London Has Fallen

Director: Babak Najafi
Writers: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt
Stars: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman
Strengths: Action packed
Weakness: Lack of suspense
Runtime: 99 minutes
Rating: 2/5

PLOT: After the British Prime Minister passes away under mysterious circumstances, all leaders of the Western world must attend his funeral. But what starts out as the most protected event on earth, turns into a deadly plot to kill the world's most powerful leaders and unleash a terrifying vision of the future.

REVIEW: With parenthood approaching, Mike (Gerard Butler) has been busy preparing his resignation letter, but before he can hit "send" on his laptop, he receives a call from the White House. The British prime minister is dead, and Mike is needed to head the team to protect the US President. The duo used to be jogging partners. They bonded after the bloody showdown with the North Koreans who stormed 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the prequel, Olympus Has Fallen.
In the wake of the intricately planned attacks of an arms dealer by the name of Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul) - Mike and Mr. President are gunning an armour-plated Range Rover up and down the London streets. It's not long before
Benjamin Asher (Eckhart), the commander in chief, is firing back at the waves of pursuing bad guys as well. Vice President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) is in command, as cool and calm as someone who keeps exclaiming "Oh my God!" can be. But Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo), the Secretary of Defence, Mason (Jackie Earle Haley), the Chief of Staff, and Edward Clegg (Robert Forster), the top military man at the table, give new meaning to the word "incompetent". Sure, they're sitting there watching live drone shots of the London conflagration, and there's not much they can really do, but they're behaving more like sedated patients in a psych ward than presidential advisers. As soon as he dusts himself off and returns to the Oval Office, President Asher needs to shuffle his Cabinet.
For all its worth, the film fails to entertain us, unlike the prequel and would leave you to ponder how actors like Morgan Freeman and Gerard Butler could end up acting for such films.

Reviewed by Minam Haque