Ric Roman Waugh’s Angel Has Fallen, third in its trilogy – which will certainly one day rise to a tetralogy, pentalogy, and so on – doesn’t require its viewer to have seen the first two in the series. Starring Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, and Nick Nolte, it follows the Secret Service Agent Mike Banning after he is accused of the attempted assassination via drone stike of the president directly after he is offered to be promoted to the director of the Secret Service. Before we get too far, yes, it was as mediocre as you could imagine. However, that didn’t hold it back from being full of twists, turns, and odd performances. It’s hard to describe, but Angel Has Fallen was one of the stranger blockbuster viewings I’ve had in years. Its plot seems as if to have been thought through by a child. This isn’t even an insult, I don’t even know what it is, but it’s oddly charming.
Not to follow immature thought processes of those like the cursed CinemaSins Youtube channel, but some plot points here simply make no sense. Oh no! Our brave and hardworking, all-American lead has been accused of attempting to assassinate the President of the United States! We know he’s innocent. He’s here to prove it by going on the run to join his Unabomber-esque estranged father in the woods, where he will – without much hesitation – use landmines to explode dozens of innocents who have been hired by the government, which he proudly works for, to track him. You could even describe them as his colleagues. In fact, there are so many gruesome onscreen casualties that it seems to be hoping its audience becomes desensitized to it. We see at least a dozen security get blood splattered from a shot to the head, along with countless explosions that depict the flying bodies of security and even patients lying in hospital beds. Even worse, the relationship and arguments between he and his dad seem to associate lifestyle choices with their political affiliation, reflecting seemingly purposefully in favor of capitalism-loving. Banning’s dad, who abandoned he and his mom when he was a boy, retreated to a life living off-the-grid, an anti-establishment attitude cursing the government and accusing them of being controlling and evil. While this attitude to a certain extent is valid, the film clearly demonizes any opposition towards the U.S., as our kindhearted hero has several blow-up arguments with his dad drawing analogies between leaving your family and leaving society.
Amongst all of the blank, emotionless quality that seems to describe the movie as a whole, it decides to do what many action franchises before it have done and attempts to psychoanalyze its hero. These, and the meaningless government discussion bits meant to fill space so that the drama of the investigation make sense, were the aspects that made the movie so dull that I had to hold myself back from turning it off in favor of another. A superior action franchise that actually shoots its action in a unique and exciting way, which is John Wick. Surprise, surprise, maybe it’s due to superior writing or the magnetic screen talent of Keanu Reeves, but their psychoanalyzation works a lot better.
Now let’s get into the acting. Gerard Butler gives a downtrodden and jaded portrayal of an action hero that should logically be much more unbothered. However, haunted by his father that left early and his doctors warning him that his body and mind are growing too old and tired to keep working in such a stressful position, Butler reflects that to the utmost degree. His love and affection for his wife are so bland and put-on that his, in comparison, disturbingly overboard respect and admiration towards the President, who he also considers a close friend, feels undeserved and creepy. Nick Nolte undoubtedly gave the best performance as a wild and regretful shut-in that encourages his son who he just reconnected with to become a hermit like him is maybe the most complex and even sympathetic character of the whole film. Morgan Freeman gives an expectedly dull performance as the type of President that’s almost always portrayed in films like this, God-like, peaceful, and all-knowing. Big names like Jada Pinkett Smith and Tim Blake Nelson are in the movie, filling roles that seemingly anyone could’ve filled. It seems like they just wanted names to fill spots that would sell tickets.
There’s not much to say for the writing. A few lines here and there are bad enough to get a laugh but other than that, nothing notable. It seemed passive-aggressive towards anything that wasn’t entirely patriotic and the characters’ relationships, when not intended to, all seemed shallow and miserable. Visually, it was unremarkable. The cinematography told the story and that’s about it. The setting of the forest and the warmer colors of the film were the most visually appealing but overall seemed to follow the same saddening, lifeless color scheme Marvel movies follow that do nothing in the way of the mood, no matter if it’s meant to be gloomy. The special effects were, as expected, good enough but just realistic to the point of being boring. In costuming and makeup, the deaths and wounds were shockingly gory and disturbing. The sound was fine but I feel bad for whoever the sound designer was that had to work in likely thousands of gunshot noises. I’m also impressed by that, I guess.
The Blu-ray quality was, as almost always, clear and high definition. There are detail and sharp lines around objects. It was durable as I rolled over it with my truck and it was left without a scratch. It didn’t shatter upon pushing it into the Playstation as many of my discs have before. A heartbreaking intro by Gerard Butler encouraging his viewers to enjoy the movie, which followed what seemed like hours of trailers, was what really bumped this up. There are interviews and behind-the-scenes special features that’ll be sure to please any fan. This raised my review up by at least 0.7 points.
