Welcome to yet another belated review (been going to the theater a lot so expect a lot coming) where we will be looking at the latest entry in the hit Gerard Butler led Has Fallen franchise. Now, I have yet to have seen the previous two entries Olympus Has Fallen, and London Has Fallen, so I will be looking at this one from the perspective a newcomer which is always fun, and interesting. From what I’ve heard of them the first one is pretty much a Die Hard in the White House type story, and the second one is well Die Hard in London (this is probably the first Die Hard knock off to spawn a trilogy weirdly enough, and so far the only one, unless Speed 3 Uber Madness is secretly in development). Each of them have done well at the box office, but not so well critically (the second one especially) so its now time to see my take on this one to see if the lukewarm response was really warranted. Let’s go on and join Mike Banning on his third go around to protect the President of the United States and see if there is any narrative juice still present in this series.
Taking place after the events of London Has Fallen, we open with an opening action sequence where our protagonist Mike Banning is undergoing training in a facility owned by his good friend, Wade Jennings, the struggling CEO of Salient Global a private military company. It is revealed that President Allan Trumball is looking for a new Secret Service director, and he recommends that Banning take the position. Banning takes this into consideration even though he’s hiding the fact that he has been suffering from migraines, and insomnia as well as going to the Doctor often to take care of his back pain from those closest to him, including his wife. Things take a turn for the worse however when the President is attacked by a drone strike during what was supposed to be a relaxing fishing trip. Though Banning is able to safe the President from getting killed, they both get incapacitated while every other government agent at the retreat getting killed. As of that wasn’t enough the President gets into a coma, while Banning wakes up in a hospital with handcuffs on, and the CIA ready to arrest him. It turns out Banning has been framed for the assassination attempt on the President’s life, and no matter how much he states his innocence, no one seems to believe him. On the way to the prison though there is yet another attack by the real culprits of the drone strike, and they take Banning as well. It doesn’t take too long for him to escape, and figure out who’s behind all of this. With the help of an unexpected ally in his nomad father, he sets out to try to clear his name while also save the President from the real threat, which has a much larger conspiracy in tow as well.
Admittedly my expectations weren’t very high for this once considering what I have heard of the other two films, and how generally uninteresting the trailers were, essentially selling the Fugitive: Gerard Butler edition despite the mostly positive notices I saw for it. After seeing the film I am indeed surprised at how much I enjoyed it, and I was able to follow what was going on despite not seeing the others (which is always a great thing). Sure the basic plot itself is nothing new and has been done before many times, and there aren’t too many surprises in the story, and mostly standard script but it is mostly executed pretty well with a lot more substance than I was initially expecting. One of the most common complaints about the prior two (mainly the second one) was how problematic, and jingoistic the politics were as the portrayals of the foreign terrorist were really stereotypical. This one goes for more of a approach not dissimilar to that of White House Down (another pretty solid action flick) where the threat is much more personal, taking away the Die Hard tropes of the others. It is mostly successful in its handling of some of the topical subject matter it deals with, even if some of the attempts at getting involved in political relevancy feel really forced, and blatant (the story thread taking jabs at the tensions between the US, and Russia, and the latter’s interference in elections being the biggest one). It does succeed more as a character driven action movie more than anything else with Banning getting some good character development that paints him as more than just as typical macho action hero. This is also where the film delves into some more topical issues like toxic masculinity where Banning’s unwillingness to show weakness or ask for help (a trait that has proven to be very dangerous in many movies) affects him, and the people around him or how soldiers and servicemen cope with PTSD, and how similar servants of government are left to pay when their job is done. While it doesn’t go to deep into these important subjects, I still appreciate that it took the time to look into them in between the moments of carnage, and tension. As for the pacing its nice, and tight not going on for too long or too little, with the exception of some scenes that do drag, and I will say the movie does a good job of making you care what happens to these characters, and anyone caught in the crossfire (the deaths here do sting a little). There may be nothing out of this world in the writing, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything meaningful to take away from it.
Now if you go to these movies to see some R – rated carnage unfold then don’t worry because this does deliver those goods, and they are quite well done I would say. I’m not very familiar with director, Ric Roman Waugh’s work but I tell from this that he knows how to direct a coherent action sequence. While I was concerned by the opening set piece in the training facility since it was extremely dark, and there was a lot of shaky cam being used that it was almost impossible to tell what exactly was going on. Thankfully the action got much better as the film went along with a nice variety of different set pieces like the drone strike, an intense chase involving a truck, and when Clay Banning’s shows off his home security defenses (which brings way to a lot of really neat explosions). The one I was the most impressed with was the climactic battle at a hospital which was very well staged, and really intense in the moment with a nice mix of both wide, and fast paced editing used. Another great thing is how we genuinely care about the characters which makes the action all the more investing, and the performances on display help as well. Gerard Butler makes for a solid action hero in Mike Banning, and he gives a much more understated performance here (although I will admit his acting is better whenever he just uses normal Scottish accent), and the character himself gets a compelling arc like I said before, and the movie takes the time to further develop the major relationships he has (though some are more developed than others). He also has some great interactions with his father played by Nick Nolte who is just a scene stealer here having some of funniest scenes, and has a shockingly compelling relationship with his son that’s actually really emotional. Some of the returning players like Morgan Freeman brings his usual amount of gravitas, and weight to the role of President Trumball getting some really great lines at the end of the flick, while Banning’s wife, Leah, played by Piper Perabo doesn’t get much to do beyond being the typical worrying wife character despite the actress’s best efforts. Spoilers I should say, although not really considering the writers made the smart decision to reveal this pretty obvious twist early on, but yes Danny Huston’s Wade Jennings is revealed to be the main villain of the film. He makes for a solid baddie with an understandable motivation for betraying Banning, and trying to kill the President, although the twist of who he is working for is very predictable, and was one I was hoping they would not go that route, but luckily it doesn’t derail the movie. There is more strong support from others like Jada Pinkett Smith who plays the FBI agent trying to hunt Banning down, Hanna Thompson, and she is sadly underutilized even if I like how she doesn’t completely not trust Banning, Tim Blake Nelson as Vice President Martin Kirby (whom I almost mistook for Ben Mendelsohn) is a bit of a Saturday morning cartoon character (slight spoilers: for a reason I just mentioned above), and Lance Reddick (yet another role in an action movie threequel after John Wick Ch. 3) as the current Secret Service director, David Gentry, is strong in the role even if the character himself is not anything special. While clearly Banning’s show, the whole cast still makes the stuff in between action beats, work as well as they could.
In the end, Angel Has Fallen may not do anything new for the action genre, but it is still a pretty solid political thriller in its own right. It makes up for it’s mostly predictable story beats, blatant political references, and some underused supporting characters with some strong action, good lead performances, compelling character work, and the fact that it tackles some very important issues. If your a fan of the series you will most definitely enjoy it, while fans of political thrillers will also find things to like as well. Heck you don’t even have to have seen the prior films to understand this one as it is pretty stand alone (probably one of the reasons as to how this film did well at the box office). From what I hear 3 more of these, and a TV spin off have been announced and while that may be a bit too much (this one works as a solid if not definite conclusion), if they end up as good as what we got here or better then I wouldn’t be totally against that happening. Man, you know your Die Hard knock off is a good IP when it’s reached 3 films, with more possibly on the way and they’ve managed to make decent bank, just goes to show maybe it’s better to rip off (the right way) than remake (the bad way).
Rating: B
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