Review copy provided by Lionsgate
On the bonus features for Angel Has Fallen one of the producers talks about how the original concept for the film was that it would of taken place on air force one, as angel is the code name for air force one after hearing that I wish they stuck with that idea, rather than changing it to what was presented, Angel Has Fallen is a film of missed opportunities, instead of being a throw back to 80/90’s action flicks it tries to be an action flick with a personal story and also tries to interweave actual real world fears and politics to varying degrees of success.
Gerald Butler who plays Mike Banning really does a decent job with what he’s got, his character is dealing with a lot of inner demons but since he’s the presidents body guard he has to portray the same tough guy people think he is, I feel this could of been interesting idea to explore seeing him struggle with the events that transpire and also seeing how his issues affect him and the decisions he makes but his issues are kinda ignored until its relevant to the plot, he never struggles in combat and knows exactly what do. Morgan Freeman’s character of President Allan Trumbull is ok but he is under-utilised and the rest of the cast are average but one note and not interesting.
The films story is predictable, so predictable in fact that I worked out every plot twist way before they were revealed to the audience so because of this it’s a slog to get from one plot point to another, now let’s answer the big question is the action good? In short no. there’s only 1 action set piece that was unique and creative. the way it blends humour is creative with the action was great but all of the shootouts were average, the drone strike shown in the trailer was inconsistent, the drones looked extremely fake, the distance between Gerald Butler and where he has to go wasn’t well communicated but the explosions were awesome. Being honest the films biggest flaw is the use of cgi, most of the cgi looks awful and is extremely distracting.
In 2019 the standard for action has risen to an all time high. we live in a world where Mission Impossible Fallout, John Wick 2 and The Raid 2 exist which proved that well choreographed action, being shot wide and well edited so the action is visible, not hard to follow or confusing, avoiding using a lot of cgi and finally everyone involved putting in 100% produces some of the best acton films.
Angel Has Fallen feels like an action film that lacks the innovations made by those movies and its disappointing as this could of been a solid small scale 90 minute action film compared to what it wants to be which is an action film with large epic set pieces and a personal story which doesn’t work with me.
Angel Has Fallen is out now DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray