“Olympus Has Fallen” came out a couple years ago, and found a pretty solid market with the action junkies. It’s because of this that we are now being served “London Has Fallen,” but are we getting more of the same? It seems this time around that everyone involved realizes this is meant to be an action film, so there’s a lot less focus on that “not important” stuff. However, this stuff is writing, editing, music, characters, and visual effects. The good news is they really amped up the action, and truly embraced their role as “Bad But Awesome” movie.

It’s lack of quality writers is really evident in the dialogue, and lack of concern for any sensible form of plot. We’re introduced to a number of characters through on-screen titles, and just as quickly they are dispatched in some pretty effects heavy ways. However, there’s never any sense of real world effects caused by these deaths, and that goes all the way through to the end. Half of the World’s leaders are dispatched, and no one bats an eye at all. Add to this the characters we’re left with have little development, or no screen presence (sorry Radha Mitchell), and it turns it into a hollow and soulless action flick.

I will say that the action is pretty bad-ass this time around. Everything that worked in the first flick they amped up a few notches. Anyone that has seen it can testify that the climactic fight scene, which sees our hero raiding a building, is done in such a way that it feels like one continuous tracking shot. It’s really immersive, and as close as we’ll get, for a while anyways, to a “Call of Duty” flick. The fights are bloody and brutal, and Gerard Butler seems right at home knifing people over and over again. It’s clear that action fans are the target audience for this as they didn’t pay much mind to anything else.

Despite some shoddy CGI, which thankfully they don’t rely too heavily on, the terrible writing, and a lackluster score the pacing moves pretty quickly after the first 10 minutes or so. In fact, there’s almost no breaks in the action until the final minutes! Fans of the mindless action genre will find a lot to love with this, fans of the action genre should be entertained as well, but people that like a little story or depth with their action will be sorely disappointed. 2/5

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