★
Secret Service Agent Mike Banning is framed for the attempted assassination of the President and must evade his own agency and the FBI as he tries to uncover the real threat.
Classification: 15
For a film filled with explosions, gunfire, punching and gruff actors splattered with blood and grime, it is dreadfully boring as the "Has Fallen" trilogy concludes with a dull whimper despite its many failed attempts to go out with a bang. Gerard Butler returns once more as Secret Service agent Mike Banning, whose here to kill terrorists and save the President but this time director Ric Roman Waugh decides to shake up the formula. Instead of Islamophobia its Russophobia, Instead of Aaron Eckhart as the President, Morgan Freeman is the President and while still ripping off plot points from 24, it just decides to do The Fugitive at the same time just for the hell of it. It's a film bored by its own existence as every element just comes across fatigued and half-assed, with performance, cinematography, direction and screenplay all suffering from the lack of creative momentum. Riddled with clichés, lazy technique and a plot that thinks itself to be some kind of commentary on war but is just another humdrum power fantasy that can't even garner a genuine moment of originality with Angel Has Fallen showcasing the worse of what action filmmaking has to offer.
Plucking its plot points from news articles and modern political issues, the storyline of Angel Has Fallen wants to be this deep look into political corruption, privatisation of war and to a further extent the effects of war on those who fight it. Three of the main characters are veterans of war, Danny Huston's villain Wade Jennings, Mike Banning's friend who served in Iraq with him, Nick Nolte's Clay Banning, Mike's father who abandoned him after returning from Vietnam, and Banning himself who is now suffering from insomnia and migraines as a result of the previous two films. Wade and Clay appear to represent the two paths that Mike could go down, a man obsessed and a man afraid, who have let war and their experiences in war define who they are completely. For the few scenes between the headache-inducing action scenes where these small ideas are explored briefly, specifically scenes between Nolte and Butler it showed the potential of Angel Has Fallen having some heart to it. Any real humanity being displayed is robbed almost immediately by the director's shameless focusing on brutal action over character. There is no tragedy to Wade's character as he kills indiscriminately, gunning down dozens of police, secret service and military with no remorse yet the film wants him to a harrowing mirror figure to Banning when he's just a husk of a character. The same logic applies to Nick Nolte, as Clay's vulnerability is just undercut as he blows up mercenary after mercenary with every click of his detonator, each explosion more ridiculousness than the last. Angel Has Fallen wants credit for using PTSD in its story and character development but makes no effort to respectfully integrate these ideas into its narrative, less than the bare minimum is achieved and the final result is akin to a middle schooler bullshitting his way through a book report.
This lack of effort extends to every facet of the film as its apathetic cast and director make every scene lifeless. The main focus of Ric Roman Waugh's direction is to have stuff blow up in large fiery and to have Gerard Butler kill people through or shooting, punching or stabbing, everything else is irrelevant. Every actor in this film has starred in far better, more artistically rewarding projects and it is clear that they only here for a paycheck as they slog through dialogue, don't bother to inject any originality into their characters or generate any natural empathy for their characters. Their director doesn't care so why should they? Morgan Freeman is just phoning it in, at some points, it just feels he doesn't even know what the film's about. Tim Blake Nelson chews the scenery at some points but his character is such an underwritten cliché that he's more unintentionally comedic than dramatic or sinister. Jada Pinkett Smith is clearly just a bad rip off of Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive as her role is mostly barking out commands to other federal agents on how to catch Banning. As for Banning himself, Butler still kills mercenary terrorist extras with ease but whatever made this character interesting to warrant three films is no longer there, just a stereotype with little charisma.
Not banking on the acting to make Angel Has Fallen the thrill ride of the summer, the producers and Ric Roman Waugh put all the chips in their action sequences, and boy do they not pay off. With shaky cinematography that makes it difficult to tell what's happening in both daylight and darkness, who's attacking who is a game of guesswork as Mike Banning is interchangeable with whoever has the misfortune of trying to kill him. The misfortune continues because when it is possible to discern what is happening on the screen, the direction of the action itself is lacklustre and unoriginal. One scene in particular where Banning is fighting his captors in a car seems like a lame ripoff of the famous fight scene in Deadpool, a representation of what's wrong with all of the action of Angel Has Fallen. Everything this film wants to do has been done before and has been done better, comparisons to 24 and The Fugitive are blindingly obvious but even Banning on the run is executed in such an anti-climatic way. The character isn't forced to challenge his morality or skill set to evade capture and prove his innocence, Banning's challenge just doesn't seem to be all that difficult as when the third act rolls around, his colleagues have accepted him back with little resistance.
The scale of Angel Has Fallen compared to its predecessors feels much smaller and while the filmmakers could argue that its because they wanted a smaller more intimate story about Banning's struggle, they didn't make a film to back up that claim. It's very clear this franchise has no juice left in the tank as its biggest action sequences are uneventful and marred by atrocious CGI and green screen integration. The green/ blue screen effects utilised are shocking and break any immersion that even the most passive audience member would notice immediately that the production quality nosedived spectacularly.
This time no national landmarks are being destroyed because even having a hospital building collapse puts a huge strain on the film and makes the third act of the film more embarrassing than exciting.
Based on its previous instalments, it doesn't appear that Angel Has Fallen is a huge drop in quality but it doesn't excuse the faults in the filmmaking. Ric Roman Waugh direction is terrible, unable to create a single tangible thread to make the film worthwhile and instead delivers what is the equivalent to an embarrassing boring B-movie. The overall experience doesn't inspire hateful venom towards the film but instead pity, as the film just feels pathetic when it concludes. Without the bombastic over the top action of the previous films, Angel Has Fallen is just a muted, phoned in cash grab to try a squeeze the last few coins out the husk of this soon to be forgotten franchise.
Director: #RicRomanWaugh
Cast: #GerardButler, #MorganFreeman, #JadaPinkettSmith, #LanceReddick, #TimBlakeNelson, #PiperPerabo, #NickNolte, #DannyHuston
Release Date: August 21st 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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