''London Has Fallen'' is a 2016 American
action thriller
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...
film directed by
Babak Najafi
Babak Najafi Karami ( fa, بابک نجفی, born 14 September 1975) is an Iranian-Swedish film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He is known for directing the 2016 film ''London Has Fallen''.
Biography Early years
Najafi was ...
and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John and
Christian Gudegast
Christian Gudegast (born February 9, 1970) is an American writer and filmmaker.
Biography
Gudegast is the only child of Dale Russell and German-born actor Eric Braeden (born Hans-Jörg Gudegast). He was raised and resides in Los Angeles. Acces ...
. It is the second installment in the
''Has Fallen'' film series, the sequel to
Antoine Fuqua
Antoine Fuqua (born May 30, 1965) is an American filmmaker, known for his work in the action and thriller genres. He was originally known as a director of music videos, and made his film debut in 1998 with ''The Replacement Killers''. His critica ...
's 2013 film ''
Olympus Has Fallen'' and stars
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as '' Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film '' Tomorrow Never ...
,
Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American actor. Born in Cupertino, California, Eckhart moved to the United Kingdom at an early age. He began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Australia for his h ...
and
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
, with
Alon Moni Aboutboul,
Angela Bassett
Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award ...
,
Robert Forster
Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in '' Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in '' The Delta Force'' (1986 ...
,
Jackie Earle Haley
Jack Earle Haley (born July 14, 1961) is an American actor and director. His earliest roles included Moocher in '' Breaking Away'' (1979) and Kelly Leak in '' The Bad News Bears'' (1976), ''The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training'' (1977) and ''T ...
,
Melissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Critics' Choice A ...
,
Radha Mitchell
Radha Rani Amber Indigo Ananda Mitchell is an Australian actress. She started her career with various appearances on Australian television, including a regular role as Catherine O'Brien in the soap opera ''Neighbours'' (1996–97).
Mitchell la ...
,
Sean O'Bryan,
Waleed Zuaiter
Waleed F. Zuaiter (; born January 16, 1971) is an Arab-American actor and producer who has performed in on-stage productions in Washington, D.C.; Berkeley, California; and New York City, as well as several film and television productions. He live ...
and
Charlotte Riley in supporting roles. The film follows a plot to assassinate the world leaders of the
G7 as they attend the
British Prime Minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...
's funeral in London and Secret Service agent Mike Banning's efforts to protect United States President Benjamin Asher from being killed by terrorists.
Filming began in London on October 24, 2014. A Christmas break started in November with filming resuming in February 2015. The film was released by
Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
under their recently revived
Gramercy Pictures label on March 4, 2016, and grossed $205 million worldwide.
A third film, titled ''
Angel Has Fallen'', was released on August 23, 2019.
Plot
G7 intelligence services locate
Pakistani arms trafficker and
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
mastermind Aamir Barkawi at his compound, and authorize a
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
drone strike during his daughter's wedding, killing Barkawi's family and seemingly Barkawi himself.
Two years later,
British Prime Minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...
James Wilson suddenly dies, and the G7 prepare to attend his funeral in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
Director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
Lynne Jacobs assigns Agent Mike Banning to lead
American President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Benjamin Asher's overseas security detail, even though Banning's wife Leah is due to give birth in a few weeks. The entourage arrives via
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...
at
Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London.
London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
, and Banning arranges an earlier arrival at
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...
in London via
Marine One
Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the president of the United States. It usually denotes a helicopter operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One ( HMX-1) "Nighthawks", consisting of either the larg ...
.
As Asher's
Presidential State Car
An official state car is a vehicle used by a government to transport its head of state or head of government in an official capacity, which may also be used occasionally to transport other members of the government or visiting dignitaries from ot ...
arrives at
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
, a large army of
mercenaries
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
led by Barkawi's son Kamran launch coordinated attacks on the city disguised as
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
, the
Queen's Guard
The King's Guard and King's Life Guard (called the Queen's Guard and the Queen's Life Guard when the reigning monarch is female) are the contingents of infantry and cavalry soldiers charged with guarding the official List of British royal res ...
smen, and other
first responders, killing five world leaders, damaging major landmarks and generating mass panic. Asher's early arrival throws off the St. Paul's attack, and Banning returns him and Jacobs to Marine One. The terrorists destroy the helicopter's escorts with
Stinger missiles, forcing the damaged helicopter to crash-land in
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
. Fatally injured, Jacobs makes Banning promise to stay alive for his unborn child, and to punish those responsible for the attack. Banning escorts Asher into the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
as the city's power is lost and residents shelter indoors.
In
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
,
American Vice President Allan Trumbull investigates the incident with British authorities while trying to track down the President. He receives a call from Barkawi, still alive and operating in
Sanaa
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Gover ...
. Seeking revenge for the drone strike that killed his daughter, and having poisoned Wilson to lure the G7 to London, Barkawi promises to broadcast Asher's execution online if Kamran captures him. Trumbull orders his staff to locate Barkawi's known terrorist operatives and find any connection to the attack, while British authorities stand down all first responders so any left in the open can be identified as terrorists.
After leaving a sign to be picked up by satellite, Banning leads Asher to an
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
safe-house, where MI6 Agent Jacquelin "Jax" Marshall briefs them. Marshall receives a voice message from Trumbull that they saw Banning's sign and an extraction team is en route. Security monitors display an approaching
Delta Force
The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...
team, but Banning realizes they have arrived too soon and are actually Barkawi's mercenaries. He fights and kills all of them and drives away with Asher, but their car is struck before they can reach the
United States Embassy
The United States has the second most diplomatic missions of any country in the world after Mainland China, including 166 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as observer state Vatican City and non-member countries Kosovo a ...
, and Asher is taken. Banning is rescued by the combined Delta/
SAS extraction team, who suspect a
spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
in the British government.
Trumbull's staff identify a building owned by one of Barkawi's front companies, drawing massive power despite being unoccupied, and realize it is Kamran's headquarters. Banning joins the extraction team to infiltrate the building, arriving seconds before Kamran can decapitate Asher on camera. Kamran escapes when his hacker Sultan Mansoor drops a grenade with his dying breath, forcing Banning to protect Asher from the blast. Banning and Asher escape just before the building is destroyed by the Delta Force/SAS squad using an explosive that Mike had planted earlier, killing Kamran and the remaining terrorists. Marshall helps British authorities restore London's security system and confronts
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
Intelligence Chief John Lancaster, learning that he was Barkawi's mole, having left his security fingerprints in the system. Lancaster claims his motive was to prove that the current military budget left the country vulnerable to terrorism and attempts to convince Marshall to join his cause, but she kills him. Trumbull tells Barkawi that his plan failed, moments before
United States federal authorities attack his base with another
drone strike
Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakist ...
, killing Barkawi and every other member of his terrorist group.
Two weeks later, as London recovers, Banning is home spending time with Leah and their newborn child Lynne, named after Jacobs. As Banning contemplates sending a letter of resignation, he watches Trumbull speak on television regarding the recent events, with a message that the U.S. will prevail. Inspired, Banning deletes the letter.
Cast
*
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as '' Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film '' Tomorrow Never ...
as
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...
Agent and former
Army Ranger Mike Banning
*
Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is an American actor. Born in Cupertino, California, Eckhart moved to the United Kingdom at an early age. He began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Australia for his h ...
as
President Benjamin Asher
*
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
as Vice President Allan Trumbull, the former
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
and acting president, now Vice President of the United States after the death of Charlie Rodriguez
*
Alon Moni Aboutboul as Aamir Barkawi, a Pakistani international
arms trafficker and terrorist mastermind who is No. 6 on the
FBI's 10 Most Wanted list
*
Angela Bassett
Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award ...
as
U.S. Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs
*
Robert Forster
Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in '' Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in '' The Delta Force'' (1986 ...
as
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Edward Clegg,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
*
Jackie Earle Haley
Jack Earle Haley (born July 14, 1961) is an American actor and director. His earliest roles included Moocher in '' Breaking Away'' (1979) and Kelly Leak in '' The Bad News Bears'' (1976), ''The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training'' (1977) and ''T ...
as
White House Deputy Chief of Staff
The White House deputy chief of staff is officially the top aide to the White House chief of staff, who is the senior aide to the president of the United States. The deputy chief of staff usually has an office in the West Wing and is responsible ...
DC Mason
*
Melissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Critics' Choice A ...
as
Defense Secretary
The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The s ...
Ruth Macmillan
*
Radha Mitchell
Radha Rani Amber Indigo Ananda Mitchell is an Australian actress. She started her career with various appearances on Australian television, including a regular role as Catherine O'Brien in the soap opera ''Neighbours'' (1996–97).
Mitchell la ...
as Leah Banning, Mike's wife
*
Sean O'Bryan as
NSA Deputy Director Ray Monroe
*
Waleed Zuaiter
Waleed F. Zuaiter (; born January 16, 1971) is an Arab-American actor and producer who has performed in on-stage productions in Washington, D.C.; Berkeley, California; and New York City, as well as several film and television productions. He live ...
as Kamran Barkawi, Aamir Barkawi's son and sub-commander
*
Charlotte Riley as
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
Agent Jacquelin Marshall
*
Colin Salmon
Colin Salmon (born ) is a British actor. He is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and James "One" Shade in the ''Resident Evil'' film series. He has had roles on many television series such as ''Doctor Who'', ''Merli ...
as Sir Kevin Hazard, Commissioner (credited as Chief) of the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
*
Bryan Larkin
Bryan Larkin (born 7 August 1973) is a Scottish actor, writer, producer andhttp://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/bryan-rising-star-hollywood-2421851/ Daily Record Article 15 October 2013 self-taught filmmaker. He was awarded the Trailblaz ...
as
SAS Commander Will Davies
*
Patrick Kennedy as
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
Counter-Intelligence Chief John Lancaster
*
Mehdi Dehbi
Mehdi Dehbi (born 5 December 1985) is a Belgian actor and theatre director, known for his roles in ' (2009, English title: ''He is My Girl''), ' (2011), '' Le Fils de l'Autre'' (2012, English title: ''The Other Son''), ''Mary Queen of Scots'' (20 ...
as Sultan Mansoor, the terrorist hacker
*
Adel Bencherif
Adel Bencherif (born 30 May 1975) is a French actor. He is best known for his role in the 2009 film ''A Prophet''.
Filmography
*2004: ''Grande École'' - Ouvrier flash-back 2
*2004: '' Safia et Sarah'' - Un jeune de la cité
*2005: '' Ze fil ...
as Raza Mansoor, Sultan's brother and a terrorist
*
Michael Wildman
Michael Wildman is a British actor. He appeared in the film '' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''. He played the role of aggressive, feisty centaur Magorian. Prior to accepting this role, Wildman was in the West End playing Lance Corpo ...
as
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...
Agent Voight
*
Andrew Pleavin
Andrew Pleavin (born 13 April 1968) is an English actor known for his appearances in the TV film ''Attila'', ''Unstoppable'', ''Batman Begins'', '' Attack of the Gryphon'', ''Return to House on Haunted Hill'' and his roles in the British police ...
as United States Secret Service Agent Bronson
*
Deborah Grant
Deborah Grant (born Deborah Jane Snelling; 22 February 1947) is an English actress. Between 1981 and 1991, she played Deborah Bergerac in the BBC television detective series '' Bergerac''. Since 2007, she has appeared in the sitcom ''Not Going ...
as Doris, Leah's mother
* Clarkson Guy Williams as
British Prime Minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...
Leighton Clarkson, the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Wilson's death.
*
Penny Downie
A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...
as
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
Rose Kenter
* Philip Delancy as
French President
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...
Jacques Mainard, the President of France who is killed by a cargo ship planted with explosives, making him the final world leader to die.
*
Alex Giannini
Alexander von Giannini (6 June 1958 – 2 October 2015) was an English stage, television and film actor and singer. His work included comedy, musicals and drama.
Life
Giannini was born in Northamptonshire in 1958; his father was born in Rome, hi ...
as
Italian Prime Minister
The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...
Antonio Gusto, the Prime Minister of Italy who is the fourth world leader to be killed by an explosion caused by terrorists at Westminster Abbey. It was Giannini's last movie role before his death on October 2, 2015.
* Elsa Mollien as Mrs Viviana Gusto, Antonio Gusto's wife
* Nancy Baldwin as
German Chancellor
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...
Agnes Bruckner, the Chancellor of Germany who is killed by terrorists disguised as London Police and British Royal Guards, making her the second world leader to be killed.
*
Nigel Whitmey
Nigel Whitmey (born 23 February 1963) is a British-Canadian actor who has appeared in TV series and films. He is also the husband of the actress Abigail Thaw, whom he met while training at RADA.
Early life
Whitmey was born in Peace River, Alb ...
as
Canadian Prime Minister
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...
Robert Bowman, the Prime Minister of Canada who is the first G7 leader to die when a terrorist disguised as a police officer plants a bomb in his limousine
* Julia Montgomery Brown as Mrs Bowman, Robert Bowman's wife
* Tsuwayuki Saotome as
Japanese Prime Minister
The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...
Tsutomu Nakushima, the Prime Minister of Japan who is third world leader to be killed when suicide bombers driving ambulances destroy Chelsea Bridge while on traffic, resulting in his death when he falls into Thames River.
In addition, the
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
news anchor
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights.
H ...
appears, uncredited, as an unnamed news anchor reporting on the developments in London.
Production
Casting
In October 2013, it was announced that Butler, Eckhart, Freeman, Bassett, Leo, Forster and Mitchell would reprise their roles from ''
Olympus Has Fallen''.
Production had been scheduled to begin in May 2015 in London, with Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt returning to write the script. Director Antoine Fuqua, however, did not return, due to his commitments with ''
The Equalizer''. On May 1, 2014, it was announced
Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
had acquired distribution rights to the sequel, and would release the film on October 2, 2015. On August 18, 2014, it was announced that ''
Charlie Countryman
''Charlie Countryman'' (originally titled ''The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman'' as well as ''Kill Charlie Countryman'') is a 2013 romantic drama film directed by Fredrik Bond in his directorial debut, written by Matt Drake, and starring Sh ...
'' director Fredrik Bond would take over direction from Fuqua, but Bond left the film on September 18, six weeks before the shooting was to begin.
On September 28, director Babak Najafi signed on to direct the film.
On October 10,
Jackie Earle Haley
Jack Earle Haley (born July 14, 1961) is an American actor and director. His earliest roles included Moocher in '' Breaking Away'' (1979) and Kelly Leak in '' The Bad News Bears'' (1976), ''The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training'' (1977) and ''T ...
joined the film to play Deputy Chief Mason.
On November 4, 2014, in a press release confirming that filming had started, it was also confirmed that
Sean O'Bryan was reprising his role from the first film, while
Alon Aboutboul
Alon Moni Abutbul (or Aboutboul, he, אלון מוני אבוטבול; born 28 May 1965) is an Israeli actor. He won the IFFI Best Actor Award (Male) at the 44th International Film Festival of India.
Early life
Abutbul was born in Kiryat Ata, ...
,
Charlotte Riley and
Waleed Zuaiter
Waleed F. Zuaiter (; born January 16, 1971) is an Arab-American actor and producer who has performed in on-stage productions in Washington, D.C.; Berkeley, California; and New York City, as well as several film and television productions. He live ...
were also in the cast. On November 12,
Mehdi Dehbi
Mehdi Dehbi (born 5 December 1985) is a Belgian actor and theatre director, known for his roles in ' (2009, English title: ''He is My Girl''), ' (2011), '' Le Fils de l'Autre'' (2012, English title: ''The Other Son''), ''Mary Queen of Scots'' (20 ...
joined the film to play Sultan Mansoor, the youngest of three brothers whose life has been forever changed after a drone strike.
Scotsman
Bryan Larkin
Bryan Larkin (born 7 August 1973) is a Scottish actor, writer, producer andhttp://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/bryan-rising-star-hollywood-2421851/ Daily Record Article 15 October 2013 self-taught filmmaker. He was awarded the Trailblaz ...
, who plays
SAS Commander Will Davies, joined the cast as a "posh English guy", but Najafi and Butler made an on-set decision to have him use his natural Scottish accent.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began on October 24, 2014, in London.
Four weeks of shooting were to take place, involving actors Freeman, Eckhart, Bassett and Melissa Leo, before a break for Christmas. Butler and Angela Bassett were seen filming in Somerset House.
Production also took place at
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London.
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
. Butler stated in an interview that the movie was also filmed in India and was to continue in Bulgaria.
Then
President of Bulgaria
The president of the Republic of Bulgaria is the head of state of Bulgaria and the commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Army. The official residence of the president is at Boyana Residence, Sofia. After the completion of the second round of votin ...
,
Rosen Plevneliev
Rosen Asenov Plevneliev ( bg, Росен Асенов Плевнелиев ; born 14 May 1964) is a Bulgarian politician who was the 4th President of Bulgaria, holding the position from January 2012 to January 2017. He was the Minister of Regio ...
, visited the set of ''London Has Fallen'' during filming at the
Boyana Film Studios in Bulgaria.
Filming lasted through April 2015.
Score
The music was composed and conducted by
Trevor Morris, who provided the score for the first film.
The record was released on March 4, 2016, by Back Lot Music. The score was recorded at
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...
with The Chamber Orchestra of London.
Release
On May 20, 2015,
Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
relaunched their
Gramercy Pictures label for action, horror, and science fiction releases, with ''London Has Fallen'' being one of Gramercy's first titles.
The film was planned for an October 2, 2015 release; however, on June 12, 2015, it was announced that the film had been moved back to January 22, 2016, to avoid competition with ''
The Martian'', which swapped its original November 25 release date with ''
Victor Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character and the main protagonist and title character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''.. He is an Italians, Italian-Swiss scientist (born in Naples, Italy ...
''. The timing of the release was criticized as "insensitive" by the Chair of the Tavistock Square Memorial Trust, Philip Nelson, as it coincided with the week of the 10th anniversary of the
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...
, in which 52 people were killed, and with the
2015 Sousse attacks, in which 30 British nationals were killed. On September 16, 2015, the film's release was moved back again to March 4, 2016, because the studios needed more time to finish the film's visual effects.
Home media
''London Has Fallen'' was released on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
and DVD on June 14, 2016.
Reception
Box office
''London Has Fallen'' grossed $62.7 million in North America and $143.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $205.8 million, against a budget of $60 million.
[ The film outgrossed its predecessor's total of $170 million.
In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would gross $20–23 million from 3,490 theaters in its opening weekend, alongside '']Zootopia
''Zootopia'' (titled ''Zootropolis'' in various regions) is a 2016 American computer-animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 55th Disney animated feature film, ...
'' and '' Whiskey Tango Foxtrot''. The film made $850,000 from its Thursday night previews and $7.6 million on its first day. It went on to gross $21.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind ''Zootopia'' ($75 million).[
]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 28% based on 197 reviews, with an average rating of 4.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''London Has Fallen'' traps a talented cast—and all who dare to see it—in a mid-1990s basic-cable nightmare of a film loaded with xenophobia, and threadbare action-thriller clichés." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on reviews from 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as the first film.
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of ''The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' wrote: "A murky, brain-dead stab-a-thon packed with so many inane chases, laughable special effects, and mismatched stock footage shots that it begs to be made into a drinking game, ''London Has Fallen'' is one of those rare films that is good at absolutely nothing." ''The A.V. Club'' later picked it as their worst film of the year.
Controversy
''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' described ''London Has Fallen'' as "effortlessly racist" invoking "familiar Islamophobia", a "terrorsploitation" fantasy designed to spread fear after the November 2015 Paris attacks
The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bombers ...
, and "ugly, reactionary fear-mongering."
Meanwhile, ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' styled it as "major world capitals destruction porn sub-genre" that feeds a "paranoia".
The film has been called "extremely insensitive" by families of the victims of the 7/7 bombings after an early trailer was released ahead of the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
Sequel
On October 26, 2016, it was announced that a sequel titled ''Angel Has Fallen'' was in development, with Gerard Butler reprising his role, as well as once again acting as a producer on the film.
On July 25, 2017, Ric Roman Waugh was announced as director for ''Angel Has Fallen''. On January 10, 2018, Holt McCallany
Holt McCallany (born Holt Quinn McAloney; September 3, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for portraying FBI Special Agent Bill Tench on the series '' Mindhunter'' (2017–2019) and has had leading and supporting roles in various television ...
joined the cast as Wade Jennings, an ex-military turned head of a technology company, but was replaced later by Danny Huston
Daniel Sallis Huston (born May 14, 1962) is an Italian-born American actor and film director. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and the half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston.
He is known for ...
. On January 18, 2018, Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (; née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show '' Red Table Talk'', for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. ''Time'' named ...
and Tim Blake Nelson
Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright.
Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in '' Minority Report'' (2002), Dr. Pend ...
were confirmed to appear in ''Angel Has Fallen''. On February 13, 2018, Piper Perabo
Piper Lisa Perabo () (born October 31, 1976) is an American actress. Following her breakthrough in the comedy-drama film '' Coyote Ugly'' (2000), she starred in ''The Prestige'' (2006), '' Angel Has Fallen'' (2019), and as CIA agent Annie Walk ...
joined the cast. Filming started on February 7, 2018 in Virginia Water Lake.
The film was released on August 23, 2019.
See also
* List of fictional prime ministers of the United Kingdom
References
External links
*
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2016 action thriller films
2016 films
2010s action thriller films
American action thriller films
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2010s English-language films
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Films about Delta Force
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FilmDistrict films
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Has Fallen
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Films about the United States Secret Service
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2010s American films