London Has Fallen

This is the 'look quick or you will miss it' actioner staring Gerald Butler and Aaron Eckhart, two guys who I like a lot. Each has made a quality picture so this one was an assured sequel when the first one made a bit of cash overseas. Not that it's a bad thing. It's just a by the numbers political thriller that could be a bad summer paperback novel.

The President is held responsible for a drone strike that kills a whole family of terrorists and their wedding guests.

 

It's what takes the stakes so high. The PRESIDENT OF THE USA himself is the target of our aggrieved terrorist assholes. It's what you get when you fuck with Uncle Sam and this one has a lot of Uncle Sam in it. Maybe too much flag waving and not enough hope building but I like the butt kicking and the bad conversation and jokes between two guys whose relationship always feels made up. Everyone loves each other - Secret Service and the President they protect. They also have families of their own to protect. Gah, this is going to become crazy before it gets uncrazy.

I can tell you 7 minutes and 52 seconds in what will happen in the next hour. I won't bore you by trying a trick I know I already can perform. You know what you are getting just by looking at the trailer. This movie will NOT cure cancer, genital warts nor the scourge that is Donald Trump.

But damn it reminded me when America was great again with a kick ass Prez and his best buddy Secret Service guy trying to stay alive in London. That gives us some nice visuals of London for background explosions. I love watching iconic buildings getting trashed on screen because that ALWAYS happens here in the real world. With the exception of the Twin Towers, nothing this huge would ever happen. It's crazy to think of living in a world where this kind of crazy DID happen. I would jump into traffic myself if this was my reality.

Lots of fun stunts and last minutes saves and speeches about how great the USA is. Damn it makes me proud to be an American, even if I am not one. Angela Bassett s there too to add more credibility to all the balloon juice.

SOMEONE knows their total approach route so they can be ambushed and have to fight their way to freedom, together, like America should do.

I like Morgan Freeman as the Vice President but he is delivering lines so bad that they are laughable. I want him to narrate more penguin migration instead. You know he's gonna be the dirty one. He's the one we would expect the least.

Oh of course Butler has to say goodbye to his pregnant wife before he goes on the mission from hell and must fight his way back to her. USA! USA! USA!

The explosions here are spectacular and worth seeing if you like seeing monuments of great age and beauty implode from within. If the screams of the dying children aren't enough we can show body pieces.

EVERY DAMN WAY THAT YOU COULD DESTROY A CITY HAPPEN IN THIS ONE DAY. Good planning for the terrorist but bad day for those in the middle of it. This must have been in the planning for MONTHS to get all the parts to work together so successfully. Bad luck for all these diplomats at the British PM's Funeral. Seems like the unluckiest group in the world but of course the terrorists planned for that as well.

 

Then they get into the helicopters and they of course have to be shot down by stinger missiles in another exciting escape scene. From down below to up in the air the President has the worst day in the history of Presidents. Well except from Bush and 9/11 of course.

This film ends the exact way the machinery of the story allows it to end with the good guys beating the bad guys. The dead terrorist ratio is very high too. Lots of guys get shot in this one. LOTS. I admit I paid attention and was entertained throughout that extended rescue scene. If you like the trailer you will like the movie.