London Has Fallen (2016)
January 11, 2025 12:29 PM - Subscribe

In London for the Prime Minister's funeral, Mike Banning is caught up in a plot to assassinate all the attending world leaders.
posted by phunniemee (11 comments total)
 
A perfectly adequate 90 minutes of square-faced, gravelly-voiced men going pew pew pew at each other.

I started this morning with Gods of Egypt and I briefly considered if maybe Gerard Butler is actually one of the greatest actors of our time, his powers are just dilute from appearing simultaneously in three films in 2016. (But then I did the math and the combined Rotten Tomatoes score of all three just barely cracks 50, so maybe not.)
posted by phunniemee at 12:33 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]


This is the best of the trilogy I think. I have a fondness for the set of nationally stereotypical G7 leaders that get assassinated in the first section. There's a solid street battle scene late on which is done well.

It's a bit more brutal than the first one iirc, and Butler declares America will last a thousand years towards the end, which has somewhat fascistic undertones imo.

Angela Bassett is so much better in this than the film deserves.
posted by biffa at 3:24 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]


maybe Gerard Butler is actually one of the greatest actors of our time

Making Reign of Fire's casting team one of the greatest ever.
posted by biffa at 3:29 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]


Gerard Butler is occupying a Very Specific Action Movie niche and good for him.
posted by Kitteh at 4:36 PM on January 11


Gerard Butler fans should take note that he has a film out right now: Den of Thieves 2. It has a Fanfare entry and everything!
posted by praemunire at 4:38 PM on January 11


Gerard Butler fans

whoa, whoa, whoa, let's be reasonable
posted by phunniemee at 4:44 PM on January 11 [3 favorites]


People often talk about good actors who haven't achieved huge stardom due to their movie choices, and Gerard Butler is absolutely my go to answer for that one.
posted by Carillon at 4:44 PM on January 11


Honestly, I respect him for his choices, even when they're in genres I don't usually watch. He cannot control that Scottish accent though. It creeps out when he has to play someone not Scottish, bless him.
posted by Kitteh at 4:49 PM on January 11


You should continue the Gerard Butler experience with Copshop, which is actually pretty great. Also stars Frank Grillo and Toby Huss. The trailer may be a little too long, but it very accurately describes the vibe of the movie.
posted by mrphancy at 5:35 PM on January 12


Butler sits in the sweet spot for action which is serviceable, above Grillo, but lower budget than Statham, good enough to meet my need for schlocky action, and who my SO thinks is hot, so we tend to watch most of his stuff.
posted by biffa at 8:00 AM on January 13 [1 favorite]


I thought this movie was dumber than rocks, even as a simple action movie. No choice the main characters made was good - everything done was just to drive the plot to it's inevitable conclusion. So bad I've never seen the other 'has fallen' movies.


I guess if they had done it as a horror movie, then it would make sense - but they wanted to pass it off as the next Bond or Borne or whatever - then the characters do smart things but get drug along by a plot way out of their control.

I think Gerard Butler is an ok actor -but this movie was just lazy.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:35 PM on January 13


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