I can’t really think of another unnecessary trilogy that we didn’t need or ask for than possibly the Has Fallen series. The Taken movies might be a close second.
This latest installment, Angel Has Fallen, is unsurprisingly bad and proof that the thrill is indeed gone.
Gerard Butler once again returns as Secret Service agent Mike Banning who goes on the run after he’s framed for an attempt to assassinate the president (Morgan Freeman). I pretty much described the plot in a nutshell.
The rest of the movie involves chases, shootouts, and explosions with some time out for exposition that tries to pass itself off as a plot.
Okay, maybe there are some characters who try to pass this off as a story as well, but they don’t really do anything except whatever the screenplay requires. Jada Pinkett Smith is an FBI agent trying to lead the manhunt, but her character is often a sloppy seconds version of Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive.
Perhaps the only actor enjoying himself is Nick Nolte as Butler’s estranged, war torn veteran who abandoned Butler as a kid and now this dubious circumstance is the catalyst for their reunion. I wish more of the movie had tapped into their chemistry however briefly engaging it is.
Angel Has Fallen has enough explosions and gunfire to entertain audiences who liked the first two, but for me, it was nothing more than a bombastic Michael Bay ripoff.
There really is no story or characters to keep us engrossed; only an idiotic plot and action sequences that are mind-numbing instead of mind-blowing. At least the John Wick movies give us some semblance of a story and are highly creative with their action to make it memorable. This series tends to embrace the opposite.
This movie has plenty of bang, but ultimately, it ends its trilogy with a whimper.
Grade: C-
(Rated R for violence and language throughout.)
