Review: 'London Has Fallen' And Can’t Get Up!

Benji Dunaief ‘19 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Do you like random testosterone injected mind-numbing run-and-gun action sequences? If you answered yes, you would probably thoroughly enjoy London Has Fallen. The latest installment in the never popular, nor critically acclaimed “(Insert political word) Has Fallen” series, London Has Fallen has more plot holes than bullet holes and provides some good old conservative right wing family fun. The film proves to be surprisingly and hilariously political, dealing with issues such as drone strikes and homeland security, but in reality only professes the ideas that America uses drone strikes and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, and that every good citizen of the world LOVES America.
The cookie cutter plot of London Has Fallen brings secret service man Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) and President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) together in London for the funeral of the suddenly (and blatantly suspiciously) dead British Prime Minister. However, from the opening title, you know this funeral isn’t going to be a cakewalk. Terrorists, angry with President Asher for unjustifiably drone striking their families, decide to blow up a majority of London, killing a half dozen Western European leaders in the process (who, by the way, had nothing to do with any drone strikes). After the terrorists attack the President’s convoy, conveniently killing all secret service members except for Banning and Asher in the process, the usual duo must find a way out of London. Yet even though Banning is the President of the Free World’s only hope of survival, he seems to care far more about shooting his way through countless Middle Eastern terrorists in a rage of fury.

A few things we’ve learned about recent Gerard Butler blockbuster bombs (i.e. Gods of Egypt) is that it’s safe to expect an unhealthy amount of typecasting, misrepresentation of minorities, more testosterone than the entire The Expendables franchise. Along with completely failing the Bechdel test, so therefore with a film like London Has Fallen, one should not expect Oscar-caliber filmmaking. Yet the spectacles on the screen this time are hardly worthy of a viral video. While the film does feature some genuinely enthralling action sequences, pathetic CGI explosions and cheap cinematic tricks are quick to follow. London Has Fallen feels like it expanded its budget halfway through, and just decided to hire NYU film students to CGI the rest. Adding insult to the dismal and scene-ruining effects are obviously low quality stock footage establishing shots of the White House and other famous locations.
All redeeming categories considered London Has Fallen checks few boxes. In fact, by far the best part of the film occurred off screen; as a promotion for the film, Waze released a long-awaited Morgan Freeman GPS navigation voice. Unfortunately, the one beacon of hope Freeman represented for this film was extinguished after he was unceremoniously confined to a chair in a room full of blabbering, useless U.S. generals and cabinet members. The cast and crew of London Has Fallen should be ashamed for creating such a shallow, worthless, and ultimately offensive piece of cinema.
Overall Grade: F
Watch The Trailer:
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMbyPhQo75A[/embedyt]