Movie Review - London Has Fallen (R) - By Michelle Libby

1 hour 40 minutes

In the action packed sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) and President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) are teamed up once again in a life or death struggle to keep the President alive from extremists who want to exact their revenge on him.

In an elaborate plan that took two years to organize, all of the world leaders gather in England for the funeral of the British Prime Minister. It was claimed to be the safest city in the world at that event, but it was not so. 

The action was non-stop once wheels were down in Britain. The beginning kept us guessing as to when things would start blowing up and once they did…it didn’t stop. 

Much of London was destroyed, but certain landmarks were left standing, leading to the question, why? What makes them so special? 

Many of the characters returned from the original movie. Melissa Leo as the Secretary of Defense, who in my opinion should have retired after the first movie where she was beat to within an inch of her life. Angela Bassett returns as Lynn Jacobs and Morgan Freeman returns as the Vice President who takes command of the country and the rescue mission. 

Unlike some action adventure movies, this one was punctuated with zingy one-liners that kept the action from becoming all encompassing. There were many laugh-out-loud moments. 

Alon Abutbul played Aamir Barkawi, the evil bad guy. The casting in the film was spot on.

I was impressed with some of the neat ways that communication happened between London and the United States.  

The missing element in this movie for me was the romance. In the first one, Banning was trying to win back his wife. In this movie, they were happy together and although we were kept wondering if he’d make it home to his family, it was missing the spark of romance for the women in the audience. It’s Gerard Butler…we expect some of that. 

All in all it was a fun action movie if you don’t pick at too many of the details, like how crazy it is to put all of the world leaders in one place. Can you say “target”? Also, why did some of the leaders not run when things started blowing up?

We saw the movie with friends who hadn’t seen the first one and although it isn’t necessary, it helps with the continuity and bits of dialogue that reference the first movie. 

I would see this movie again, mostly for the one liners and the dynamic duo of Butler and Eckhart.

This being an election year, I also had the thought during the movie, how would Bernie Sanders get himself out of a jam like this one?