London Has Fallen Review
I will not give any spoilers regarding the #LondonHasFallen preview last night nor will I be breaching the 'on-set' Official Secret's Act - it's not how I roll. If you haven't seen it yet well you'll just have to wait - which you should. Trawling the internet for videos might just spoil your surprise as it could be debated that some of those videos give a little bit too much away.
London Has Fallen was directed by Babak Najafi and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John, and Christian Gudegast. It is a sequel to Antoine Fuqua's 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen and stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman with support roles from Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Melissa Leo and Radha Mitchell. Usually you'd have to watch the first prior to the second but, if necessary, this works well as a standalone movie.
The suspicious death of the British Prime Minister calls for a funeral that is a must-attend event for Western leaders. It becomes apparent that the coming together of these leaders results in making London a central target to a series of horrific attacks. The hope to restore order rests on the shoulders of the U.S. President and US Secret Service lead agent Mike Banning. Banning's new found responsibilities as a father meant that he was considering resignation from the service prior to his call into action.
There aren't many action movies that come along that really do it for me as I think the genre has been stagnant for a while; however Gerrard Butler, who plays protagonist Mike Banning, successfully portrays your typical action-hero alongside a family oriented, relatable back-story and with his subtle sense of humour. The film stays true to the original plot throughout without being overly predictable.
It's odd that the UK film certification rated this a '15' and I struggle to understand why. I'm guessing that rating was either a marketing ploy or it could be that some stunts just tipped it into being less suitable for a younger audience - this isn't the only time I wonder who actually works for BBFC.
Babak Najafi directed this film well and, after working on a couple of locations in London, then seeing this preview I was amazed at how versatile the use of those shots actually were. The editing has made it pretty seamless between location, green screen, CGI and studio although I did notice at least a couple of cuts I wouldn't have made regarding to pace. Those decisions may have been to cause deliberate disjunct in the action or perhaps there were some other editing conundrums discovered in post; either way there aren't any screaming continuity issues.
If you've read many reviews, there's been some talk about the effects not being that amazing. London Has Fallen, being genre 'action', comes with the usual busload of die-hard action buffs trying to sound knowledgeable with the common criticism that "this isn't as big as [insert name of their favourite action film here]". It's my opinion that these buffs often fail to see a film for what it is - giving their criticisms because all 4096 x 2160 pixels were not filled with fast-framed 2bit images of red and yellow fire: plus it's a critique cop-out - yes, any journalist that automatically starts a review of a film and doesn't discuss the general direction or treatment should probably be fired.
In acknowledgement of such criticisms, the explosions in London Has Fallen were used at a relatively fair level throughout and it was nice to see that Babak Najafi opted for stunts and non-CGI where those would suffice. Morgan Freeman got an easy life on this one and doesn't appear in the movie as much as the trailers will lead you to expect; nonetheless what he does do he does as well as always - natural. Fortunately the only criticism I can give to any of the cast was of an actress that appears in the film for no more than around 5 - 10 seconds; she is in the boardroom with the US Vice President - watch out for that piece of cringe; I can't quite place which acting school she might have graduated from.
The trailers all fail to really give you an idea of what goes on which is great but if I was to give the film a tagline, it'd be "God Savethe Queen America (again)". Nonetheless there are so many twists that make this plot intriguing to a mass audience and I enjoyed it. It was especially nice to see how well so many of the London landmarks were portrayed (prior to any destruction); the beauty of the aerial images actually made me feel somewhat patriotic. Regarding controversy surrounding destruction shown in the film, that doesn't really matter when you consider the underlying moral; which to me felt like an international-solidarity that would remain beyond any, even mildly relatable, atrocity.
It was great to work with LHF Film locations and the cast and crew all of whom were professional and respectable; it's both physically and mentally intense with long days but it's also worth every moment. Personal kudos goes to Gerrard Butler who I remember personally putting aside time to acknowledge and appreciate all of the team for the hard work that they put in.
London Has Fallen was directed by Babak Najafi and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John, and Christian Gudegast. It is a sequel to Antoine Fuqua's 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen and stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman with support roles from Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Melissa Leo and Radha Mitchell. Usually you'd have to watch the first prior to the second but, if necessary, this works well as a standalone movie.
The suspicious death of the British Prime Minister calls for a funeral that is a must-attend event for Western leaders. It becomes apparent that the coming together of these leaders results in making London a central target to a series of horrific attacks. The hope to restore order rests on the shoulders of the U.S. President and US Secret Service lead agent Mike Banning. Banning's new found responsibilities as a father meant that he was considering resignation from the service prior to his call into action.
There aren't many action movies that come along that really do it for me as I think the genre has been stagnant for a while; however Gerrard Butler, who plays protagonist Mike Banning, successfully portrays your typical action-hero alongside a family oriented, relatable back-story and with his subtle sense of humour. The film stays true to the original plot throughout without being overly predictable.
 |
| © Millennium Films |
It's odd that the UK film certification rated this a '15' and I struggle to understand why. I'm guessing that rating was either a marketing ploy or it could be that some stunts just tipped it into being less suitable for a younger audience - this isn't the only time I wonder who actually works for BBFC.
Babak Najafi directed this film well and, after working on a couple of locations in London, then seeing this preview I was amazed at how versatile the use of those shots actually were. The editing has made it pretty seamless between location, green screen, CGI and studio although I did notice at least a couple of cuts I wouldn't have made regarding to pace. Those decisions may have been to cause deliberate disjunct in the action or perhaps there were some other editing conundrums discovered in post; either way there aren't any screaming continuity issues.
If you've read many reviews, there's been some talk about the effects not being that amazing. London Has Fallen, being genre 'action', comes with the usual busload of die-hard action buffs trying to sound knowledgeable with the common criticism that "this isn't as big as [insert name of their favourite action film here]". It's my opinion that these buffs often fail to see a film for what it is - giving their criticisms because all 4096 x 2160 pixels were not filled with fast-framed 2bit images of red and yellow fire: plus it's a critique cop-out - yes, any journalist that automatically starts a review of a film and doesn't discuss the general direction or treatment should probably be fired.
 |
| © Millennium Films |
In acknowledgement of such criticisms, the explosions in London Has Fallen were used at a relatively fair level throughout and it was nice to see that Babak Najafi opted for stunts and non-CGI where those would suffice. Morgan Freeman got an easy life on this one and doesn't appear in the movie as much as the trailers will lead you to expect; nonetheless what he does do he does as well as always - natural. Fortunately the only criticism I can give to any of the cast was of an actress that appears in the film for no more than around 5 - 10 seconds; she is in the boardroom with the US Vice President - watch out for that piece of cringe; I can't quite place which acting school she might have graduated from.
The trailers all fail to really give you an idea of what goes on which is great but if I was to give the film a tagline, it'd be "God Save
It was great to work with LHF Film locations and the cast and crew all of whom were professional and respectable; it's both physically and mentally intense with long days but it's also worth every moment. Personal kudos goes to Gerrard Butler who I remember personally putting aside time to acknowledge and appreciate all of the team for the hard work that they put in.
 |
| © Millennium Films |
So it's out for general audience on 3rd March 2016 and it's worth a watch.
That's a great review. I want to see it now.
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