'London Has Fallen' Is Your Typical Cheesy-but-Entertaining Action Flick; Makes Me Want a Trilogy

If you think the premise of 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen – in which North Korean forces invade the White House – is ridiculously unlikely, then this sequel’s is just as so – maybe even more.

London Has Fallen focuses once again on Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), Secret Service agent to President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart).  After the UK prime minister passed away, world leaders travel to London to attend his state funeral.  But despite the heavy security, terrorists – heavily armed, numerous, and well-organized – are able to conduct simultaneous bombings and assassinations, killing the world leaders, save for the President of the United States due to the Secret Service’s courageous efforts.  However, the protocol that would have brought the POTUS to safety is thwarted by the enemy, leaving Banning alone with the task of keeping President Asher alive in a chaotic city overran by terrorists keen of killing him.

First of all, pulling off such elaborate, successful terrorist scenario is incredibly unbelievable, even if it was established that it took years to plan.  Also, I found it hard to believe the fact that all world leaders were compelled to attend the state funeral of a British Prime Minister.  Can that ever happen in real life?  Maybe it was because the British Prime Minister in this movie was as popular as the Pope – or Pope-ular (harhar)?  I knew I should consider this plot plausible as far as a movie is concerned, but there’s something about it that really troubled my suspension of disbelief a bit.  But I guess if NoKor could accomplish what they did in Olympus Has Fallen, then the scenario of London Has Fallen is very much possible in this movie universe.

It’s a given that London Has Fallen is not a great film at all.  The screenplay is hackneyed and cheesy, and the visuals aren’t remarkable.  However, to those who enjoyed Olympus Has Fallen – like I did – this sequel will also be enjoyed – which I did.  As what it needs to be – a dumb popcorn action flick – it succeeds in being quite entertaining.

The action is loud and moderately impressive, in which the most notable part is the amazing continuous shot sequence at the climax.  And the main characters, Mike Banning and President Asher, aren’t deep and well-layered at all, but they’re genuinely badass, and I liked them a lot.  These are surprisingly enough to make the movie a fun watch.

London Has Fallen is deeply flawed.  However, it’s not pretentious.  It knows what it is, and does what’s expected of it effectively.  I genuinely enjoyed watching it.

Furthermore, I seemed to have gained the taste for more of Banning and Asher’s absurd adventures together that I’m interested for another installment.  I now want a full trilogy.