London Has Fallen Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

London Has Fallen Blu-ray Movie Review

Franchise Has Fallen.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 24, 2016

2013 saw the release of dueling "White House Siege" movies, Roland Emmerich's White House Down and Antonie Fuqua's Olympus Has Fallen. The latter is unquestionably the better of the two. It's a film that revitalized the survival-action style popularized by Die Hard and benefitted from a strong cast, expertly-staged action scenes, solid characterization, and Fuqua's steady hand. The picture's success unsurprisingly spurred talk of a sequel, but how does a filmmaker go bigger when the original laid siege to one of the world's most iconic structures? Easy. Lay siege to one of the world's most iconic cities. Unfortunately, in this case, "bigger" doesn't mean "better." London Has Fallen is a mess of a movie. It's a completely derivative and unnecessary follow-up that retains the same core cast but little else. Gone is the scope, scale, intensity, and creativity that made the first an excellent Action flick. The film sorely misses Antoine Fuqua's skill behind the camera, but it's doubtful a filmmaker of even his ability could have done more than salvage a dreadful film that amounts to nothing more than noise and explosions.

Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is still on President Benjamin Asher's (Aaron Eckhart) Secret Service detail. But he wants out. His wife Leah (Radha Mitchell) is pregnant, and rather than keep risking his life -- even for a man he holds in high regard and considers a friend -- he's decided to retire. He can't quite bring himself to finish a draft of a resignation letter and finds himself on security detail when the President, and other world leaders, converge in London to attend the funeral of the recently deceased British Prime Minister. Upon their arrival, London comes under attack. Explosions and gunfire rock the city. Causalities mount. Marine One, carrying both Banning and Asher, is downed. The two have no choice but escape on foot and fight for survival against overwhelming odds and a determined enemy.

This is the kind of cinema drivel normally reserved for direct-to-video sequels and spinoffs, not major theatrical releases. While the first movie wasn't exactly a bastion of creativity, this sequel has none. It paints a plot so devoid of creativity that it could literally stand-in as the template for a guide to making a quick and dirty Action flick. Bad guy is targeted for termination, bad guy wants revenge. Stuff blows up. There are people in harm's way and other people watching it all unfold in a conference room. More stuff blows up, more people shoot at one another. Can the hero save the day? It's not exactly rocket science, and yes, it's a formula that's worked very well in the past in films like the aforementioned Die Hard and other good Action movies like Air Force One. But London Has Fallen takes it to the extreme. It banks entirely on name recognition and on-screen chaos to sucker in viewers. When is the last time an Action movie worked on noise and visuals alone? There's got to be a spirit, a sense of humor, some endearing quality for the audience to rally around. That's why Arnold Schwarzenegger movies work so well. That's why Die Hard and most of its sequels remain popular staples in the Action rotation. London Has Fallen epitomizes the phrase "going through the motions." It's a heartless exercise in crude moviemaking that can't even make its otherwise well staged shootouts and scenes of chaos even remotely enjoyable.

One could watch the movie on mute and not miss a thing (except for the Blu-ray's excellent lossless soundtrack). Every scene telegraphs everything one needs to know on a visual basis alone. The attack on the terrorist compound, the work in the nursery, the retirement letter Banning desperately wants to send, the explosions, the war room roundtables, the shootouts...none of it requires the least bit of expository support or verbal background characterization. At one point Banning snags a walkie talkie off a wounded terrorist. He goes through the motions of tough talk chatter without a smidgen of soul or intensity. He doesn't care, and neither does the audience. All that matters is getting to a point that people can fire their guns again, but to tide things over Banning stabs the wounded bad guy so his cries can be heard over the radio. That knife may as well be digging into the audience's souls, twisting and turning as any goodwill the original movie created oozes from the wound. But muting the movie would mean that the audience would miss out on some of the highlight dialogue exchanges, like this one:

Banning is driving through traffic and trying to escape the chaos. A bad guy leaps onto the door and holds on through the window.
Bad Guy: "F*** you!"
Banning: "F*** me?"
Banning steers the vehicle so the bad guy is smushed between the vehicle and a pillar.
Banning: "F*** you!" as the body rolls away in a tangle.

Oh dear. No spirit. No spirit. "Yippee ki-yay motherf*****" works, and has become part of the popular vernacular, because there's spirit behind it, because the characters are well drawn, and the audience is engaged in the story and the characters. London Has Fallen just drops big piles of garbage into the movie and expects it to garner laughs and oohs and aahs. It doesn't work here, and it'll never work anywhere else. Add that the movie is filled with miserable CGI that's only a step above the cheap stuff from The Asylum and it's not London Has Fallen but rather Franchise Has Fallen.

London Has Fallen Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

London Has Fallen features a solid 1080p transfer that's not particularly noteworthy in any way but that goes about its business professionally and to positive overall result. Much of the movie's second half takes place in dim and dark locations that don't allow for much color pop, depth, or tangible detailing. The opening half is a fair bit brighter and well defined. Skin and clothing textures are appropriately complex. Large scale London overheads are sharply defined; streets, buildings, and little environmental details manage to reveal a good bit of definition even at a distance. Colors are pleasing, whether the yellow and pink-dominant scheme at a gathering at film's start, little products and cookbook spines scattered around an otherwise white kitchen, or big orange fireballs. Noise is often visible, usually no more than a sprinkling but prone to spiking on occasion. Banding, aliasing, macroblocking, and other negative attributes are nowhere to be seen. This is hardly a memorable image, but it gets the job done without too much room for complaint.

London Has Fallen Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

London Has Fallen blasts onto Blu-ray with a high-octane DTS:X soundtrack. The track was replayed on an 11.1 system, which includes four "height" channels in addition to the more traditional seven-channel, plus subwoofer, configuration. The track is potent to say the least. Action scenes are arguably a touch overdone, but there's no denying the energy and excitement they bring, not to mention hardware-pushing details throughout the range, from piercing highs to thunderous lows. Gunfire rips through the stage, emanating literally from every corner on a few occasions. Gun battles at the one hour mark and another ten minutes later are the best examples. Bullets all but pierce the speakers on fire, as they travel about, and in impacts on various surfaces. Explosions are likewise powerful, aided by plenty of bass and all sorts of debris and concussive waves that punish the soundstage. Missiles streak, helicopters zip, ground vehicles zoom. The overhead channels engage frequently, but only once or twice to decisive usage, such as when a car flips over in the movie and seems to do so in the listening area, with an obvious overhead tumble effect as it rolls through. There's no sonic stone unturned in any of the movie's chaotic action sequences. Light atmospherics don't often have room to shine -- the movie is simply too aggressive -- but the opening sequence offers a nice mix of blowing winds, chirping birds, children at play, and other little details that pleasantly fill the listening area and transform the soundstage into the location. Music is intense and clear, even in the heat of battle. Surround usage is plentiful. Dialogue is generally well prioritized and clear, understandably a bit lost when the action is at its most frenzied.

London Has Fallen Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

London Has Fallen contains two featurettes. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy are included with purchase.

• The Making of London Has Fallen (1080p, 13:16): Making a sequel after the original hit, the new movie's direction and plot, characters and their actions, performances, Babak Najafi's direction, the movie's impressive cast, the logistics of crafting big action scenes, shooting locations and set pieces, and more.
• Guns, Knives & Explosives (1080p, 7:42): A closer look at crafting the movie's biggest action scenes.

London Has Fallen Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

London Has Fallen has almost zero redeeming value. Even the venerable Morgan Freeman, who does little more than sit at a table and look into the camera now and then, can't save it. There's no spark, no spirit, no sense of adventure. It's a miserable movie and a hugely disappointing followup to one of the better Action flicks of the 2010's. Universal's Blu-ray delivers standout audio, good video, and a couple of extras. Worth a rental only.