It’s a tale as old as time. A shadowy villainous organization frames a man for a crime he didn’t commit, forcing him to go on the run to prove his innocence, all while also bringing the true culprits to justice. There’s North by Northwest, The Fugitive, Shooter (Flawed? Yes. But fun? You bet.) And there are countless others that have done the same song and dance throughout cinema’s history – and most of these countless others have done it better than Angel Has Fallen.
And that’s the situation in which Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) finds himself in Angel Has Fallen. This time around, the crime is an assassination attempt on the president (Morgan Freeman). The FBI arrests Banning for the crime, based on evidence planted to frame him as the mastermind. He inevitably escapes and begins his quest for justice.
And beyond that, there of course is a small side plot that has to be included because…of…reasons. All the years on duty have taken their toll on Banning. He’s using aliases to see doctors, attempting to hide his various afflictions from his wife (Piper Perabo) and the Secret Service.
Shockingly, this works. Being able to keep it from his wife isn’t so much a surprise. But the Secret Service? They don’t have their own mandated medical checks? Nobody notices the insanely obvious warning signs Banning exhibits? This isn’t what many would mistakenly refer to as a plot hole, but it does speak to the care, or lack thereof, that was taken with these kinds of smaller details.
The night is dark and full of shaky cam
While Angel Has Fallen surely knows it’s going to make its bones off the action sequences, it certainly seems like they didn’t put a whole lot of effort into those scenes. Many of them are too dark to tell what’s going on. Some have such extreme close ups that you can’t tell what’s going on. Others use too much shaky cam, to the point where – you guessed it – you can’t tell what’s going on. Are we sensing a theme here? And in the most egregious parts, a combination of two, or even all three, is used.
The success of these types of scenes relies heavily on the audience feeling the brutality and intensity. But every shake of the camera and every new cut removes you from the scene. You can’t care about what’s happening for the simple reason that you don’t know what’s happening.
Boring and predictable
To be fair, even if the big set pieces and fights were well done, that would have only helped so much. And that’s largely due to the incredibly predictable plot of Angel Has Fallen. In a story where the main villain isn’t immediately known, part of the fun is looking for clues to try and figure it out yourself before the reveal.
But here? The only way it could have been more obvious is if “Bad Guy” flashed across the screen with arrows pointing to the character. You lose so much investment in the story when you already know what the big “twists” will be.
And when it’s not being predictable, it’s being boring. Jada Pinkett Smith co-stars as an FBI agent heading up the investigation. But unfortunately she’s not given much more to do other than scowl and be a cliché FBI agent. It’s one of those roles where you wonder why they cast such a well-known actress to begin with. The part didn’t require much effort, or even acting ability. Her performance screams “I’m only here for the paycheck.”
And not even the great Morgan Freeman is much of a benefit to the film. In fairness to Freeman, though, his President Trumbull does spend a good chunk of the movie in a coma. You can’t do too much acting if your character is unconscious.
If we must find something positive
Thankfully there are at least a few positive takeaways here (completely negative reviews are no fun to write). Gerard Butler puts forth an admirable effort in Angel Has Fallen, even if he seems takes it all more seriously than he should. When he does get a chance to act, Morgan Freeman is his typical awesome self. Though while his scenes are good in a vacuum, they don’t quite feel like they fit in with the rest of the movie. It’s another case of a great actor out-performing the surrounding material.
But Nick Nolte, as Banning’s estranged father Clay, ultimately steals the movie. Clay is a paranoid, off the grid, Vietnam vet. Of what little humor the movie has, most of it comes courtesy of Nolte; sometimes intentional, other times not.
Butler and Nolte don’t have particularly great chemistry, however. But by sheer force of will, Nolte makes his few scenes work more than they have any right to. He breathes some life into a movie that badly needs it.
The end of the line (hopefully)
Three Has Fallen movies feels like two more than necessary. While Gerard Butler keeps giving it his all, Angel Has Fallen can’t match the touch of goofiness and fun (enough) action of Olympus Has Fallen. With a predictable plot and boring characters, Angel Has Fallen is best served as a swan song for the series.
The Verdict: 3.7/10