This humble opinion is brought to by you T. K. Edwards
ANGEL HAS FALLEN – Rated R – 2 hr.
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Cast: Gerard Butler, Piper Perabo, Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Danny Huston, Nick Nolte, Time Blake Nelson
Secret Service Agent 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.
NO SPOILERS BELOWANGEL HAS FALLEN is the 3rd movie in the Gerard Butler “HAS FALLEN” action movie franchise. When the first movie (OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN) came out in 2013 it was overshadowed by the fact that the same exact movie (WHITE HOUSE DOWN) came out at the same exact time – just like the following movies:
- DEEP IMPACT vs. ARMAGEDDON
- THE PRESTIGE vs. THE ILLUSIONIST
- CHASING LIBERTY vs. FIRST DAUGHTER
- BABE vs. GORDY
- TURNER & HOOCH vs. K-9
- VOLCANO vs. DANTE’S PEAK
When the second movie, LONDON HAS FALLEN, came out in 2016 I was pleasantly surprised by the fact they were going to have a “go” at making this a new franchise. I thought the action in both films was decent and reminded me of old school 1990s movies filled with loads of guns, a ton of bullets, obnoxious explosions and an overload of bloody violence. Now, with the release of ANGEL HAS FALLEN I know that’s exactly where we’re going with these movies. The “HAS FALLEN” franchise is this generation’s new DIE HARD series and to be honest, I’m weirdly okay with that. I really like Gerard Butler and I enjoy his character, Mike Banning, in these movies. Butler can handle the action, the drama and the cheesy comedy scattered throughout all of these movies. He is also still young enough to be believable and looks like he can handle his own too. Another thing that ANGEL HAS FALLEN does that I love and I think helps the series move forward is the inclusion of the same characters from the previous films. This is Morgan Freeman’s third time playing the character Allan Trumbull, but with a little twist this time…he’s the President. And let’s face it, there’s only so many times Aaron Eckhart can be saved and continue being the President before he says, “You know, I think I’m not going to run next term. Terrorists seem to really want me dead and I’m getting too old for this shit. Let’s pass the torch to Mr. Freeman and see what he does with it”. One big surprise for me in ANGEL HAS FALLEN was the inclusion of actor Nick Nolte as Mike Banning’s father. I wasn’t expecting too much from him and thought his performance in the movie WARRIOR was his final peak in his career, but once again to my surprise Nolte was one of the best parts of ANGEL HAS FALLEN. His grungy alley cat performance was a perfect fit for his character in the movie and he even brought loads of levity to off the wall action scenes. All in all, ANGEL HAS FALLEN is exactly what you’re expecting it to be. A good old fashioned action movie. My suggestion is if you have seen the first two HAS FALLEN films and really like them, then go see this third one in theaters, otherwise this is one you should definitely watch at home. Until next time, thanks for reading.
P.S. – There is a bit of a post credit scene at the beginning of the credits and then nothing else follows.
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 