Exclusive First Look At London Has Fallen

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http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=44688

Exclusive First Look At London Has Fallen
A game of kicky punchy. Gerard Butler goes first

When we last saw him in Olympus Has Fallen, Gerard Butler’s peppery secret service agent Mike Banning had seen off most of North Korea’s special forces in a flurry of punching, gunplay and salty quips. At the time he may have seen an unlikely candidate to John McClane his way to a sequel, especially up against the more generously-budgeted White House Down, but audiences liked the cut of his jibes and back he is. This time it’s the Old Smoke that’s falling. Empire’s new issue features a first look at Banning in action in London Has Fallen. Click below for a closer look.

This sequence, shot in the same Charing Cross location used in Skyfall, sees Butler’s agent dispensing justice to a terrorist in a rubble-strewn Underground station. Well, hopefully it's a terrorist. It could just be a commuter who's picked the wrong man to ask directions from.

It's a fun franchise," enthuses Butler in Empire. "You get to do a lot of really badass action, but it's got its tongue firmly in its cheek."

Again, it’s left to Banning to save the day, possibly with a little help from one of his MI6 counterparts (Charlotte Riley), when President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) is targeted in London at the funeral of the Prime Minister. Other world leaders are also in jeopardy. Angela Bassett’s Secret Service director Lynn Jacobs and Morgan Freeman’s Speaker Allan Trumbull are both on hand to lend a hand/thicken the plot.

Radha Mitchell is back as Leah Banning, with Jackie Earle Haley, Melissa Leo, Robert Forster and Colin Salmon all aboard. Christian Gudegast, Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt were on scripting duties.

http://screenrant.com/london-has-fallen-images-gerard-butler/


‘London Has Fallen’ First Image: Gerard Butler Saves The Day Again

In 2013, Millenium Films released Antoine Fuqua’s action thriller Olympus Has Fallen, the story of a disgraced Secret Service Agent attempting to single-handedly thwart a terrorist attack on the White House. Despite a similar film (White House Down) being released that same year, the film was ultimately a financial success and earned a followup.

Millenium Films quickly greenlit the sequel, London Has Fallen, and announced that stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett were all set to reprise their roles. The sequel was going to be released in Fall 2015, but the movie was hit with some bad luck when then-director Fredrick Bond quit only weeks before filming was to begin. Millenium quickly found a replacement in Iranian-Swedish director Babak Najafi, but the sequel was ultimately delayed to January 2016.

Despite the delay, or perhaps because of it, Millenium Films has now released the first image from London Has Fallen. Empire was behind the reveal, which you can see below. The scene depicts Gerard Butler’s Mike Banning dispatching a presumed terrorist in the Charing Cross railway station located in central London. The surrounding rubble coupled with the blood stains on his shirt indicate the attack on the eponymous city has already begun.

Butler also voiced his fondness for the ‘Has Fallen‘ series, as part of the Empire article. To quote the actor directly:

“It’s a fun franchise. You get to do a lot of really badass action, but it’s got its tongue firmly in its cheek.”

London Has Fallen picks up after the events of Olympus Has Fallen, with Mike Banning once again a part of the U.S. president’s security detail. Banning accompanies President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart) to London for the funeral of England’s Prime Minister. The leaders of the Western World gather for the funeral, but despite the high levels of security a terrorist plot soon unfolds. It falls to Banning and an unnamed MI-6 agent (Charlotte Riley) to save the day and prevent an attack that could change the future of the free world.

london has fallen images gerard butler London Has Fallen First Image: Gerard Butler Saves The Day Again

Director Babak Najafi previously worked on the film Easy Money II: Hard to Kill (AKA Snabba Cash II) as well as some episodes of Banshee, but London Has Fallen will be the director’s English-language feature film debut. That coupled with the fact Antoine Fuqua won’t be returning to the budding franchise is enough to give fans pause. The first film, while not perfect, was largely successful due to tongue-in-cheek central character grounded by dramatic side characters. Despite the over-the-top nature of the hero, Fuqua infused him with vitality that drew in the audience. It will be a challenge for Najafi to replicate that sense in the sequel.

Then again, original screenwriters Katrin Benedikt and Creighton Rothenberger came back to pen the sequel. The two entered the scene with Olympus has Fallen and co-wrote The Expendables III with Sylvester Stallone (the latter film wasn’t as well received as Olympus, though). Returning to the characters that made them a success might reignite the writing duo’s creative spark, and result in a sequel that’s as much fun as its predecessor.

London Has Fallen opens in U.S. theaters on January 22, 2016.

http://collider.com/london-has-fallen-image-gerard-butler/


First LONDON HAS FALLEN Image Has Gerard Butler Protecting the Underground
by Matt Goldberg

Focus Features has released the first London Has Fallen image, and while it doesn’t show Gerard Butler stabbing a guy in the head, it does have him protecting the Underground. In the upcoming film, terrorists are out to destroy the world’s leaders, the British capital, and basically ruin everything because that’s how terrorists do. Now it’s up to ‘Merica to save the day as the President (Aaron Eckhart) and his Secret Service head (Butler) come to the rescue.

If the original movie hadn’t been so uncomfortably serious, I might be excited as the prospect of some dumb fun, but I’m bracing myself for more of the same, although Butler tells Empire “You get to do a lot of really badass action, but it’s got its tongue firmly in its cheek.”

Check out the image below. The film opens October 2nd in the U.K. and January 22nd in the U.S., and also stars Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo, Robert Forster, Sean O’Bryan, Radha Mitchell, Jackie Earle Haley, Alon Aboutboul, Charlotte Riley, and Waleed Zuaiter. For more on London Has Fallen, click here.


Here’s the official synopsis:

The sequel to the worldwide smash hit “Olympus Has Fallen,” a non-stop, suspenseful action thriller that delivers high-octane excitement through a heightened sense of authenticity. The visceral intensity springs from a timely premise: after the British Prime Minister passes away, his funeral becomes a target of a terrorist organization to destroy some of the world’s most powerful leaders, devastate the British capital, and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. The only hope of stopping it rests on the shoulders of the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) and his formidable Secret Service head (Gerard Butler), and an English MI-6 agent (Charlotte Riley) who rightly trusts no one. Morgan Freeman also stars as the Vice President of the United States.