2.5 stars (out of 5)
The slam-bang, all-American, violent-as-Hell Olympus Has Fallen (not to be confused with the suspiciously similar but even sillier White House Down) was apparently enough of a hit in 2013 to spawn this sequel, and while the main cast returned here the original’s director, Antoine Fuqua, did not, because he thought the script wasn’t up to his, um, high standard. And so taking his place here is Iran-born director Babak Najafi, who knows how to stage preposterous, vicious and loud action and isn’t scared to wave the Stars And Stripes with shameless abandon.
Three years after the events of the first film we again meet Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), who’s still head of security for President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), although his missus Leah (Radha Mitchell) wants him to resign so he can spend time with their due-in-two-weeks baby. And he’s just about to email the Prez when the UK Prime Minister dies suddenly and a small army of international heads of state must travel to London at short notice.
No one seems to think that anything fishy is going on (and you do have to wonder if any of the world leaders have ever seen an action movie before) and, of course, a massive terrorist attack hits London, with FX car-bombings, Thames explosions and the Houses Of Parliament and Big Ben receiving harsh treatment. In the chaos, Mike and Ben improbably survive a helicopter crash (spoilers?) and find themselves stuck in the middle of a city crawling with corrupt cops, motorcycle-riding gunmen and dozens of baddies who, you know, look a bit foreign, and are all under the control of pissed-off Pakistani mastermind Aamir Barkawi (played by Alon Aboutboul, who’s actually Israeli, but anyway).
Unusually nasty, even for this sort of bloody, blokey shtick (one terrorist dies screaming as he’s slowly stabbed by Butler’s Mike, who virtually drools with patriotic glee), this is as right-wing, pro-Yank and cheerfully racist as humanly possible, but devotees of this sort of testosterone-heavy tripe wouldn’t have it any other way. And whatever next? Tokyo Has Fallen? Sydney Has Fallen? Paris Has… Oops, a bit too close to the bone! Well, how about Iron Knob Has Fallen then?
I Wake Up Screening 