Angel Has Fallen is Hoping to Rise Above This Weekend

Standard “Fallen” Thriller Plot but with Artful Execution and Quality Cameos…

The third installment in what has become the “Fallen” franchise, is not going to surprise anyone with the plot. Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) saves the president (Morgan Freeman) from a drone attack assassination attempt, and is then himself framed as the would-be assassin.

Of course, he is innocent (he’s Mike Banning, after all) and must find the true killer(s) to exonerate himself.

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However, before you give up on this film, at least watch the trailer(s). Why? Because the attention to detail is pretty spectacular, the acting is at least a slight cut-above and the cameos by Freeman and Nick Nolte and Jada Pickett Smith lend the film the air of a suspense thriller from a time when that was taken more seriously than the usual computer-driven super-hero-esque style of recent times.

Gerard Butler, once more, has his patented unique sort-of macho good-guy charisma that renders Banning a believable hero that you find yourself rooting for, even if you don’t have a clue why.

Without giving too much away (it’s all in the trailers anyway) Nolte is perfectly, and somewhat humorously, cast as Banning’s hermit survivalist wild-man Dad. This makes for comic relief without resorting to goofy gags or nonsense that worked so well in “Hobbs & Shaw”.

LionsGate has released two full trailers and a bonus clip, likely reasoning that seeing more of what the film has to offer in the way of on-screen execution is more likely to drive ticket sales than a synopsis that reads like a dozen (or more) similar films, including the first two from the “Fallen” franchise itself.

Projected to take the top spot at the box office this weekend, if you are in the mood for a well made, craftsmanlike update to a tried and true plot, you’ll probably start thinking of popcorn once you have seen all three trailers.

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In theaters nationwide, starting August 23, 2019.

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