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London is Falling Down, Falling Down

The White House had a pretty bad 2013 at the movies. It first came under siege with "Olympus Has Fallen", then pretty much the same film was released a few months later with "White House Down."

Director Babak Najafi takes over the helm from Antoine Fuqua for the "Olympus" sequel and moves the carnage from Washington to across the pond. "London Has Fallen" is a rinse-and-repeat follow-up, with the same characters in the same situations. Like any sequel, the movie amps up the destruction.

Gerard Butler returns as Mike Banning. He has traveled to London with President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) to attend the funeral of a Prime Minster. The funeral has brought world leaders from around the globe, which, of course, has attracted the attention of a nefarious and large terrorist organization.

Things get ugly in the streets of London. Gunfire, explosions, bang, bang, bang. The mastermind behind all of it, Aamir Barkawi (Alon Aboutboul), carefully orchestrates the madness from afar but has special plans for Asher. He plans on having his goons execute the President live for the world to see. They just have to get past Banning first.

"London Has Fallen" is big, loud and stupid. And that's fine - it's kind of the point. What I can't get past is how entirely unnecessary it all is. "Olympus Has Fallen" was fine as a big, loud, stupid action film, but to completely duplicate the story in a different location is a lazy cash-in, not unlike "The Hangover 2" or "Taken 2".

Najafi stages some well-shot action sequences, that's for sure. But after a while, "London Has Fallen" becomes numbing and repetitive, which prompted me to look at my friend and say, "This is kind of boring for an action film." It's hard to feel like anything ever really feels at stake in this film because we know that Butler will save the day again and again, coming out the other end with a scratch on his face.

Some of the principle cast from "Olympus Has Fallen" returns but they are just Oscar-winning (and nominated) extras in the background. Melissa Leo is given virtually nothing to do, same with Robert Forster and Jackie Earle Haley. Morgan Freeman returns as the Vice President, who keeps an eye on the situation in London from a control room.

There is a trite part of the plot where Banning is considering resigning from the Secret Service. London is his "one last job." But as he takes out all of the baddies that wreak havoc upon London, he reconsiders his resignation. It kind of hints that something else is yet to fall and another sequel may be on the horizon. It's the biggest threat of the film.