice wreath from Interflora do?
Bloody-minded diplomat that he is, Asher insists on showing his transatlantic solidarity in person — with his trusty, venison-bodied protection agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) in tow to guard him against bumbling British incompetence and devious terrorist machinations of farther-flung origin. While North Korea was the enemy in “Olympus,” “London” predictably reverts to familiar Islamophobia, as infamous Pakistani arms dealer Aamir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul) vows vengeance on the West for a drone strike that — as depicted in a sun-scorched pre-credit sequence — fatally ruined his daughter’s wedding. A solemn gathering of world leaders at St. Paul’s Cathedral provides the perfect opportunity; in short order, terrorist minions in bobby-on-the-beat disguise are gunning down civilians in the street, revered London landmarks are crumbling to dubiously digitized dust, and the German, French, Italian and Japanese heads of state have all joined their British counterpart at the great global summit in the sky. (Don’t mourn the Italian, though — we’re shown he was a total lech.)
Film Review: 'London Has Fallen'
Reviewed at Soho Hotel screening room, London, Feb. 25, 2016. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 98 MIN.
Production
A Focus Features (in U.S.)/Lionsgate (in U.K.) release of a Gramercy Pictures presentation of a Millennium Films, G-BASE production. Produced by Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Mark Gill, John Thompson, Matt O'Toole, Les Weldon. Executive producers, Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, Christine Crow, Heidi Jo Markel, Zygi Kamasa, Guy Avshalom. Co-producer, Peter Heslop. Co-eexecutive producer, Lonbie Ramati.
Crew
Directed by Babak Najafi. Screenplay, Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Christian Gudegast, Chad St. John; story, Rothenberger, Benedikt, based on their original characters. Camera (color, widescreen), Ed Wild; editors, Paul Martin Smith, Michael; J. Duthie; music, Trevor Morris; music supervisor, Selena Arizanovic; production designer, Joel Collins; art director, Bill Crutcher; set decorator, Richard Roberts; costume designer, Stephanie Collie; sound, Vladimir Kaloyanov; supervising sound editor, Lee Walpole; re-recording mixers, Chris David, Stuart Hilliker; visual effects supervisor, Sean Farrow; visual effects, Worldwide FX, Peerless, Baseblack, Intelligent Creatures, UPP, Union, The Senate VFX, Painting Practice; stunt coordinators, Steve Griffin, Diyan Hristov; line producers, Veselin Karadjov, Valentin Dimitrov, Dileep Singh Rathore; associate producer, Daniel Kaslov; assistant director, Ben Burt; second unit director, Steve Griffin; second unit camera, Lorenzo Senatore; casting, Elaine Grainger.
With
Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Radha Mitchell, Charlotte Riley, Patrick Kennedy, Melissa Leo, Jackie Earle Haley, Robert Forster, Waleed Zuaiter, Sean O'Bryan, Colin Salmon, Nancy Baldwin, Philip Delancy, Alex Giannini, Elsa Mollien, Tsuwayuki Saotome, Penny Downie, Deborah Grant. (English, Urdu, French, Italian, Japanese dialogue)
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