London Has Fallen

The previous film was at least professionally shot, but its London sequel is missing decent action scenes and special effects that would look better than average video games. I won't mention the characters and actors purely out of decency, and it's terribly evident that London's streets are just backdrops that originated in the studio somewhere. It is, in short, immensely boring. And stupid. (11/20/2018)

Similar to the first one, except that Olympus Has Fallen was shot by a proven action director and the second one by no-name Babak Najafi, though it should be noted that he certainly didn't disgrace himself. Admittedly, the visuals are weaker, which clearly indicates that the budget wasn't the biggest and the director probably wasn't that trusted, but the ensemble cast handles it well and it doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as the first installment or even Air Force One. Harrison Ford was a more believable president than Aaron Eckhart, of course, but the banter between the main tandem is OK, and as long as you doesn't look for anything there, don't worry about realism, and don't get carried away by the decent action (the last big, approximately five-minute steadicam shootout with no cuts is great), it's impossible not to enjoy it in a fairly decent way. Plus, the subject of international terrorism is again more topical than ever. (06/05/2016)

For the whole time I was watching this crazy movie I was wondering what it would be like if the main character was played by, for example, Steven Segal instead of Gerard Butler. And you know what? I might have liked it more. With this cast London Has Fallen isatotal crazy trip which actors like Butler, Freeman or Eckhart don’t deserve. The director is devastating London, nothing makes sense, there is shooting everywhere. And you don’t want that in an action movie with this kind of actors. (09/02/2019)

This film has ad absurdum motifs from the past, whose dubious ideological underpinnings I wouldn't worry about provided they weren't hiding behind interchangeable action that we’ve seen a thousand times before. The film begs to be part of the A-movie class through its cast but limps on both feet due to the abilities of the production team. (05/19/2016)

It was an improvement over Olympus in terms of quality. Most importantly, I got into the right vibe and managed to tune out most of the melodramatic, patriotic and determined speeches and acts, and enjoyed loads of frantic action during which the Americans totally devastated digital London and turned it into smithereens. I even enjoyed all the "amazing" escapes from tsunamis of fire which made me remember action movies from the eighties and early nineties. It was incredibly silly, but also a kind of guilty pleasure. (01/03/2020)