After the exhausting, indiscriminate CGI carnage of the second film, Angel Has Fallen is a welcome pivot.
Director Ric Roman Waugh trades global spectacle for a ’90s-style, man-on-the-run thriller, framing Mike Banning for a devastating drone attack on President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman). This shift makes the action personal, tense, and surprisingly effective.
My 7.5/10 rating is earned by two things: Banning’s visible physical and mental toll, which finally gives Gerard Butler something to chew on besides scenery; and the magnificent introduction of Nick Nolte as Banning’s off-grid, claymore-planting father. Their explosive woodland reunion is worth the price of admission, injecting much-needed humor and practical, grounded chaos that the previous films lacked.
Yes, the conspiracy twist is visible from space, and Jada Pinkett Smith’s FBI agent is perpetually several steps behind. But this chapter successfully focuses on character over geography, making it a surprisingly coherent and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
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