London Has Fallen
London Has Fallen | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Babak Najafi |
Produced by |
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Screenplay by |
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Story by |
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Based on | Characters created by Creighton Rothenberger Katrin Benedikt |
Starring | |
Music by | Trevor Morris |
Cinematography | Ed Wild |
Edited by |
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Production company |
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Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 99 minutes[2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $60 million[3] |
Box office | $33.6 million[4] |
London Has Fallen is a 2016 American action thriller film directed by Babak Najafi and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John, and Christian Gudegast. It is a sequel to Antoine Fuqua's 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen, and stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman, with Alon Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell and Charlotte Riley in supporting roles.
Filming began on October 24, 2014, in London; a Christmas break started in November with filming resuming in February 2015. The film was released on March 4, 2016 by Focus Features under their recently revived Gramercy Pictures label.
Contents
[show]Plot
Terrorist mastermind Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul) is reportedly responsible for a bombing in Europe. The United States government locates his compound and launches a drone strike against it, supposedly killing Barkawi along with his family. Two years later, President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his top Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) are jogging together. Mike is expecting his first child with his wife Leah (Radha Mitchell) and hopes to take some time off to spend time with his family, contemplating resigning from the Secret Service. In Yemen, Barkawi is still alive, and he meets with his son Kamran (Waleed Zuaiter). They begin to set plans in motion for revenge.
Asher and Mike are informed that the British Prime Minister James Wilson has died. They and Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) travel to London to join all the other world leaders for Wilson's funeral. As they are all arriving, several mercenaries under Barkawi's commands initiate an attack, starting with a bomb destroying one world leader's limo. Soon, the mercenaries disguised as royal guards and police officers begin opening fire on civilians and other world leaders. Mike takes Asher and Jacobs with him to safety while shooting the mercs in the street.
Quickly, the terrorists start to hit London's landmarks, including setting off a massive explosive on the River Thames that heavily damages Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster. Mike, Asher, and Jacobs head to Marine one for extraction. However, men positioned on building rooftops launch stinger missiles at the chopper, taking out the decoy choppers before striking the presidential one. The presidential chopper crash-lands to the ground, resulting in Jacobs being fatally impaled. Before dying, she tells Mike to "make those fuckers pay". Mike and Asher then go on the run. The president's staff back at the White House sits in horror, fearing that their friends are dead. Mike attempts to contact Vice President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) and send a message to let them know that he and Asher are still alive. As Mike and Asher are running through the underground tunnels, Asher notes that the terrorists want him dead, and if it must come down to it, he orders Mike to kill him. Mike reluctantly agrees.
The staff receives a threatening call from Barkawi to let them know that he is out for vengeance. They are informed that Wilson's autopsy report detected poison in his body, meaning he was intentionally murdered with the plan for all the world leaders to come together to be killed. With the city on lockdown, Mike and Asher run to the safe-house of MI6 agent Jacqueline "Jax" Marshall (Charlotte Riley), whom Mike knows well. Jax gets onto her computer and learns that Barkawi is behind the whole plot. She plays back a message from Trumbull confirming that they received Mike's message and are sending help. on the security cameras, the three see what is supposedly the Delta team there to rescue Mike and Asher, until Mike notices that the men are not sweating despite wearing heavy gear. They realize that the terrorists intercepted their message and are there to attack. The men storm in and fire on the three. Knowing that the terrorists would likely have a mole within the British government, Jax heads to Scotland Yard to coordinate with local authorities. Mike and Asher take a security vehicle and make a run for the safety of the U.S. Embassy, but are struck by a van driven by the terrorists. Asher is abducted the moment Banning regains consciousness from the crash.
Asher is taken to a private location where Kamran is setting everything up for him to be publicly executed. He punches Asher several times to make him suffer beforehand. Meanwhile, Mike is already on his way to rescue him with a regiment of SAS commandos. The terrorists set up the cameras and broadcast it to every network around the world. Kamran tells Asher to say some final words as he readies his machete to decapitate him until Mike bursts in and shoots a large number of enemies. He engages in a fistfight with Kamran, but the latter manages to make a run for it. Mike orders the SAS commander to blow the place up, before taking Asher and jumping down a shaft as the place goes up in flames, killing Kamran and the remaining hostiles. Jax discovers that MI5 Intelligence Chief John Lancaster (Patrick Kennedy) is the traitor who helped Barkawi and the terrorists and kills him in self-defense. Two weeks after the attack on London, Barkawi's compound is located in Yemen, where another drone strike is launched against him. Trumbull contacts him by phone and speaks to him moments before he dies in the explosion.
Mike returns home and is spending time with Leah and their newborn child. He then sits in front of his laptop and continues to contemplate about sending his letter of resignation to Asher. on TV, Trumbull speaks regarding the recent events, leaving an inspiring message that America will prevail. This convinces Mike to delete the letter.
Cast
- Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, a Secret Service agent and Special Agent in charge of the Presidential Protection Division.[5]
- Aaron Eckhart as Benjamin Asher, the President of the United States.[5]
- Morgan Freeman as Allan Trumbull, the Vice President of the United States.[6]
- Alon Moni Aboutboul as Aamir Barkawi, a terrorist mastermind who is #6 on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.[7]
- Angela Bassett as Lynne Jacobs, the Director of the United States Secret Service.[5]
- Robert Forster as US Army General Edward Clegg, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[7]
- Melissa Leo as Ruth McMillan, the United States Secretary of Defense.[8]
- Radha Mitchell as Leah Banning, Mike's wife and a nurse.[5]
- Charlotte Riley as Jacqueline "Jax" Marshall, a British MI6 agent.[9]
- Jackie Earle Haley as DC Mason, the White House Chief of Staff.[10]
- Sean O'Bryan as Ray Monroe, the Deputy Director of the National Security Agency.[7]
- Mehdi Dehbi as Sultan Mansoor, the youngest of three brothers whose life has been forever changed after a drone strike.[11]
- Waleed Zuaiter as Kamran Barkawi, Aamir Barkawi's son and henchman.[7]
- Colin Salmon as Chief Kevin Hazard
- Patrick Kennedy as John Lancaster, MI5 Intelligence Chief
- Bryan Larkin as SAS Lieutenant Will Davis[12]
- Deborah Grant as Doris, Leah's mother
- Anthony Delancy as French President Jacques Mainard
- Alex Giannini as Italian Prime Minister Antonio Giusti
- Nancy Baldwin as German Chancellor Agnes Bruckner
- Nigel Whitmey as Canadian Prime Minister Robert Bowman
Production
Casting
Butler, Eckhart, Freeman, Bassett, Leo, Forster, and Mitchell reprised their roles from Olympus Has Fallen.[5] Production had been scheduled to begin in May 2014 in London, with Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt returning to write the script. Director Antoine Fuqua, however, did not return, due to his commitments with The Equalizer.[13] on May 1, 2014, it was announced Focus Features had acquired distribution rights to the sequel, and would release the film on October 2, 2015.[14] on August 18, 2014, it was announced that Charlie Countryman director Fredrik Bond would take over direction from Fuqua,[15] but Bond left the film on September 18, six weeks before the shooting was to begin.[16] on September 28, director Babak Najafi signed on to direct the film.[8] on October 10, Jackie Earle Haley joined the film to play Deputy Chief Mason.[10] on November 12, Mehdi Dehbi joined the film to play Sultan Mansoor, the youngest of three brothers whose life has been forever changed after a drone strike.[11]
Filming
Principal photography on the film began on October 24, 2014, in London.[7][17] Four weeks of shooting were to take place, involving actors Freeman, Eckhart, Bassett and Melissa Leo, before a break for Christmas. Gerard Butler - who had been filming Geostorm the previous October - joined the shoot later, filming scenes with Eckhart in March 2015.[18] A helicopter was seen making an expert landing in the courtyard of Somerset House, which is normally used to host London Fashion Week and summer film screenings.[19] Butler and Angela Bassett were seen filming in Somerset House.[20] Butler stated in an interview that the movie was also filmed in India and was to continue in Bulgaria.[21] The President of Bulgaria, Rosen Plevneliev, visited the set of London Has Fallen during filming at Boyana Cinema Center in Bulgaria.[22][23] Filming lasted through April 2015.[8]
Score
The music was composed by Trevor Morris, who provided the score for the first film.[24] The record was released on March 4, 2016, by Back Lot Music.[25]
Release
On May 20, 2015, Focus Features relaunched their Gramercy Pictures label for action, horror, and science fiction releases, with London Has Fallen being one of Gramercy's first titles.[1] The film was planned for an October 2, 2015 release, however, on June 12, 2015, it was announced that the film had been moved back to January 22, 2016 to avoid competition with The Martian, which swapped its original November 25 release date with Victor Frankenstein.[26][27] on July 1, 2015, the film's teaser trailer was released.[28] The timing of the release was criticized as "insensitive" by the Chair of the Tavistock Square Memorial Trust, Philip Nelson, as it coincided with the week of the 10th anniversary of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which 52 people were killed, and with the 2015 Sousse attacks, in which 30 British nationals were killed.[29] on September 16, 2015, the film's release was moved back again to March 4, 2016, because the studios needed more time to finish the film's visual effects.[30] The U.S. trailer was released on November 5, 2015.[31] A new theatrical poster of the film was released on January 21, 2016.[32] The film received an R rating from the MPAA, "for strong language and violence throughout."[33]
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would gross $20–23 million from 3,490 theaters in its opening weekend, trailing fellow newcomer Zootopia ($60–70 million projection) but besting Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ($10–12 million projection).[34] The film made $850,000 from its Thursday night previews and $7.6 million on its first day. It went on to gross $21.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind Zootopia ($75 million).[35]
Critical response
London Has Fallen has received negative reviews from critics. on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 27%, based on 113 reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. The site's consensus reads, "London Has Fallen traps a talented cast – and all who dare to see it – in a mid-1990s basic-cable nightmare of a film loaded with xenophobia and threadbare action-thriller clichés."[36] on Metacritic, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[37] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade as its predecessor.[35]
Panning the film, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club wrote: "A murky, brain-dead stab-a-thon packed with so many inane chases, laughable special effects, and mismatched stock footage shots that it begs to be made into a drinking game, London Has Fallen is one of those rare films that is good at absolutely nothing."[38]
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