Title: London Has Fallen
Director(s): Babak Najafi
Screenwriter(s): Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Christian Gudegast & Chad St John
Released: 2016
Runtime: 1h 39m
● Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is accompanying President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) to London to attend the funeral of British PM Minister James Wilson when terrorists rock up to wipe out world leaders in retaliation for drone strikes. Banning and Asher must make it through London on their own.
● The premise is obviously inspired by 24: Live Another Day (2014) and is essentially the same as the first film but in a bigger setting with a not-so-subtle criticism of drone strikes. Also like the first film, the action starts soon after the 20-minute mark and is a textbook application of the “fast-paced template”. It also tries to pull off the long uncut shot. Again, Butler delivers a few great lines.
● On balance, it is a solid follow-up to the first film which is rare considering that it is typical for sequels to be noticeably weaker.
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This mini-review is part of the collection for Taken clones and derivatives.
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