LONDON HAS FALLEN

Gramercy Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 1:39 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of London Has Fallen from YouTube.



In Gramercy Pictures London Has Fallen, United States President Aaron Eckhart attends the British Prime Minister's funeral in London - and suddenly has to go on the run with Secret Service Agent Gerard Butler to escape terrorists.

In the sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, three years have passed and the western world's leaders are gathering to attend the state funeral for the British Prime Minister - when terrorists attack and President Eckhart and Secret Service Agent Butler go on the run throughout London.

The movie has several actors from Olympus Has Fallen reprising their roles in this movie, especially Vice President Morgan Freeman, Director of the Secret Service Angela Bassett, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Robert Forster, Butler's wife Radha Mitchell, and Secretary of Defense Melissa Leo. Freeman always has a presence as a leader in his leadership roles and this was no exception. Alon Aboutboul was good as the terrorist arms dealer on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. So was Charlotte Riley as the MI6 agent. I wish Riley had more to do, she could have been a kick ass character.

With recent real world events, some of the terrorist scenes can be difficult to watch, as well as the news videos accompanying them. I had a relatives that were in the cities of those real world events, so these scenes hit a little home to me. I also felt a little upset that the movie opened with news reports of terrorism attacks in the Philippines, including the failed real world police operation which lead to the deaths of several members of the Special Action Force in the Philippines. The trailer's initial release also had controversy as to it's timing to the anniversary of the 2005 London bombings attack.

There were typical car chases and explosions but I liked the action sequences with Butler taking charge of President Eckhart's protection throughout the movie, as well as the political scenes both with the heads of state and with Vice President Freeman and the National Security Council at the White House. The movie set up all the political players with graphics of their titles as they are introduced. I had a problem with how the terrorists got pass all of the world security Dignitary Protection services of not only the United States, but all of the other western Dignitary Protection services for the various heads of states in what is supposedly the most protected event in the world, and I also did not like how filmmakers did the tag of the movie.

It is curious that underneath the political terrorism, the theme of the movie was about family, which I liked.

I think this is the first time that I have seen Marine One in action which I liked.

While I think Olympus Has Fallen is a better film, London Has Fallen is a typical action popcorn film.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of London Has Fallen on YouTube.



Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 1:39 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

Film District

Rated R

Running time: 120 Minutes



Click below to watch the Olympus Has Fallen trailer.



In Film District's Olympus Has Fallen, disgraced former head of Presidential Detail Secret Service agent and former U.S. Army Ranger Gerard Butler is on his own - when terrorists attack the White House and kidnap Aaron Eckhart, the President of the United States.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, this is an action-packed political thriller that was a lot of fun for me to watch. It was basically Die Hard at the White House, although there were worldwide implications that were shown for the events that were happening in the White House. You got to see the security of the White House at work as well as Camp David as the Presidential family, including Ashley Judd and Finley Jacobsen, relaxes there. This is the most that I have seen Camp David in a movie, although I still would like to see more of Camp David in a movie some day.

While President Eckhart is having a meeting with the South Korean Prime Minister, a cable of North Korean terrorists, led by ex-North Korean terrorist Rick Yune invade the White House by air and ground. Working at the Treasury Department within eyesight of the White House, Butler rushes in to help to defend the White House - and winds up being forced back inside the White House. Butler then uses his Ranger skills as he goes up close and personal amongst the terrorists, while President Eckhart is trapped inside the White House bunker.

Angela Basset once again is the head of a government organization, this time she has a more meaty role to apply to an organization such as the Secret Service. Speaker of the House Morgan Freeman, as an actor also once again - due to the Presidential Line of Succession - acts as President. It has come to the point that I like these two worthy actors in these roles and I look forward for Basset to be an action hero in a similar role some day. Melissa Leo was great as the Secretary of Defense and reminded me that she is a lady I would not like to piss off.

Before North Korea became a topical enemy, the producers choose them because of their political mysteriousness years ago - as well as because the Middle East has been done to death as an enemy. As a result, I accepted North Korea as the enemy as well as being less obvious a security threat to the Secret Service.

What I did not like was that there were no U. S. Marines on Presidential Guard Duty at the White House, everyone was all Secret Service. It also appeared that there was only one anti-aircraft weapons system in place. You would think that there would be at least two anti-aircraft systems. I liked the fact that the civilian District of Columbia Metropolitan Police tried to back up the White House personnel and that the local military forces were sent in to back up the White House. Although you do not see what happened to the heavy terrorist forces that were outside. I also liked the fact that Butler's wife Radha Mitchell is a nurse and was dealing with the civilian victims of the attack at her hospital as the aircraft that attacked did strafe the surrounding territory around the White House - showing that there were consequences to the events, rather than just shooting up everything.

Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 120 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

This Means War

20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 98 Minutes



Click below to watch the This Means War trailer.



In 20th Century Fox's This Means War, top CIA agents Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are best friends - until they compete for the same woman, consumer products tester Reese Witherspoon.

This film has much more action than is typical for a romantic comedy. It helps with the action that best friends, American Pine and British Hardy, are both trained CIA agents - with the resources of the CIA to spy on each other, such as bugging devices and UAV's. Hardy and Pine are also after a bad guy Til Schweiger. The movie was directed by McG, who is known for his action films. The romantic comedy aspect of the film may expand McG's repertoire. I liked that Pine and Hardy actually used the resources of the CIA to spy on each other's dates with Witherspoon - on the pretense of doing a surveillance operation to find bad guy Schweiger. I think I liked Hardy the best between the two stars as Hardy used his CIA training in a paintball game. While there were no James Bond cars, there were car chases.

Naturally Witherspoon is confused as to which of her two dates she should really go for. As a result, Witherspoon gets advice about them from her raunchy best friend Chelsea Handler - who put lonely Witherspoon's profile up on a dating website. Witherspoon only even considers the entire idea of dating after she repeatedly runs across her former boyfriend - along with his fiancee. The romantic comedy aspect of the movie is typical for a romantic comedy, but the action brings the movie up to a new level and actually makes the relationships funnier as tough guys Pine and Hardy try to show their sensitive sides - as well as trying to integrate themselves into Reese's business of a consumer product specialist.

Angela Bassett makes a cameo appearance as Pine's and Hardy's superior in the CIA. Bassett is starting to be typecast as a character who is a superior in secret organizations. Now if only Bassett were given a role where she actually gets to kick butt as a result of being in such typecasting, I would be happy with that instead of just wasting Bassett's talents in such cameos.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, language. Running time: 98 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Green Lantern

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 114 minutes

Click below to watch the Green Lantern trailer.



In Brightest Day,
In Blackest Night,
No Evil Shall Escape My Sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware My Power...
Green Lantern's Light!
- Hal Jordan/Green Lantern

In Warner Bros. Green Lantern, a dying alien Temuera Morrison bestows on cocky test pilot Ryan Reynolds a power ring and lantern which allows Reynolds to turn into an inter-galactic policeman - a Green Lantern.

With the release of a galactic villainous force Parallax, the inter-galactic police force - the Green Lantern Corps - try to contain him. With Parallax's ability to feed on fear, several Green Lanterns fall prey to the power of Parallax. When Parallax arrives on Earth to meet with it's telepathic scientist controlled subject Peter Sarsgaard - who was exposed to a part of Parallax during the autopsy of the alien Abin Sur/Temuera Morrison - it is the newest Green Lantern Reynolds who must overcome his fear and use his willpower to become Earth's last hope.

While the film tells the story of the origin of Hal Jordon/Ryan Reynolds who would go on to become the greatest Green Lantern of the Corps, the scenes on Earth are anti-climatic compared to Reynolds training scenes out in space on the planet Oa - home of the Guardians of the Universe. While this origin story is much better than Thor, the scenes at home at Coast City on Earth still seem a little trivial. Even though the origin scenes include Hal Jordon's comic book associates from the Ferris Aircraft company Blake Lively and Taika Waititi, as well as dealing with the loss of his test pilot dad, there is not as much angst as what would seem necessary for such an origin story. The climax does not seem as Earth-shattering as you would expect as it happens in one city instead of being world-wide.

What is good about the movie is that the movie looks like the comic book. That is what really made me want to see the movie is because it looked like the comic book, which looks amazing and not something really cheesy. Even the aliens looked believable which includes Geoffrey Rush, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mark Strong, and Clancy Brown - most of which are done through performance-capture. The computer graphics of the Green Lantern uniforms and the Green Lantern's animated light image of their willpower creations were also believable. The relationship with the Central Power Battery of Oa and the universe of Green Lantern was interesting and unexpected to me, which also leads to a potential sequel as hinted at during the end of the movie's credits which is not unexpected if you have read the comic books.

Cameos by Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett were not well used, even though they played powerful characters. Angela Bassett's character was especially disappointing as she is supposed to be the head of the intelligence organization Checkmate in the comic book.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 114 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.