This one’s easy: If you saw and liked Olympus Has Fallen and/or London Has Fallen, then there’s absolutely no harm in catching Angel Has Fallen. For the trifecta! The characters, tempo, plot, action, and carnage are predictable and familiar, except this time you get the added bonus of Nick Nolte coming out of the woodwork – or the woods- as the absentee dad of Secret Service Agent extraordinaire Mike Banning (Gerard Butler).
The tag line pretty much says it all: The Hero Becomes the Fugitive. After a few establishing scenes to help foreshadow all that is to come (Mike is popping pain pills, playing war games with an old army buddy-turned-private-defense-contractor, being the devoted husband and father, and above all else – protecting the President of the United States), Mike’s world is turned upside down. He’s set up to take the fall in an assassination attempt that leaves his entire team dead, and the POTUS (Morgan Freeman) in a coma. In order to track down the real threat and save his family, the nation, the President, and who knows- perhaps even the world – Mike must evade the Secret Service, a dogged FBI agent (Jada Pinkett Smith), and everyone else on his tail. A slew of people. With a slew of weapons.
But this is Mike Banning – “the President’s guardian angel” – we’re talking about. I’m betting he can rise up and save the day. Again. With that same wry smile, honor, intensity and Jack Bauer-esque skill-set we’ve come to know and love.
As was the case with its ‘Fallen’ predecessors, the body count in ‘Angel’ is waaaay over the top. But as was the case with its predecessors, I liked it anyway.