Saturday nights are perfect for an action blockbuster and a big tub of popcorn so I went to see Angel Has Fallen last night. After saving the world in Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) must now save himself. He is tapped to be the next director of the Secret Service but the years have definitely taken both a mental and physical toll on him. While on a fishing trip in a rural area, there is an assassination attempt on President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) which incapacitates him and kills the entire protection detail except for Banning who is framed for the incident. After Banning escapes from police custody, he enlists the help of his estranged father Clay Banning (a hilarious Nick Nolte) to elude FBI Agent Helen Thompson (Jada Pinckett Smith) and the real perpetrators in order to prove his innocence, protect the president from another attack, and confront an old friend. The narrative is incredibly predictable (I figured out who was responsible for the attack before it even happened) but that doesn't really matter. Although the story about a man dealing with the consequences of his past has more depth than its predecessors, I went to this movie for the action sequences and they are a lot of fun, particularly a spectacular attack by drones, Banning's escape from a moving van with four guards while handcuffed, a high-speed police chase with a semi, an epic firefight in the woods against a group of mercenaries, a shootout in a hospital, and a knife fight on a rooftop. As previously mentioned, Nolte is fabulous in the role of a man tormented by war and he steals every scene he is in (stay for a hilarious mid-credits scene). It is Clay's relationship with Mike that gives the story its heart. This movie is definitely not going to win any awards but it is a lot of fun on a Saturday night and I recommend it to fans of the franchise.
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