Student Life October 2019

ANGEL
HAS FALLEN
REVIEW BY HARRY STANFORD
Authorities take Secret Service agent
Mike Banning into custody for the failed
assassination attempt of U.S. President
Allan Trumbull. After escaping from his
captors, Banning must evade the FBI and
his own agency to find the real threat to
the president. Desperate to uncover the
truth, he soon turns to unlikely allies to
help clear his name and save the country
from imminent danger.
After 4 years, Gerard Butler and Morgan
Freeman return for another film in the
series – once again providing us with a
variety of exciting shoot-outs, a thrilling
storyline and an interesting series of
characters. This time though, the film
stems from a different perspective, by
taking the infamous Mike Banning and
twisting the story to portray him as the
enemy. What this film brings though,
is a really surprising and action-packed
storyline – but does it deliver or does
the film crash and burn? Here are my
thoughts.
Firstly, I’ll start off with what I liked about
the film. What I love about this film and the
series is how they begin, by taking the time
to really get to grips with the characters
and their surroundings and relationships
it helps to establish them as not only an
action character but also as a normal
person too. By throwing us straight into
an army training exercise, not only did
the quick and fast-paced scenes ensure
that the film got our attention right from
the beginning but the immersive battle
scenes and chases gave us subtle hints
and messages that Mike wouldn’t be a
character to mess about with.
The film doesn’t take the time to tell us
everything about his past and his life
which is important because it ensures that
throughout the film we only focus on the
important elements of his character and
what is important to the story of the film,
keeping our focus on the exciting parts to
his character. I love how well thought out
the characters act and feel here though,
throughout the film the dialogue always
feels really immersive and engaging which
helps to show how the characters really
feel and to personify their emotions,
for example Mike and Wade’s early
conversations really help to make their
friendship feel realistic and genuine, and
this is backed up by the stories that they
tell us – further cementing their genuine
feeling and also giving us fun little pieces of
information about the characters.
13 • ENTERTAINMENT • STUDENT LIFE