*Originally written September 1st, 2019*
Now, the Fallen series has possibly been the furthest you can get from high-art when it comes to cinema, but there's just something about this series that keeps me coming back to it. It's possibly the '90s feeling action throwback feeling that I have a soft spot for and the fact Gerard Butler's incredibly named hero "Mike Banning" is one of the most deranged and psychopathic leads I've seen from a film of this genre.
I'm genuinely amazed this franchise has now released its third and final(?) film after starting as one of the two Die Hard in the White House knock-offs of 2013. For what the previous two films have been, they were good fun, tasteless, xenophobic, racist and violent, but it felt like it knew this and ran with it. I sort of appreciate them for that, plus its rare we have these mid-range budgeted, adult action films anymore.
This time around Mike Banning is framed for an assassination attempt on the President (Now replaced by Morgan Freeman as Aaron Eckhart did not return) and must clear his name while trying to find out who really did it. It's such basic level stuff and a story we've seen countless times before. Even the Taken series used its third entry to do this very plot, but with a wife instead of president. Despite this, Angel Has Fallen still makes for a very watchable and moderately entertaining action film.
Gerard Butler attempts to add more depth to a Mike Banning that is very different from the previous two films. I assume they listened to the criticisms and attempted to add humanity to what was a previously one note sociopath. Honestly, this is not the Mike Banning who would torture people for fun and tell foreign terrorists to "Go back to Fuckheadistan". While I appreciate the more vulnerable take on Mike Banning who is feeling his age and his previous adventures are beginning to take a serious toll on his physical and mental health, it's handled about as well as you could expect from a series of this level.
The attempts at humanising Banning are surface level at best as all this is often overlooked in favour of getting to the next action scene or moving the plot forward. Now, I was never expecting some character drama looking at Mike Banning's acceptance of his own mortality, but I was at least expecting something more when they were ditching the tone of the previous films for something a bit more grim. Take Logan as a good example, the third in a trilogy where the previous two films were not so good, but then the third film delivered something much more thoughtful, but at the same time managed to be an incredible action film. That's what I feel Angel is going for, but it doesn't come close.
Despite failing to make something meaningful out of its characters, this is still a fairly brisk and watchable action film. The plot of Banning being framed is outrageously predictable and you'd have to have a very low IQ not to figure out who the real villain is a few minutes in. It's so very formulaic, but Gerard Butler actually manages to carry this, as does some solid action.
Once again changing directors with each film, Ric Roman Waugh actually does a decent job with most of the action. It's not John Wick level stuff, but it gets the job done, The violence feels punchy and brutal while there is minor moments of inspiration within the gun-play with some use of POV. It does lack in comparison to the more memorable stuff in the previous films, there's nothing close to the opening of Olympus with gunship wiping out DC or the motorbike chase from London, but like I said, it's very watchable and competent.
What's more surprising is the subplot involving Nick Nolte as Banning's ex-Vietnam vet survivalist estranged father. Nolte is clearly having a blast playing such a deranged coot of a character who pretty much steals the show with his brief scenes and even gets in on some of the action. The relationship with his father does add just amount of depth to Banning to help figure out how he became the psychotic man he's been portrayed as, but as you expect, that's handled as well as you would expect from this film. There's also a mid-credits scene between the two that is one of the most out of place, insane, unfunny and cringiest things I've seen from a film this year.
Whether or not this is the end of the adventures of Mike Banning is another question too. The advertisement and trailers did tease this was the end of this franchise, but it lacks a definitive ending. So I can expect a fourth one if this one does as well as the last two. Although in all honesty, I say keep 'em coming. It's probably a good thing, but we really don't get that many films like this anymore. Good bless Mike Banning.
There's very little else to say about Angel Has Fallen, if you're on board with this throwback series, you'll find something to enjoy in the merely acceptable finale to the trilogy, but if not, you will probably hate this as much as the other two, or maybe less, as the horrible parts of the first two are pretty much absent here. It's sad to say, but Angel Has Fallen is another underwhelming franchise film from 2019 that failed to live up to the previous entries, but at the same time is still acceptable entertainment, if entirely forgettable.
6/10 Dans
Angel Has Fallen is out now in cinemas in the UK
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