For a season of big-budget, explosive, high-adrenaline films, we just gotta have one more of them to end the summer film season. So, since students are starting to report back to school--you know, the major demographic of these films, Hollywood has given us "Angel Has Fallen". This is the third installment of the 'Has Fallen' franchise, the others being "Olympus Has Fallen" '13 and "London Has Fallen" '16.
When there is an assassination attempt on U.S. President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), his trusted confidant, Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), is wrongly accused and taken into custody. After escaping from capture, he becomes a man on the run and must evade his own agency headed up by Director Gentry (Lance Reddick), and outsmart the FBI headed up by Agent Thompson (Jada Pinkett-Smith) in order to find the real threat to the president. Desperate to uncover the truth, Banning turns to unlikely allies, namely his estranged father, Clay (Nick Nolte) to help clear his name, keep his family from harm and save the country from imminent danger.
Others to round out the cast are Tim Blake Nelson as VP Kirby, Danny Huston as Wade Jennings, Piper Perabo as Leah Banning, Mike's wife, Rocci-Boy Williams as Bruno, Nathan Cooper as CAT Agent, Joseph Milson as Agent Ramirez and Sapir Azulay as Agent Peterson.
This was effectively and intensely directed by Ric Roman Waugh ("In the Shadows" '01, "Felon" '08, "Snitch" '13, "That Which I Love Destroys Me" (Documentary) '15, "Shot Caller" '17) plus a video. This filmmaker certainly knows his way around an action, suspense thriller hence his resume. By the way he was able to get his actors, specifically Butler to emit the emotions they did to convey believability to his audience is amazing. As the film builds momentum, this truly becomes a real nail-biter. If this is the brand of directing that pulls you, his "Greenland" is in post-production at this point. It was written by Robert Mark Kamen, Matt Cook and Waugh based on a story by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt which is based on characters created by Rothenberger and Benedikt as well. Even though this wasn't written by Rothenberger and Benedikt--they being the originators, it was still written by a consummate pro, Kamen. Robert Mark Kamen was the one who wrote the 'Transporter' and 'Taken" franchises, so it wasn't that much of a stretch for him to effectively write a film as such. It was also written by Cook and Waugh, but the lion's share of the work experience definitely falls on Kamen. What actually has helped Waugh with being effective with these types of films is the fact that he was a stunt coordinator on many films which has given him that edge on implementing an effective storyline. Cook has worked extensively with Waugh, so he basically came along for the ride. It did take a little work in getting this film going as far as the build up in the storyline, however as soon as it found its place and started cutting to the chase, this story actually soared. If you take this film, and the other two films--'London' and 'Olympus', you pretty much have similar stories which doesn't make this an original concept. The stunts by Greg Powell is the actual star here since his stunt coordination was amazing.
If you don't mind this film--being part of a franchise, being basically formulaic and predictable, then this will be the film for you. There's nothing expressly fresh here, except there are a couple of surprises in this, but are they enough to want this franchise to continue? Trust me, I'm not throwing the baby out with the bath water--this was exciting and obviously a gripper, just know this, so when you enter the theater, sit back, eat your popcorn and escape.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: R 121mins.
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