I honestly thought that I could live the rest of my life without seeing another ‘Has Fallen’ movie. The first was my worst film of 2013 and the second was so forgettable that someone had to remind me that I saw it. The new is actually a considerably better film, but I also had to be reminded that I saw it after all the serious stuff that’s been going on in my life. It was until I looked at the box office for the weekend that it dawned on me.
The big difference between this film and the last ones is that it has mostly broken with the protect the President story and turned itself into a fugitive one. Now, that doesn’t mean there’s much in the way of cleverly putting together pieces of a puzzle. If you don’t figure out who the bad guy is the first time you see hm then you clearly dot watch many movies. What it does do, is allow for some fun detours.
Gerard Butler returns as Mike Banning, the John McClane of the secret service. However, this time he’s on the run for supposedly trying to kill the President. Which mostly leads him down familiar paths, but the whole thing is made much more fun by a trip to meet his missing father. Nick Nolte plays Papa Banning and he’s a hoot. The scene where they fight bad guys in the woods with explosives is almost worth the price of admission.
Combine a few fun scenes with an attempt at finally fleshing out Banning a bit, and you get an action flick that’s worth a rental or a cheap ticket. It’s totally forgettable, but also kinda fun.
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