Angel Has Fallen
Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh
Written by: Robert Mark Kamen and Matt Cook & Ric Roman Waugh
Starring: Gerard Butler, Danny Huston, Nick Nolte, Jada Pinkett Smith, Morgan Freeman, Lance Reddick, Piper Perabo, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael Landes
Action - 120 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 22 Aug 2019
Written by: Robert Mark Kamen and Matt Cook & Ric Roman Waugh
Starring: Gerard Butler, Danny Huston, Nick Nolte, Jada Pinkett Smith, Morgan Freeman, Lance Reddick, Piper Perabo, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael Landes
Action - 120 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 22 Aug 2019
The “Has Fallen” series does not like to sit still. The franchise’s third film arrives with its third director, new writers, a new President, a new actress playing the wife, and a new dad. It also bears a warning – beware the hawks of war. There are corrupt government entities who cannot profit from peace and would love nothing more than to stir up another Cold War with attached hot spots and arms race. At the same time, director Ric Roman Waugh shows how this America First ethos and its consequences permeate society, albeit it in vignettes rather than through a complex examination. All of this ripe material withers on the sidelines as super-Secret Service Agent Mike Banning plays “Me Against the World” again, this time as the man accused of trying to kill the President of the United States – typical third installment material.
Banning (Gerard Butler, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World) single-handedly saved the President from North Koreans invading the White House and in urban warfare style, from Pakistani terrorists while in London. The idea may seem fresh to screenwriters, but making Banning the fugitive is not as modern and full of vigor as they believe it is. “Whoa, what if they thought Banning was the bad guy!” “That’s so crazy, it just might work!” Blech. They put him in a semi-truck chase scene, there is a scene in the woods with a bunch of 'shake the crowd' IMAX explosions, and there he is on a rooftop shooting down helicopters. It’s a more is less feeling.
Banning (Gerard Butler, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World) single-handedly saved the President from North Koreans invading the White House and in urban warfare style, from Pakistani terrorists while in London. The idea may seem fresh to screenwriters, but making Banning the fugitive is not as modern and full of vigor as they believe it is. “Whoa, what if they thought Banning was the bad guy!” “That’s so crazy, it just might work!” Blech. They put him in a semi-truck chase scene, there is a scene in the woods with a bunch of 'shake the crowd' IMAX explosions, and there he is on a rooftop shooting down helicopters. It’s a more is less feeling.
One can discern all they need to know about Banning’s situation from the trailer or from Harrison Ford’s turn as The Fugitive in 1993 – same thing. What I want to poke at is the not so sly commentary on America’s nationalist streak. First off, there is a contracting company, not too thoroughly disguised as a cross between Blackwater and Halliburton, which believes America is at its best when it is afraid of the rest of the world and engaged in never-ending conflict with it. It’s good for the economy and it’s good for freedom. There are also opportunistic politicians exploiting the President’s incapacitation latching onto the breadcrumb trail pointing toward Russia as the ultimate perpetrator behind the attempted assassination. What better excuse does one need than “Russia” to inflate a defense budget and get the logistics gears greased?
While Banning is in flight mode confined to rural gas stations and off the grid truck stops, he encounters a few “Deliverance” types who cannot wait to enforce some vigilante justice. Identifying themselves as a militia, two good ol’ boys salivate at their chance to capture America’s Most Wanted and get their pictures on social media. They come off as caricatures of the type of Joe Public citizen who perk up at the thought of war with Russia and the personal defense of bald eagles. Nick Nolte (A Walk in the Woods) shows up as the collateral damage of American nationalism. Nolte is Banning’s dad who picked up and fled to the woods lest Big Brother keep tabs on what he buys at the local grocery store. A Vietnam vet whose mind never left the jungle, Nolte is prepared for action, he just doesn’t know who the enemy is, but he know they must be Big Government.
It’s tough to discern Waugh’s intentions with Part 3. The franchise is not known for its depth, its action scenes are only punctuated by earnest pronouncements of how much danger they are in at any one point, promises to the good guy they will get through it, and assurances to the bad guy of near-term physical pain. So everything Waugh presents only treads water. Banning has a toddler now, but she is no more than brief hostage material. The always enigmatic Piper Perabo (Looper) takes over the wife role, but she has nothing to do except react to events. Morgan Freeman (Ben-Hur) as the President is asleep most of the time and Jada Pinkett Smith (Girls Trip) as the no-nonsense FBI agent in charge of the case appears to be stoic and methodical by choice.
Waugh earned his stripes through the stunt field, just like his peers over in the far superior John Wick franchise, and made a name for himself directing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in 2013’s über-forgettable Snitch. Why do these “Has Fallen” movies keep changing directors? Do they make a film and know there is no more this character can offer? Even though he has a family now with a wife, kid, and resurrected dad, Banning remains the same guy, going through the same motions as he did in Olympus Has Fallen. He has the extra baggage of an eye-rolling side plot which is never allowed to take off but shoehorns in lines like, “It’s not our troops fault they are stretched so thin.” “It’s not the same fighting for money as fighting for the flag.” The script is honestly trying to say something with this dialogue and the evil contractor company trying to start a war, but it has no idea what it is. Look at the movie poster. Banning is looking down at a tattered American flag. Banning is America. He’s under threat. He’s hurting. But what is causing the pain? Who is the enemy? Corporations? Imperialist neo-conservatives? You will find no answers here.
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