In preparation for Night has Fallen, lets re-cap on the has fallen series starring Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman.
Long are the days of the 80’s action parody, the has fallen series is a modern dramatic action series, redefining the modern action hero with terrorism plots. With a series that dates back to 2013, it’s fun to look back at how this series has evolved and spawned so many sequels.
Perhaps, hollywood’s most predictable action franchise, with the title for each film giving away the plot and situation, has enough elements going for it to make a fun ride each time. Let’s discuss.
It was 2013 that started Olympus Has Fallen and it was about time that an action director had a go blowing up the white house in a die-hard fashion. The film took itself very seriously but did genuinely manage to squeeze in some high octane moments with Gerard Butler as the lead.
Due to the film’s financial and even critical success, it was no surprise that its sequel was greenlighted, London Has Fallen. Continuing the trait of 80’s action, the film threw Gerard Butler into the rainy streets of London, relying on him to save the day once again. Its third installment, Angel has Fallen is the most developed installment in the series from a character point of view, blending drama and action as its main niche and selling point.
With all this said, its very rare for Hollywood to produce a franchise based of a stand alone action film. The only franchises that have done this are The Expendables, John Wick and now the has fallen series. Lets go over the series and extract what worked for each film. I don’t think these films are perfect in any way whats so ever, however, we have to look at what worked in this franchise and there are several components because if the audience didn’t click with these films then we wouldn’t have had a trilogy and certainly not a TV series.
With each film, you know what you are getting into. These films have prided themselves for being fairly serious and dramatic action films that put focus on loss and destruction, in thats I think the film begs you to have an emotion towards the buildings and location in decay. The only real fun of the film comes from the scenes with Gerard Butler, where he is working on his own, like a lone modern Chuck Norris. These films are surprisingly a lot more serious than what we might expect, even more serious than the slick style and nature of John Wick.
The character development in this series has been pretty good. For a start, the series directors and produces didn’t go into this franchise with the intent of creating the new and next John Mcclane. The series isn’t concerned about creating a Rocky or a Rambo, and this point I don’t even consider Gerard Butler as a typical action character, he is as human as you can get. His fight scenes are never glamorous and overly positive, he moves on very quickly. In the best way possible, there really is nothing special about Banning’s character and that’s what works about this series.
I feel very strongly towards the idea that Gerard Butler is’nt doing any Bruce Willis impression despite what some film critics have said towards the original, he is strictly serving a different character, someone that isn’t capable of doing some of the stuff in the Mission Impossible, John Wick and Die Hard franchise in a good way, the action resembles the fight scenes from the Taken series with Liam Neeson, even after the third film Angel Has Fallen, the film crew hasn’t gotten too ahead of themselves with the action, whereas the Die Hard franchise saw several more unbelievable action scenes that even Batman or Superman could survive. With that said, lets take a look at the series best action scenes.
As much fun as these films are and can be, the biggest glaring problems that these films have, mainly the first two is that at times the serious political drama side to the plot can overshadow the more enjoyable elements of the film, being the action scenes, which also can get very grotesque.
These films are very serious and in that you have to know what kind of film you want to see. Most action films now a days have a goofy tone, the has fallen series are as serious as you can get. In fact, these films can get too serious for its own good.
The seriousness of the plot is what sells the threat of the force that they are up against. A lot of action films now a days have tame villains, however, the violence and drama of these films are so heavy that you never really know if our leads will make it alive without a scratch and they certainly don’t achieve the kills with ease, like we see in the Rambo series.
The violence in this series is fun at times, however, some of the kills are truly brutal leading to on occasion unnecessary kills, which may cross a moral line for some audiences. Action films never really cross any moral lines today, the has fallen series has had a controversial reputation for its violent presentations. The first film established the tone, with its violent white house attack.
A lot of the seriousness of the film can be due to the cast, thanks to Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart and Gerard Butler who are all formally dramatic in these films, leaving little room to squeeze in some top quality laughs and banter, as it may feel completely out of place in a terrorism plot and so it should be. Morgan Freeman is so good he can be in any film and sell his performance.
Most of the laughs come before the explosions and are present once the film gets the action established, usually in the middle of the picture for those that are wondering. In this series, no shirtless action heroes, no vests and capes, they all wear formal clothing like suits, even blood splatters don’t stop them from taking their shirts or ties off, they’re just too cool and good for that nonsense.
With London Has Fallen being the series highest grossing and a carbon copy of Olympus Has Fallen, Angel has Fallen has re-inovated the franchise, developing the character of Mike Banning to a whole new level of action cinema, drifting past his generic action star label to a man with an interesting relationship with his dad, played by the perfectly cast Nick Nolte who appears to have appeared from no where and he is just brilliant, literally. He once played a serious role in 2011’s hit sports drama, Warrior. Angel has Fallen serves Mike Banning with a more personal threat this time around and this theme hits home hard.
Angel Has Fallen was directed by Greenland’s Ric Roman Waugh and certainly continued the tradition of making these films to be more focused on the actual situation and characters than the action and that’s important. I like the fact that the action wasn’t Angel Has Fallen’s main selling point, it’s the situation that Banning is up against, which has a dramatic underpinning with his father relationship. At this point, the has fallen series ceases to become a comedy or a parody, which many audiences saw in the first two because the plots were completely ridiculous.
However, with all this said, you have to take this series seriously, that is the only real way to enjoy and get the most out of it. Hold back any rationality and attempt to be absorbed in the characters and what they are going through, this is how the series is designed to be. Forget the charisma in Die Hard and John Wick, Gerard’s has fallen series gets the drama going in suit style, take it away Gerard.
The future for this series looks very promising, sometimes an action series runs dead after 2 films let alone 3, but this series looks to have a fourth in the works titled, Night Has Fallen and there have been rumours flying around that a TV series is in the works, introducing new characters to the universe, wow what a day for Gerard Butler and his crew in the white house.
Its a shame that this series got the greenlit ahead of the White House Down flick in 2013, which I absolutely loved, being one of Emmerich’s most enjoyable films more so than his recent flop Moonfall.
Above all else, the character of Mike Banning is relatable and that’s what counts when the action is getting off. Liam Neeson is’nt universaly relatable because he’s just too good for anything, an expert, whereas Gerard can still sell the masculine vulnerability in these action scenes that are hard hitting and somewhat regular in a good way.
As I said, this series is a drama action kind of deal and if you take the films seriously just as they want you to do, you will appreciate the characters and story on screen alongside exciting action scenes that feel grounded in reality.
I recommend watching all of these films in order, grab some pizza and leave your plans free for Friday and Saturday night, you are all settled for an enthralling action experience.
You can buy the film trilogy collection here.
What do you think of the Has Fallen Series?
Author Bio
Sam is a content writer. He loves all elements connected with film and writes with passion, always. You can find him on Linkedin, where you will be able to read more articles. When he is not writing, you can find him practicing football.
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