Who would have ever thought that Gerard Butler would have himself a franchise when Olympus Has Fallen landed in theaters back in 2013? Butler’s Secret Service Agent Mike Banning was the picture of calm and collective heroism as the White House was overrun by terrorists and Banning practically single-handedly saved the president (Aaron Eckhart) and the day. Then, Eckhart and Butler headed to England for London Has Fallen for a far less satisfying actioner in 2016. Can’t have two flicks in a series and not complete the trilogy, am I right?
Now we have the surprisingly fun late summer spectacle that is Angel Has Fallen. This time out, Banning is the bad guy. Wait … what?! Let’s back up a bit.
As the flick commences, we sense that our favorite cinematic Secret Service agent, at least since Clint Eastwood’s in In the Line of Fire, is having some issues. There are concussions and their aftermath literally weighing on his mental fitness. If there is a position in the vocational world that requires sharpness, it is that of the men and women charged with protecting the life of POTUS. Eckhart’s prez is in the rear view and the leader of the free world now is Morgan Freeman’s Allan Trumbull. He is considering, as gleaned from word around the Secret Service campfire, tapping Banning to be the Director of the Secret Service. John Wick Chapter 3 star Lance Riddick’s Gentry is stepping down and, in this world, there could be no better choice. But and this is a huge but, Banning is concerned that he is not ready to sit behind a desk. There is something about the thrills of life alongside the president that is appealing and hard to give up.
Thing is, events of Angel Has Fallen might move the needle on that issue.
No spoilers here, after all it was front and center in the first Angel Has Fallen trailer, President Trumbull is fishing in a remote river in Pennsylvania and suddenly, a swarm of drones are flying overhead and decimate his Secret Service detail and the only one left alive is Banning. Both the president and his protector find themselves in the hospital after the attack. Only thing is the president is in a coma and Banning is handcuffed to the bed. He is considered suspect number one in orchestrating the attack and worse still—accepting $10 million from the Russians to carry it out. Not our Banning! We know the truth, he’s being framed. In a plotline that mirrors Harrison Ford’s turn in The Fugitive, Banning must break out of custody in order to simultaneously clear his name and bring justice to those who have an entire nation ready to take justice in their own hands at the mere sight of this “traitor.”
At this point, Butler knows the ins and outs of Banning so well, his performance is almost effortless. What is so enjoyable to witness is that this character, that we have followed for two films now, we know is the least likely person to be a Benedict Arnold. No one waves that flag mightier than him. But all the evidence seems to point undisputedly to the fact that the FBI (led by Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Agent Thompson) firmly believe that Banning is their guy. How this is achieved is actually laid out quite intelligently. So often in these situations, particularly in the third movie in a series that was—let’s be honest—never meant to be a trilogy, writers can lazily pen their way through conflict that is even at the surface, convoluted. The way that it is handled in Angel Has Fallen is done in a manner that is easy to piece together and most importantly, believable. Those who are tracking this traitor would earnestly go after Banning with a vengeance and they do—almost too well! After this experience, if Banning can clear his name that is, somebody might be ready for that desk job. Wink, wink!
Butler’s charisma and cinematic command is on full display. The Movie Mensch is a major appreciator of his work when it’s in films that play to his strengths. The “Fallen” films do that in spades and that is why audiences have turned out in droves to witness the Scottish thespian save the day in the most American of ways. Olympus banked $170 million, London took in 205.8 million and if the trend holds, look for Angel to fall to the tune of $240 million by the time it ran its course across the globe. There is something about what Butler brings to Banning that is equally everyman and an extraordinary man. That is the best combination for a movie hero that one can garner and in the six years since this character has debuted, the actor has done his best to make it a layered performance in a genre notorious for one-dimensional souls who save the day.
Freeman, as always, is terrific. He spends a bit of the film in a coma, but filmmakers smartly have him do much with his pre-attack moments with Banning that the events of post-attack Angel Has Fallen has his justice-centric leader’s fingerprints all over it. We know that Banning, acting on his behalf and not as someone who plotted to kill him, is not only working to bring justice to himself, but to the office of the president and what it represents and has represented for two-plus centuries.
Tim Blake Nelson (recently seen in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) straddles quite a tiny line as Vice President Kirby and is a solid addition to the series. Someone who winds up stealing scenes left and right in this actioner, with just the right amount of heart, is Nick Nolte. The veteran actor portrays Banning’s dad Clay and there are a few scenes where director Ric Roman Waugh gets just the right shot of the two actors, side-by-side, and it is striking. Nolte might seem like an odd choice to portray Banning’s father, but witnessing the two of them, their innate chemistry and characterizations—in hindsight, it had to be a no-brainer. In fact, there is a small post-credits scene that I cannot recommend enough that you stay in your seats. Always good to leave a movie, particularly an action flick like Angel Has Fallen with a wide-eyed grin on your mug.
This third “Fallen” flick does something so fascinating that seems to be a rallying cry for studios who green-light films that many wonder why a so-so received second film in a series would get a third. When filmmakers get the opportunity to improve on what they didn’t do correctly in the middle incarnation of a series, they leave audiences with a positive impression of a now completed trilogy. That is exactly what occurs in Angel Has Fallen. Something else occurred as the credits rolled (after Nolte and Butler’s delightful scene) … the desire to go back and witness the first film again was quite strong. That is a rare gift indeed.
Now this is not an Oscar bait film, sure. But what I appreciated about Butler’s third turn as Banning is that it never tries to be something it’s not. It is an action film. It has twists and turns that can be seen a mile away, but it doesn’t matter. The film stays in its lane, owns it in fact, and by the time all is said and done, a fun time was had by all.
Grade: B