The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

London Has Fallen

London Has Fallen | Movie review
2 March 2016
James Fisher
Avatar
James Fisher
2 March 2016

Movie and show review

James Fisher

London Has Fallen

★★★★★

Release date

3rd March 2016

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

TwitterFacebookWebsite

Olympus Has Fallen, the exciting first instalment of the Has Fallen franchise, has been something of a Netflix stalwart for years now. It’s an enjoyable action movie that doesn’t require an enormous amount of logic or thought to follow, yet provides apt entertainment for a couple of hours: a hungover Sunday classic. It has some memorable action sequences, most notably a C-130 gunship raining lead over the front lawn of the White House. So what to make of its successor, London Has Fallen?

Not much, sadly. The story follows a similar pattern to its predecessor, with the President of the USA (Aaron Eckhart) managing to antagonise yet another powerful terrorist into making an attempt on his life, but this time the action is set in London. What the terrorists forget to plan for is the one-man army in the form of Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) coming to rescue him. Cue wanton destruction and countless deaths for the next hour or so.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping a storyline similar to a prequel, however there’s almost no attempt at original thought in the making of this film. London Has Fallen is absolutely full of clichés. Its plot twists are easier to predict than a sunrise and it has all the classics thrown in, including rousing speeches about freedom, drawn-out deaths and the Metropolitan police crashing into every stationary object in north London.

Yet in a way that’s fine, because London Has Fallen isn’t aiming for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It sets out to provide the audience with an action-packed hour and 40 minutes of car chases and gun play. Although the sequences don’t quite stand up to the film’s predecessor, they are nonetheless entertaining and accompanied by moments of genuine comedy. There’s an impression that this film doesn’t take itself too seriously and that’s a good thing. It allows you to enjoy the movie for the classic shoot ‘em up that it really is, and a fun one at that.

★★★★★

James Fisher

London Has Fallen is released nationwide on 3rd March 2016.

Watch the trailer here for London Has Fallen:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Moxie

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Notturno

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

The Winter Lake

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

Justine

★★★★★
Abbie Grundy
Read More

Lucky

★★★★★
Jacob Kennedy
Read More

Foster Boy

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Crazy About Her

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

Bigfoot Family

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Judas and the Black Messiah

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

James Fisher

London Has Fallen

★★★★★

Release date

3rd March 2016

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

TwitterFacebookWebsite

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Toll
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Big vs Small
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • No táxi do Jack (Jack’s Ride): An interview with director Susana Nobre
    Berlinale
  • I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch): An interview with stars Dan Stevens and Maren Eggert
    Berlinale
  • I’m Your Man: An interview with Maria Schrader and Jan Schomburg
    Berlinale
  • I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch) press conference
    Berlinale
  • Moxie
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Souad
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • We (Nous)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Bicep at Saatchi Gallery Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Winter Lake
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Transports at the Pleasance Theatre | Theatre review
The Father at the Duke of York’s Theatre | Theatre review