There's something very underrated about R-rated action movies. They're very few and far between but they don't get the love they deserve. In an age where action means PG-13 Marvel, it's the CGI that's impressive, not necessarily the action. While it's kind of difficult to plug violence in film, in R-rated action the creativity lies in the kills. Look at Die Hard and The Matrix and Bad Boys and True Lies and Crank and Dredd and any number of 90s Nic Cage movies (Face/Off, The Rock, Con Air) and the fun lies in the balls-to-the-wall action sequences and inventive kills. Right now, with studios wanting to cash in as much as they can with a wider audience, PG-13 is the most bankable. And instead of writing cool action death scenes, they're figuring out "creative" ways to make the violence seem more real without shedding a drop of blood. This, to be honest, is not something one should intentionally seek out, but fans of good action do appreciate a nice kill with a snappy one-liner. Olympus Has Fallen had that... and London Has Fallen has done it even better.
Since you never saw Olympus Has Fallen, it might be a wonder how the film even warranted a sequel (it didn't). The first film saw a terrorist takeover of the white house and
It's your typical sequel that stages a plot very similar to the original. However, I like what they did with this one. In the first film, the President was held hostage the entire film and Agent Banning was maneuvering his way through the White House to save him. In this one, the President isn't captured, but the only leader left alive forced to fight next to his former/present savior. Butler is a very good choice for this role and is charismatic as all hell, even channeling his inner Bruce Willis. His kills are creative and brutal and most of his quippy one liners after he's wasted a baddie are on point. It's a shame that he's just not a bankable actor as of yet. The role honestly would've been perfect for a 90s Willis, or Schwarzenegger, or even a current Liam Neeson. But, Butler has yet to establish himself as someone you're willing to drop the bucks on since 300.
What I liked about the film is that it knows exactly what it wants to be. It's an homage to the great 80s and 90s action films and doesn't take itself seriously at all. I mean, hell, within the film Butler utters BOTH LINES "I'll be back" AND "Get to the chopper". It's a beautiful call back to the action films of yore. If it's only been like twenty years can I say yore? It's very self-aware and the action is unrelenting that transcends guilty pleasure. It's also just a fun, dumb, action film that forces the audience to recall B-movie basic cable 80s Charles Bronson flick that its target audience will love.
The downside to the film is there is a huge misfire in its somewhat ridiculous political agenda. The film comes off as racist and extremely xenophobic, but if one turns one's brain off for the film then it won't bother you as much as it should. The preposterous ending and backwards message (where America is the best country in the world, yet they're trigger happy xenophobes that don't learn any lesson no matter how much the evidence is staring them in the face #MERICA) may hold back viewers from having a decent time. And, there's also the unbelievably horrendous digital effects. Like, clearly, this film didn't have a massive budget and everything they spent the money on was actors and bullets, so the few explosions in the film are so bad they wouldn't even pass off as a video game cut screen (the first one had this problem also). But, that's not what the film relies on. It relies on good ole' Banning with his gun an his knife, offing foreign henchmen and spewing out (probably half-unintentionally) hilarious one-liners.
I can only hope that if they make one more Die Hard, it's as much fun as this movie.
B
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