一、作为工业产品和意识形态载体的《伦敦陷落》

　　《伦敦陷落》（London Has Fallen）是由千年影业公司（Millenium Films）2016年出品，由巴巴克·纳加非（Babak Najafi）执导，杰拉德·巴特勒（Gerard Butler）、艾伦·艾克哈特（Aaron Eckhart）、摩根·弗里曼（Morgan Freeman）、安吉拉·贝塞特（Angela Bassett）联袂主演的动作惊悚片。影片背景设置在《奥林匹斯陷落》（Olympus Has Fallen， 2013）结束几年后，讲述了美国总统参加英国首相葬礼时，再次遭遇恐怖袭击威胁的故事。
　　英国首相神秘逝世，美国特勤局特工班宁（杰拉德·巴特勒饰）接到命令，配合特勤局局长琳·雅各布（安吉拉·贝塞特饰）做好准备，陪同本杰明·阿瑟总统（艾伦·艾克哈特饰）前往伦敦圣保罗大教堂参加英国首相的国葬仪式。由于所有西方大国首脑都必然要出席，这场葬礼的安全保卫工作理应是全世界最周密的。然而，各国首脑刚刚抵达英国不久便先后遭遇暗杀，伦敦地标建筑纷纷遭到袭击。阿瑟、班宁和雅各布也遭到伏击，在连天的炮火和爆炸中撤退。满目疮痍的英国首都进入封锁状态。奉雅各布之命保护阿瑟总统的班宁必须躲开敌人的视线，抢在对手的前头先下手为强，不惜一切代价保护阿瑟总统安全回国。
　　《伦敦陷落》延续了《奥林匹斯陷落》的叙事和风格，是后者的续集。2013年上映的《奥林匹斯陷落》讲述的是，朝鲜激进分子驾驶大型AC130军用飞机和白宫叛国者内外勾结，攻陷白宫，俘虏总统，企图控制核按钮毁灭美国。但是勇敢的男主角力挽狂澜，在危难关头不仅拯救了总统，而且破坏了恐怖分子的阴谋，最后成为拯救了美国的英雄。这种叙事完全反映了美国文明冲突和反恐的意识形态，而风格上则以动作、枪战、爆炸和惊悚为主。影片投资七千万美元，获得了超过1.7亿美元的票房收入。鉴于该片的票房成功，作为续集的《伦敦陷落》的拍摄则延续了《奥林匹斯陷落》的套路，只不过这次恐怖分子来自美国甚为头痛的中东地区，故事的发生地也改在了伦敦。影片上映后取得了更好的票房成绩—— 投资六千万美元，票房则超过了两亿美元。所以，千年影业公司正在筹备拍摄下一部续集《天使陷落》（The Angel Has Fallen），构成“陷落”三部曲，计划于2018年上映。
　　尽管这两部电影在票房上取得了良好成绩，但是专业和大众影评成绩却普遍不高，叫座不叫好。究其原因，主要是电影的三重属性不太一致。首先，电影是一种大众的娱乐形式或工业产品（以技术作为主要支撑），特定的类型片拥有特定的观众群。从动作惊悚片的角度出发，这个系列确实以观众耳熟能详的美国和英国地标式建筑的轰然倒下和男主人公令人目不暇接的系列动作吸引了广大观众，使观众享受了视觉与听觉的“盛宴”。影片中最令人感到震撼的场面是伦敦标志性建筑如大本钟、议会大厦、圣保罗大教堂同一时间顷刻尽毁，极具视觉冲击力。片中无论是实拍场景，还是经过后期细致打磨的特效场景，通过大银幕的呈現更是震撼无比，堪称极致。其次，任何电影叙事都是有直接或间接寓意的，反映了制作者的思想和价值观。从电影作为意识形态载体的角度看，该片展现的是善恶对立、欧美中心论和个人英雄主义的欧美视角，强化恐怖分子的邪恶以及遏制他们的必要性。这样的二元对立、黑白分明、凸显冲突的主题很容易为西方观众和大部分全球观众所接受。
　　另外，美国的电影产业向来在各个时期都在寻找票房成功的公式并利用其赚钱，类型电影、续集、三部曲、系列电影等就是好莱坞类型电影成功的法宝。《伦敦陷落》既是类型电影，又利用了续集和三部曲的范式。自20世纪后半叶以来，英美的电影公司兴起了拍摄续集（sequel）和系列电影（film series）的热潮。这些成功的电影作品不但给电影公司带来了可观的票房利润，还塑造了迥异而突出的人物形象，在意识形态和价值观方面更是影响着全球的观众，凸显出英美电影的软实力。续集和系列电影在概念上既有重合又有区别。续集是在前一部电影作品成功的基础上继续拍摄下一部影片，发展该故事。在许多情况下，续集沿用第一部故事的元素，例如同一人物和同一或类似的故事背景。续集之所以对电影公司具有很大吸引力，是因为沿用广受欢迎的电影故事继续拍摄续集比起创造新的未经观众检验的人物和故事风险更少，更易获得成功。另一方面，观众对广受欢迎的银幕人物和故事的热爱以及期待其进一步的发展也使得观众群得到保证，并吸引电影公司对这类影片进行投资。如果续集拍多了，这些续集就自然形成了三部曲或系列电影，其主题、人物和叙事等主要因素被一次次重复使用。所以三部曲或系列电影取得较好的票房成绩是很自然的。

二、《伦敦陷落》在艺术上的平庸和缺陷

　　电影批评的第三个维度是其艺术上的表现水准，即在主题、剧情、表演和风格上是否突破以往的类似影片，实现一定的创新。
　　对《伦敦陷落》的批评主要是其在艺术上缺乏新意。主题是老套的美国反恐意识形态，风格是典型的动作、惊悚加特效的类型片，而在叙事和人物塑造方面则停留在表面，缺乏深度和创新。例如，关于主人公美国总统贴身保镖班宁的两条线叙事很老套——妻子怀孕，正期待孩子的出生，打算辞职，但却接到陪同总统去伦敦的任务，所以很纠结。影片对于反派人物军火商巴卡维的塑造更是脸谱化和缺乏逻辑——他参加妹妹婚礼时，妹妹被美国政府的无人机袭击身亡。这一事件改变了他，也改变了整个家庭。他不想再仅作为军火商居于幕后，而是要实际参与行动，亲手报仇，率领一群恐怖分子精心筹划了这次大型袭击，以图抓获美国总统，并实时在网络上直播将其杀死。其他人物——美国总统、副总统、特勤局局长——性格与形象也大都停留在表面。
　　《烂番茄》网站对该片的评分仅为3.9/10分，认为影片的老套主题和风格限制了一帮优秀演员的表演才能：“London Has Fallen traps a talented cast—and all who dare to see it—in a mid-1990s basic-cable nightmare of a film（有线电视噩梦电影）loaded with xenophobia（仇外心理）and threadbare（老一套的）action-thriller clichés（俗套）.”Metacritic网站的综合评分更是低至28/100。 　　视听俱乐部（The A.V. Club）影评人威士涅维茨基（Ignatiy Vishnevetsky）对《伦敦陷落》评价也很低，几乎是乏善可陈：“A murky（阴暗的）， braindead（弱智的）stab-a-thon（刺杀某人）packed with so many inane（愚蠢的，无意义的）chases， laughable special effects， and mismatched stock footage shots that it begs to be made into a drinking game（饮酒的游戏，划拳）， London Has Fallen is one of those rare films that is good at absolutely nothing.”该俱乐部甚至将此片列为年度最差电影“worst movie of the year”。
　　罗杰易·伯特电影网站（Rogerebert.com）影评人索布岑斯基（Peter Sobczynski）认为，《伦敦陷落》比《奥林匹斯陷落》还要差，充斥着无谓的爆头枪战、爆炸追逐以及逻辑上的脑残错误。例如恐怖分子本可以轻易将美国总统炸死或打死，但其头目却脑子进水，改用B计划，即活捉美国总统以便通过因特网向全世界直播对他的行刑和杀害；用美国副总统的原话来说，恐怖分子头子“杀死的人比死于瘟疫的都多”（“killed more people than the plague”），但在美国全球通缉的恐怖分子名单上却仅名列第六。所以，他认为，《伦敦陷落》和《奥林匹斯陷落》远不如2013年上映的类似影片《白宫陷落》（The White House Is Down），可谓2016年度最差电影：“a horrible and wildly unnecessary follow-up（续集）that might actually be worse than its predecessor”，“Unless you have some insane（疯狂的，愚蠢的）desire to see what will surely go down as one of the very worst films of 2016， you would be far better served staying at home and finally giving White House Is Down a look.”

　　《滚石》网站（rollingstone.com）影评人彼得·特拉维斯（Peter Travers）认为该片简直就是电脑合成的小儿科电子游戏，他甚至号召观众抵制该片：
　　This movie is a toxic stew（有毒物质）of rampant（四处蔓延的）xenophobia that truly believes audiences will line up to watch a computer-generated（电脑合成的）London， from Parliament to Chelsea Bridge（切尔西桥，在伦敦西部）， go down in a storm of bloody shootouts（枪战，交火）and muddy megapixels（模糊的百万像素）. Prove me wrong， people. Make American movies great again. You can start by boycotting（抵制）this one.

三、《伦敦陷落》故事情节

　　Western intelligence services of the G8 track down Pakistani arms dealer（军火商）Aamir Barkawi as the mastermind（策划者）behind several terrorist attacks， and authorize an American drone（无人机）strike on Barkawi’s compound（大院）. Barkawi survived the attack but his daughter and many others were killed.

　　Two years later， UK Prime Minister James Wilson suddenly dies， and arrangements are made for the Western world leaders to attend his funeral in London. Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs assigns agent Mike Banning， a close friend of U.S. President Benjamin Asher， to lead Asher’s security detail while overseas， even though Banning’s wife Leah is due to give birth to their child in a few weeks. The entourage（随行人员）arrives via Air Force One（空军一号，美国总统专机）at Stansted Airport， and Banning pushes their arrival at the Somerset House in London via Marine One（海军陆战队一号，美国总统专用直升机）earlier. As Asher’s Presidential State Car arrives at St Paul’s Cathedral（圣保罗大教堂）， a series of coordinated attacks by terrorists disguised（假扮）as London Metropolitan Police（伦敦市政警察）， the Queen’s Guardsmen（女王护卫队）， and other first responders（救护者）erupts， killing the other Western leaders， damaging or destroying major landmarks（地标建筑）and generating mass panic. Asher’s early arrival has thrown the attack on him at St. Paul’s off-guard（措手不及）， and Banning is able to rescue Asher and Jacobs and rushes them back to Marine One. As the helicopter and its escorts（護卫机）takes off， terrorists fire Stinger missiles（毒刺式导弹）at them， destroying the escorts and forcing the damaged helicopter to crash-land（坠毁）in Hyde Park（海德公园）. Banning and Asher suffer only minor wounds， but Jacobs is fatally injured， and she makes Banning promise to get back at（对……实施报复）whomever did this. Banning quickly escorts Asher into the London Underground（伦敦地铁）as the city’s power is lost and people take shelter in their homes. 　　In Washington， D.C.， U.S. Vice President Allan Trumbull works with the British authorities to investigate the incident while trying to track down the President. Trumbull receives a call from Barkawi， still alive after all. The man takes responsibility for the attacks， coordinated by his son Kamran. Barkawi purposely had Wilson poisoned to lure the Western leaders to London to attack them. Barkawi knows Asher is still alive， and promises that if Kamran captures him， he will broadcast the execution of the President on the Internet. Trumbull orders his intelligence staff to locate Barkawi’s known operatives（特工人员）to find any connection to the attack， while British authorities have all first responders stand down（撤下来）， so that any left in the open can be identified as terrorists.
　　After leaving a sign to be picked up by satellite tracking， Banning leads Asher to an MI6（英国军情六处）safe-house， where Jacqueline “Jax” Marshall briefs（向……汇报）them on what their intelligence has learned. Marshall receives a voice message from Trumbull that confirms they saw Banning’s sign and that an extraction team（救援队）is en route. Security monitors show the approach of a Delta Force（美国三角洲特种部队）team， but Banning suspects they have arrived far too soon and may be more terrorists. She covers and fights off the terrorists before Asher and Banning drive away but their car is struck by a truck driven by terrorists， allowing them to capture Asher. Banning is rescued by the extraction team， a combined Delta Force/S. A. S.（英国第22特别空勤团）squad.
　　Trumbull’s staff have identified a building in London owned by one of Barkawi’s companies， which still appears to be drawing power（消耗电力）， and suspect it is Kamran’s headquarters. Banning joins the extraction team to infiltrate（渗透）the building and stop Kamran before he can kill Asher. Banning and Asher escape just before the building is destroyed by the Delta Force/SAS squad， killing Kamran and the remaining terrorists. Marshall has worked with British authorities to restore London’s security system and， discovering that MI5（英国军情五处）Intelligence Chief John Lancaster aided in Barkawi’s attack， she kills him. Meanwhile， Trumbull contacts Barkawi to tell him that his plan failed， and then to look outside， moments before the building is destroyed by another drone strike， killing him.
　　Two weeks after the attack on London， Banning is home spending time with Leah and their newborn child， named Lynne after his deceased（死去的）boss. He sits in front of his laptop and contemplates sending his letter of resignation. On TV， Trumbull speaks regarding the recent events， leaving an inspiring message that the U.S. will prevail（获胜）. This convinces Banning to delete the letter.

四、《伦敦陷落》精彩台词

　　Vice President Trumbull’s Television Speech at the Victory
　　“Our hearts go out to the people of London， and to our friends around the world. Far more people died for no good reason. There are those who would have said， it would not have happened if we had minded our own business. That wouldn’t have been farther from the truth（沒有比这一说法更远离真相的了）. Frankly， we live in a dangerous world， and we have few good options. The worst option is to do nothing. Finally， we owe it to our children， and to their children， to engage in the world. God bless you all. And God bless the United States of America.”