London Has Fallen

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)

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)

Butler roolzz. London Has Fallen is a weaker little brother to a good part one. A conflict with Korea is lacking (both in reality and in the movie) and the terrorist villain isn’t demonic enough. Occasional serious moments rather subdue the bloody fun when Butler stabs his adversaries. Also the contrast between future dad and killer worse than the terrorists themselves is a little out of place here. But it’s fun. Fun for its naivety. The screenplay copies some B-movie hits from the nineties and gives them a new suit, but copies it too hastily, without caring whether it makes sense or not. But I would really welcome the next part with a better screenwriting team. I was smiling from ear to ear while watching. (04/19/2016)

The scheme is quite clear and given by the first film, but since there are a number of actors here that I personally like, led by Gerard Butler, who has slimmed down a bit, I still enjoyed this action movie, partly thanks to the great action scene at the end, where Mike rescues the president. Just simple action fun with a bit of patriotism. (05/24/2016)