Gerard Butler is back in action as Mike Banning, Secret Service man with nerves of steel and the kidneys of an ageing thespian. Banning has tragedy in his past and skeletons in his closet – some metaphoric, some possibly real – but they’ve let him into the UK and, judging by the first teaser for London Has Fallen, thank goodness for that. He’s all that stands between us and a return to the dark ages. Don your protective headwear and click below.
He may have missed the Secret Service’s health and safety day but Banning is a ruthless practitioner in the art of defending his President, the highly incident prone Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart). He’s seen off North Korean commandos in Olympus Has Fallen and now there’s another cadre of evildoers to fend off, this time on English soil. Not too many tourist attractions look like they'll be surviving this one.
The premise sees Asher and his fellow world leaders assembling for the state funeral of the British Prime Minister. The presence of so many big knobs in one place attracts some Very Bad People to the capital with a Very Nasty Plan. "Only three people have any hope of stopping it,” runs the official synopsis. “The President of the United States, his formidable secret service head, and an English MI-6 agent who rightly trusts no one.” Sounds like Eckhart, who spent the majority of the first film cuffed to a railing, is finally up and running in this one.
Radha Mitchell is back as Leah Banning, with Angela Bassett, Morgan Freeman, Jackie Earle Haley, Melissa Leo, Robert Forster and Colin Salmon all aboard.
**London Has Fallen **is out in early 2016.