Unfortunately, a lot has changed in 3 years.
2013’s Olympus Has Fallen opens with a friendly boxing match followed by a tragic car accident that explains why Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) and President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) aren’t boxing buddies anymore. It’s neither the most interesting or most original opening but at least we know what we’re in for. Olympus Has Fallen was harmless and predictable fun,just not especially interesting or original.
Three years later, London Has Fallen opens with a montage of news footage covering recent terrorist attacks, making it clear that the Olympus sequel takes place in a more dangerous world. Where the first thing we hear about every seemingly random shooting is whether it’s being investigated as “an act of terrorism”. Now that Islamophobia has such an influential and dangerous spokesman as Donald Trump, some have even questioned whether we really need a movie like London Has Fallen right now.
I could have overlooked London Has Fallen’s social and political irresponsibility if the film itself had been more gripping. Well, yes and no. Banning telling a terrorist to go back to “Fucheadistan or wherever the hell you come from” might have been taking it a little far. Same for Morgan Freeman (who should really retire) and his final speech which shamelessly defended America’s foreign policy. Other than that, London’s worst offence is not being any good.
As in Olympus, Banning doesn’t have any great kills or great stunts. And even if he did, director Babak Najafi doesn’t understand the genre enough to showcase them properly if he did. Way too many fights and chases are obstructed by sloppy editing.
And way too many questions are left unanswered. How did terrorists manage to attack “the most protected event in the world”? Why does Banning leave POTUS alone so often when he knows the bad guys are after him? WHERE IS EVERYBODY? Would the streets of London really be that bare, even after such a devastating attack? And, most importantly, how does Gerard Butler still get work?
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
I saw this movie yesterday and asked all the same questions as you. Lots of plot holes. And I agree, some of the characters’ dialogue and actions put them on the same level as the terrorists.
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I kept asking myself “How many times can the same President be kidnapped in just two terms”? Doesn’t that happen pretty rarely in the US?
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I sure hope so!
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I thought the trailer for this looked really, really, really bad. Straight to DVD stuff.
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You’re right. I didn’t much care for the first one either. But some of the effects in this one were really subpar.
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We’ll probably going to watch it anyway, but at least know what to expect.
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Looking forward to reading what you think.
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Will let you know, got to do Olympus first! We do like impossible stories with lots of explosions 🙂 Plots are for books 😄😄
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I have no intentions of seeing this. After all, Gerard Buttwad is a twat.
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Hahahahahaha that he is.
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I’m sad for Gerard Butler. Phantom of the Opera… Ah well. The ads for this look exciting, but I found myself rolling my eyes at the premise.
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The premise is appalling. It cashes in on public anxiety about international terrorism without even having the decency to take the loss of life seriously. The heroes literally laugh off the substantial civilian casualties.
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Yeah, instead of saying wow, I kept saying why.
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And HOW is this happening?
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Silly me, you’re right.
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This film looks..bad and your seem to confirm it. I think Morgan Freeman just rakes in the money due to his voice…he could read the phone book and the Producers would place that over some film opening.
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Yeah, but he’s really doesn’t have the same screen presence anymore. Even his voice isn’t as powerful.
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This does not seem overly compelling
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It’s really not very suspenseful or exciting.
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The comments you make are spot-on. How is it that nobody would dare make a racial comment on a block buster anymore if it concerns African-american people, but everybody else is ok to prejudice against in such a shameless manner? Don’t people get that human rights are universal human rights? Thanks, I think I won’t bother with this movie, much as I do like the odd disaster movie now and then!
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Well, Quentin Tarantino dares to but you make a very good point. I was glad President Obama called out Hollywood for the way they portray Muslims.
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YES! I was very impressed and happy about that too.
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Really… I thought at first you were kidding! This is actually a film? (rolls eyes…)
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Oh yeah, haha a real movie about London being overrun by terrorists.
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This isn’t something I’m going to see either, but was this a franchise people were really asking for? I’m surprised to see it was made at all.
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I’m often surprised about what gets a sequel. But I do remember a lot of people liking this one. I didn’t. I preferred White house Down. THAT should have had a sequel.
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The ONLY Gerard Butler film that was tolerable for me was “P.S. I Love You” and that’s saying A LOT.. Whatever pointless piece of crap this movie this movie is, I ain’t interested. Thanks for the on-point review!
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I haven’t seen this, yet. That said, my biggest question is who decided Olympus Has Fallen needed a sequel? It sucked!
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I’m with you on that. It could have actually been fun but it was really uninspired. I prefer the guilty pleasure of White House Down.
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This is a rental/Netflix show for me. Pure popcorn to while away a couple of hours by the sounds of it.
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Wow this really does sound terrible! I’m sick of these semi-propaganda movies that Hollywood churns out
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