London Has Fallen (2016)
Writers: Creighton Rothenberger, based off the characters of Katrin Benedikt. Screenplay by Katrin Benedikt, Christian Gudegast, Chad St. John.
Cast: Gerard Butler (Mike Banning), Aaron Eckhart (Benjamin Asher), Morgan Freeman (VP Trumbull), Angela Bassett (Lynne Jacobs), Alon Aboutboul (Aamir Barkawi), Waleed Zuaiter (Kamran Barkawi), Adel Bencherif (Raza Mansoor), Mehdi Dehbi (Sultan Mansoor), and Shivani Ghi as Amal Mansoor
Opening Sequence: The world we live in today is beautiful, hard, and very dangerous. The main reasoning behind this isn't as simple as we think, because of the dangers around the globe. Not talking about Sky diving, Cycling, Swimming, or anything like that, but something more dangerous like Terrorism. Film makers extend their vision on a possible attack on a place, a good example would be this film. The truth is covered with special effects and unrealistic situations, but it's more than what we might think. Let's not forget what happened on that terrible day in New York City, it was real, no soldiers, or fantasy like the fictitious characters in a story to save us. The true heroes were the Firemen, Police Officers, those real people that acted on the scene. The reality behind the story is unsettling, because both sides were affected by the unseen war that occurs throughout the planet. Yes, i take what happens around the world very seriously, because one day, maybe not to the extreme of this film, but one day, hopefully not but those terrible things might happen if we're not careful. The world we live in today is harsh, violent, and sadly dark. I may sound a bit over dramatic, but the reality of is so real, that when it comes it will hit your soul hard. Terrorism is very real, it's real enough that it resonates in our hearts, because of our link to that terrible day in America, it will always haunt us. So anytime a film like this is made, my blood in my veins burn, because of what i'm watching. Anyway, sorry to be so dark, but the realism behind the action must be brought out to the light. These things do happen, we need to acknowledge that terrorism is very real, and until we understand how to direct the fight, at least we can look at the evil in the face and stand up for the mass genocides that it causes. In order to win the war, we must see it for what it is, a school bully looking for the next person to hurt. We need to be a better person, the one that stands up and fight, not lay down in a blanket of political Correctness.
Review: The story is about Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) a secret service agent, continuing from the first film where he saved the POTUS (President of the United States) from being killed from a terrorist group. The first film they're kidnappers, but in reality they're terrorist. Any group that are banded together, and cause chaos throughout the globe the definition would be terrorist. Anyway Banning is having a kid, the whole beginning is introducing some of the key players, afterwards the film moved on, which i really liked. Sometimes when a film drags, especially this kind of story. Mike Banning, Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), Morgan Freeman (VP Allan Trumbull), Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett). As the story progresses we meet these particular characters in the beginning of the film that establishes connection.
The film goes into the life of Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul) who is throwing a party for his daughter who recently got married. Barkawi's family and supposedly Barkawi himself died in that compound, in Pakistan. The drone that targeted the terrorist leader would be an incredible move for the United States. The sad thing here is the innocent people that were killed by the drone strikes.
Two years later we see Barkawi walking with a limp, meeting with son, Kamran (Waleed Zuaiter) telling him to go ahead with the plans. Then shortly after the Prime Minister of Great Britain dies of an undisclosed cause. A real problem because the government doesn't know how to deal with this situations, i realize there are orders, plans, steps to take so that every issue, or in this case problems can go well without adding more to the table. In the film the Government knew nothing, it was pretty sad. So the call to attend the funeral of the Prime Minister is made, and all the leaders from different countries must make an appearance, i understand that, but what i don't understand is later on in the film we find out that Prime Minister was killed by poison, made it look like an accidental death. Why would the Government have the world leaders come, when they didn't have any, zero, information on the cause of death. Any world leader would have food testers it's part of the reality that we live in, to have the Prime Minister die like that is an insult. I mean they would at least have security making sure their leader is protected no matter what. The problems started as the film opens up in the action scenes, done well yes, but reality starts to slip by the constant unrealistic situations that Banning is confronted with.
Mike, his team and the POTUS make there way to London England, where they landed by helicopter, three military grade choppers, the film takes advantage of the coppers, a panoramic view of them as they land.
At this point the world leaders are being taken out throughout England, some are by the point of interests, which is really sad. The Big Ben is destroyed, all the points of interests are blown up, and according to the story, Barkawi only had two years to plan this mass destruction. Plus, since they're going by real-time, the world security would've been tight, since the terrorist plot three years ago, remember the first film; Olympus has Fallen. Two years of planning with extreme security, is almost impossible. But, the terrorist group managed to have a set of explosives in multiple locations, which again made for a good film, but, coming from a story standpoint it killed the importance of the meaning behind the film. I felt like i was playing a video game, with no real direction; The story fell short, at first i did not know what to think, but this film, as you process the theme, and the true realities behind it, you realize that the movie needed some scramble, in fact it needed a real story to hold the intense action.
What i did like about the film was the military going through the city, MI6, love the whole CIA, MI6 deal, hence my review of Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation. The teams spreading out, and finding the terrorist location was done well, it was exciting, the way Banning went in to rescue the President was done well. I liked the whole fight scene with Barkawi's son Kamran (Waleed Zuaiter), they're a perfect example of good acting, both actors were so believable in their parts, each had a certain way with the scenes, they both managed to be great in their parts. Manning kicking Kamran butt was pretty good, it could've been a solid scene if he would've killed Kamran on location with the world watching. The main issue with this film is that they go off to destroy everything, when only one point of interest would've been good enough. The world leaders being taken out like that was an insult to writing and an insult to all security teams around the world. I know terrorists are elusive, but to trick so many people all at once is pure stupidity. In fact why not have Barkawi attack the US President instead of the Prime Minister, because a drone from Las Vegas was the true indicator that the Americans were the ones behind the strike. Why attack all the leaders? because it would be easier to explain, and more eye candy from the explosions, so that audiences could rejoice in seeing so much destruction. Reminded me of a bad Michael Bay film. The film had so many problems, i had to re-think my positions on the film, because as i really thought about it, this particular film was just an action movie. Good guys going up against bad guys, not what you would think, it's eye candy mostly, the only thing i give it is the actors i mentioned in the review, other than that this film isn't worth buying or watching.
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