Angel Has Fallen

Actors: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lance Reddick, Tim Blake Nelson, Piper Perabo, Nick Nolte, Danny Huston.

Rating: 8 out of 10, Agent Mike Banning is back in action after surviving the falls of Olympus and London. He’s obviously much worse for the wear after the multiple explosions and gunshot wounds suffered in the first two movies. This was formulaic and everything I expected which was a welcome escape from reality. Banning is framed for the spectacular assassination attempt on President Morgan Freeman and pursued across West Virginia by horribly miscast FBI agent Jada Pinkett Smith. I caught her smirking a couple of times at the gaping plot holes she was charged with selling – like instant DNA testing amongst other issues used to keep the plot moving. Nick Nolte is superb as Banning’s long lost father living a hermit’s existence but he’s only on the screen for a little bit. As noted above Gerard Butler is a too removed from his Leonidas days to truly sell everything he has to do in this movie. He was totally believable in the first two but time seems to finally be catching up with him. That doesn’t distract too much from the action packed movie with bodies strewn up and down the east coast, again, it’s pure escapism – a summer popcorn movie at its best.

MVP: Nolte as the Unabomber dad