London Has Fallen
2016 · Directed by Babak Najafi
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- thriller
The story
In London for the Prime Minister's funeral, Mike Banning discovers a plot to assassinate all the attending world leaders.
What it’s like
Saturated, high-contrast digital imagery: night-blue skies over floodlit London landmarks, orange fire glow on wet stone, and fast handheld cutting through smoke-filled streets and dim government corridors. The palette runs cold steel and bruised teal with blazing practical explosions as the warm accents. Pacing is relentless, with almost no breathing room between set pieces, and the score is a driving synth-and-orchestral pulse that swells under every gunfight. Tone is loud, bombastic and grimly self-serious, with a jingoistic streak that paints Britain and America as besieged and foreign enemies as faceless. The emotional register stays on a single note of adrenaline and grim resolve; its lone protagonist, a battle-hardened bodyguard, stays stoic and unchanged while the stakes escalate. Violence is frequent, graphic and bloody, with gunfire, stabbings, torture and bodies in abundance, plus wartime-style destruction and a few sexual or crude moments. This suits a Friday-night watch for those who want uncomplicated, over-the-top action spectacle and don't mind political heavy-handedness, not anyone seeking something gentle or subtle.
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