Angel Has Fallen

Angel Has Fallenis a 2019politicalactionthrillerfilm directed byRic Roman Waugh.It is the third installment in theHas Fallenfilm series,followingOlympus Has Fallen(2013) andLondon Has Fallen(2016). The film starsGerard Butler,Morgan Freeman,Jada Pinkett Smith,Lance Reddick,Tim Blake Nelson,Piper Perabo,Nick Nolte,andDanny Huston.The plot again followsUnited States Secret Serviceagent Mike Banning as he races against time to clear his name after being framed for adroneattack onPresident of the United StatesAllan Trumbull.

Angel Has Fallen
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ric Roman Waugh
Screenplay by	Robert Mark Kamen Matt Cook Ric Roman Waugh
Story by	Creighton Rothenberger Katrin Benedikt
Based on	Characters by Creighton Rothenberger Katrin Benedikt
Produced by	Gerard Butler Alan Siegel Matt O'Toole John Thompson Les Weldon Yariv Lerner
Starring	Gerard Butler Morgan Freeman Jada Pinkett Smith Lance Reddick Tim Blake Nelson Piper Perabo Nick Nolte Danny Huston
Cinematography	Jules O'Loughlin
Edited by	Gabriel Fleming
Music by	David Buckley
Production companies	Millennium Media G-BASE
Distributed by	Lionsgate(United States and United Kingdom) Zon Lusomundo Audiovisuais(Portugal) BS Films (Bulgaria)
Release dates	August 20, 2019(2019-08-20)(Hollywood) August 23, 2019(2019-08-23)(United States and United Kingdom) August 30, 2019(2019-08-30)(Bulgaria)
Running time	121 minutes
Countries	United States United Kingdom Portugal Canada Bulgaria
Language	English
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$146.7 million

The film was officially announced in October 2016, and Roman Waugh was hired in July 2017. New members of the cast were added in early 2018, and filming began in February of that year aroundBulgariaand theUnited Kingdom.

The film was released in the United States and United Kingdom on August 23, 2019, byLionsgate.It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $146 million worldwide. Plans for future sequels and TV spin-offs are in development.

Plot

Secret Serviceagent Mike Banning undergoes training at a military facility inVirginia,owned by his formerArmy Rangercommanding officerWade Jennings, now CEO ofprivate military companySalient Global. Banning is recommended for the position ofSecret Service directorbyU.S. presidentAllan Trumbull, to replace retiring director David Gentry, but hides the fact that he suffers frommigrainesandinsomniaand takes painkillers to cope with chronic back pain from previous combat injuries.

While Trumbull is on a private fishing trip at Queen's Lake inWilliamsburg,a swarm of armeddronesattack and kills his protection detail, with only Banning surviving and saving him. Both are incapacitated, but Banning recovers while Trumbull is left in a coma.FBIagent Helen Thompson is presented with falsified evidence implicating Banning in the attack, leading to his arrest. En route to a detention facility, Banning's transport is ambushed but he escapes after killing the attackers and unmasking them asmercenariesfrom Salient Global with whom he partook in a training exercise. Realizing that Jennings has betrayed and framed him, Banning calls his wife Leah from a nearby gas station, letting her know he is alive and determined to expose the real perpetrator. The call alerts Thompson to his location, forcing him to steal a militia man's 18-wheeler truck while pursued by many police officers. Banning escapes after crashing the truck and eventually makes his way to his estranged father, Clay, who's been living off-grid in a cabin in the backwoods ofWhite Hall, West Virginia.

At theWhite House,Vice PresidentMartin Kirby, nowacting president,tells the press that Banning is responsible for the assassination attempt with support from theRussian government.Banning and his father see Salient mercenaries approaching the house, and Clay detonates multiple explosives around the perimeter, killing the would-be attackers as he and Banning escape. They split up; Clay goes to Banning's house and saves Leah and Lynne from a kidnapping attempt by Jenning's mercenaries. Finding the bodies of Jennings' gunmen lined up against Clay's cabin, Thompson deduces that Banning was being set up after all. Trumbull awakens from his coma and Kirby is revealed to be Jennings' secret co-conspirator, planning to retaliate for Trumbull's "attempted assassination" against Russia. Thompson and another agent, Ramirez, confront Jennings on an airfield, but he kills them both.

Banning reaches the hospital and turns himself in. Trumbull orders his release when he realizes that the Salient mercenaries are attempting to kill him and only Banning can keep him alive. Banning leads him to safety with help from Gentry and other loyal agents as Jennings' mercenaries increase the hospital'sICU's oxygen and nitrogen supply to unstable levels, causing an explosion that levels the hospital. Banning hides Trumbull and Gentry as Jennings' men pursue them. In the ensuing gun battle, Jennings and his men kill most of Trumbull's security detail, but Banning thwarts a flanking attempt and forces the mercenaries to retreat after they are delayed long enough to allow U.S. federal law enforcement officers to arrive. Jennings and his remaining men are gathering on the rooftop to escape in a helicopter but Banning destroys it with agrenade launcher.Although Jennings manages to survive the explosion, Banning fatally wounds him in a knife fight.

Banning isexoneratedwhile Trumbull and Gentry arrest Kirby fortreasonand corruption, revealing that Jennings had kept detailed records of Kirby's involvement as an insurance policy, which were uncovered by Thompson. Clay decides to live with Banning and his family. Feeling guilty over his failure to protect Trumbull and concealing his ailments, Banning offers his resignation, but Trumbull forgives him and offers Banning the promotion to Director, which he proudly accepts.

Cast

• Gerard ButlerasSecret ServiceAgent Mike Banning, a former Army Ranger, Clay's son and Leah's husband.
• Morgan FreemanasPresident Allan Trumbull,the former Speaker of the House, Vice President, and now the current President of the United States, succeeding Benjamin Asher who was portrayed byAaron Eckhartin the first two films.
• Jada Pinkett Smithas FBI Agent Helen Thompson,an FBI Special Agent tasked with arresting and hunting down Mike Banning, believing him to be responsible for the drone attack against the President.
• Lance ReddickasSecret Service DirectorDavid Gentry
• Tim Blake Nelsonas Vice President Martin Kirby,who eventually becomes the acting President of the United States, revealed to have secretly hired Salient Global to carry out the drone attack so they can blame and attack Russia.
• Piper Peraboas Leah Banning, Mike's wife.Perabo replacedRadha Mitchell,who played the role in the previous films, due to Mitchell's scheduling conflicts.
• Nick Nolteas Clay Banning, aVietnam veteranArmy Ranger/tunnel ratand Mike's estranged father who abandoned him at a young age. Since then, he has taken up living in the woods all over the U.S.
• Danny Hustonas Wade Jennings, Mike's formerRangercommanding officer and the leader of Salient Global.
• Frederick Schmidtas Travis Cole, head of security of Salient Global and Jennings' right-hand man.
• Michael LandesasWhite House Chief of StaffSam Wilcox
• Joseph Millsonas FBI Agent Ramirez
• Ori Pfefferas Secret Service Agent Murphy
• Mark ArnoldasCIA DirectorJames Haskell
• Chris Browningas Militia man
• Jessica Cobley as Lynne Banning, Mike and Leah's daughter.
• Rocci Williams as Bruno, one of Jennings' soldiers.
• Antonio Bustorff as one of the mercenaries sent to kidnap Leah Banning.

Production

On October 28, 2016, it was announced that a thirdFalleninstallment, titledAngel Has Fallen,was in development, with Gerard Butler reprising his roles of both lead actor and producer.On July 25, 2017,Ric Roman Waughwas announced as director.

On January 10, 2018,Holt McCallanywas set to play Wade Jennings, an ex-military turned head of a technology company.However, he later had to drop out of his role due to scheduling conflicts with the showMindhunter,and was replaced byDanny Huston.A week later,Jada Pinkett SmithandTim Blake Nelsonwere confirmed added, and filming was scheduled to start on February 7, 2018.On February 13, 2018,Piper Perabojoined the cast.On March 12, 2018,Lance Reddickwas set to playSecret Service DirectorGentry.Aaron Eckhart,who had played president Benjamin Asher in the first two films, announced he would not return in his role. On March 21, 2018,Michael Landeswas cast asWhite House Chief of StaffSam Wilcox.On January 22, 2019,David Buckleywas announced as the film's composer, replacingTrevor Morris,who scored the previous two films.

Filming onAngel Has Fallencommenced atVirginia Water Lake,and continued throughout the United KingdomandBulgaria.Filming also took place atPinewood Studios,Bray Studios,Longcross StudiosandNu Boyana Film Studios.

Release

The film was released in the United States and United Kingdom on August 23, 2019.

Box office

Angel Has Fallengrossed $69 million in the United States and Canada, and $77.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $146.7 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongsideOvercomerand was projected to gross $13–15 million from 3,286 theaters in its opening weekend.It made $7.9 million on its first day. This included $1.5 million from Thursday night previews, the highest of the series. It went on to debut to $21.3 million, finishing first and over-performing. It was Butler's first time topping the box office since300(2007), and was just below the opening ofLondon Has Fallen($21.6 million).The film remained in first place the following weekend, grossing $11.8 million, as well as $3 million on Labor Day.The film was finally dethroned in its third weekend, grossing $6 million and finishing second, behind newcomerIt Chapter Two.

Reception

OnRotten Tomatoes,the film holds an approval rating of 39% based on 190 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Cut from the same rough cloth as its predecessors,Angel Has Fallenrounds out a mostly forgettable action trilogy in fittingly mediocre fashion. "OnMetacritic,the film has aweighted averagescore of 45 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, the same score earned by its predecessors, while those atPostTrakgave it an average 4.5 out of 5 stars and a 64% "definite recommend".

Todd McCarthy ofThe Hollywood Reporterwrote that the film, "may not be appreciably better than the first two installments..., but it's actually more fun — first and foremost because of a vastly amusing turn by Nick Nolte as Gerard Butler's eccentric Vietnam vet old coot father."Ignatiy Vishnevetsky ofThe A.V. Clubgave the film a grade C, and called it a "dramatic improvement" though was critical of the action sequences, saying, "they all fall victim to having too much repetitive editing and not enough kinetic energy, a problem that no amount of onscreen firepower, twisted wreckage, or offbeat overhead camera angles can solve."David Ehrlich ofIndieWiregave the film a "D+", specifying that "[w]ith Nolte as his bonkers dad, Gerard Butler's mediocre action franchise and his mediocre American accent find a mediocre conclusion."

Future

In November 2019, series producer Alan Siegel announced plans for a fourth, fifth and sixth film, as well as local-language TV spin-offs that would tie-in with the theatrical features.In November 2020, it was revealed at the American Film Market that a fourth film was in development, with Butler returning, titledNight Has Fallen.

See also

• Olympus Has Fallen
• London Has Fallen

External links

• Angel Has FallenatIMDb