London Has Fallen

Solid sequel. London Has Fallen has a very dynamic and intense pace, where you breathe in at the beginning and out at the end. The attack on London itself is very stylish and destructive, and I was pleasantly surprised that anyone from a burger vendor to an ambulance driver can be a terrorist. At times I was bothered by the CGI in some of the explosions, but it's all saved by the uncompromising Gerard Butler, who is in such form that he takes out an entire Delta Force unit single-handedly and knifes the terrorists in a stealthy “Splinter Cell”-like rendition, all of which I could only marvel at, with clear camerawork, a perfect soundtrack and almost no editing. At times, you'll be delighted by the smile-inducing quips from Butler's mouth or the emotional scenes packed with tension that will bring a tear to your eye. As far as American patriotism is concerned, it is of course in great excess here and I am probably one of the few who doesn't mind, on the contrary!! The perfect entertaining Yummy. 80%. (09/04/2016)

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. (20/04/2016)

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. (06/06/2016)

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. (04/01/2020)

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. (21/11/2018)