Angel Has Fallen
Mike Banning is framed for the attempted assassination of the President and must evade his own agency and the FBI as he tries to uncover the real threat.
Cast
Gerard Butler – Mike Banning
Morgan Freeman – President Alan Trumbull
Piper Perabo – Leah Banning
Danny Huston – Wade Jennings
Michael Landes – Sam Wilcox
Jada Pinkett Smith – FBI Agent Helen Thompson
Tim Blake Nelson – Vice President Martin Kirby
Nick Nolte – Clay Banning
This Has Fallen
I don’t know where the producers were trying to go with this instalment of the ‘fallen series, but I can state with complete honesty that Angel Has Fallen is terrible.
Remember the shocking way in which a terrorist group ambushed the White House and set off dangerous events in motion in Olympus Has Fallen? Or the devilishly calculated way the Queen’s Guardsmen and Metropolitan Police turned on everybody and started destroying St. Paul’s Cathedral in London Has Fallen? Some of the action in these two movies was nothing short of spectacular, delivering high-energy battle scenes packed with adrenaline, in famous places viewers would recognise instantly.
Expect the complete opposite in Angel Has Fallen.
This is the story of a Secret Service agent being framed for the failed assassination attempt on the U.S. President. His own agency turning against him. And the subsequent chase across the country, in which Butler’s character has to remain entirely invisible from his captors. The only thing to have fallen in this movie is the plot itself which seems to go round in circles, Banning hiding out – running into trouble – going back into hiding – getting into trouble again. It even slows right down at one stage to introduce an estranged family member and although a few bombs go off, none of the action makes up for the remaining 90% of the movie – which is tiresome. This story is peanuts compared to the previous two movies, lacking the hard-hitting solid action it needs to thread each scenario together and the lethal bad guys to fuel the viewer’s reactions towards them.
I want to try and find good points of Angel Has Fallen, but I simply cannot. One of the first scenes is moderately interesting (drone attack) and fast-paced. But it all goes to shit after that, sliding into a game of cat and mouse between a man and those who were on his side in the first place. This instalment separates itself entirely from the ones you know (if you’ve seen them) by becoming a one-man show with a plot that could just as easily have been written as its own individual movie. Forget any of the excitement or nail-biting tension ‘Olympus or ‘London served up – ‘Angel does absolutely nothing to complete the series and falls flat on its arse.
That’s right – Angel Has Fallen, flat on its arse. Best way to end this review.
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