Angel Has Fallen
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Writer: Robert Mark Kamen, Matt Cook, Ric Roman Waugh
Sequel to: Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen
Cast: Gerard Butler, Piper Perabo, Morgan Freeman, Frederick Schmidt, Danny Huston, Rocci Williams, Lance Reddick, Michael Landes, Tim Blake Nelson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nick Nolte
Seen on: 2.9.2019

Plot:
Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is still working as the leading Secret Service agent to protect the President (Morgan Freeman), but he is in talk to be promoted to Director. Mike is hesitant to accept, though, as he has health issues he is keeping from the President and from his wife Leah (Piper Perabo). Before he can make any decisions, though, the President is attacked and all the agents protecting him are killed – all but Mike, who is injured, and the President himself, who is in a coma. Quickly, blame falls on Mike and Mike has to run to find out who is actually responsible for the attack.

Angel Has Fallen is probably my favorite of the three Fallen films. That doesn’t mean that it’s a good film, but it is the perfect film to get drunk to and laugh about.

I am not sure why I saw all three Fallen films, since I didn’t particularly like the first, or the second. Or rather, I wouldn’t have watched them on my own, but I watched them for and with puzzledpeaces. And it would have been a pity if I had called it quits after the second or the first, because this one is actually the film I was hoping the entire series would be. (You can probably watch it as a standalone and just skip the first two.)

Now, what was so different about Angel Has Fallen? The first thing is that it actually grew a political spine here (ever so slightly) and isn’t just conservative propaganda anymore. No, it actually dares to criticize the involvement of private security firms in wars (the bar is low, I am aware of it).

But the second thing weighs even more heavily: it is just so ridiculous. Nothing here makes a whole lot of sense if you think about it for two seconds, the film is filled with technobabble (that isn’t even entirely necessary) and Mike Banning doesn’t have superpowers anymore – until he does.

In short, the film is not to be taken seriously, even if it believes that it should be. And if you approach it as a comedy and with a bottle of alcohol in hand, you’re in for an excellent evening.

Summarizing: grab a friend, grab alcohol, laugh.