Angel Has Fallen – Review

Angel Has Fallen

Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh

Runtime: 120 minutes

This movie is dumb. Not Fast and Furious dumb, where they are incredibly self-aware of their own lack of realism and just do it for the ‘splosions, but genuinely dumb. Hey, maybe I am just spoilt these days with franchises like John Wick and Mission Impossible, but Angel Has Fallen is overstuffed with a tired plot, predictable reveals and poor character motivations.

Speaking of tired, what has happened to Gerard Butler? I distinctly remember thinking this dude was an absolute Scottish babe in P.S I Love You, but now he looks like a tried, haggard mess! Sure, this worked for the purposes of his character, as he too was tired and a mess, but it was a sad realisation that he fit this role almost too well. We are quickly reintroduced (yes that’s right, it is the third film in this franchise) to Mick Banning as he performs a training drill, cementing in the fact that he is one badass motherfucker. However, it took only a few more scenes until I felt I knew the entire plot of the film and that I was not going to have a good time.

Too many times in the film left me to honestly question, “Was that supposed to be a secret?”. Is it a spoiler to say that the person you think will be behind the attack on the president after the first five minutes is actually behind the attack? Angel Has Fallen makes very little attempt to cast doubt on any other characters; it more just invites awkward questions into character motivation. The second antagonist in particular had me almost laughing in the theatre as the previously voice modulated villain is finally shown in what I assumed was supposed to be a massive reveal. I found myself turning to my partner and uttering “Were we not meant to know?”

Following a typical action film trope, for a majority of the film Mick is framed for the failed attempt on the president’s life and it is up to him alone to bring down the true threat. Does this plot device sound similar? You can see it in other action films such as The Fugitive, Mission Impossible, Minority Report, Enemy of the State, Knight and Day, Point Blank, The Bourne Franchise and literally a million more! But perhaps I am getting a little off track…

The villains in the film have some really cool tech, but it is in these moments of ‘intelligence’ that the film reveals how dumb it is. There is an early scene where the villains use highly advanced drones to launch an attack. The drones absolutely decimate the good guys with ease. Cool right? I couldn’t wait to see how Banning deals with such a monolithic threat… What’s that? They never appear again? Great! Looks like we can’t take these terrorists seriously from this point onwards.

Now I do enjoy ‘splosions, and I did find myself occasionally swept up in the action and violence of it all. You know, the stabby-stabby-bang-bang moments. But, unfortunately, the characters were so underdeveloped and pointless that it all seemed a bit rushed and redundant.

The stand out performance of Nick Nolte as Banning’s father made me wish I’d seen a different film in which Nolte’s Unabomber persona takes to the streets and fucks people up. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.