Angel Has Fallen (2019)

The third instalment in this series, after Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen, this film sees us back in the United States, with Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) on the run for his life.

When Mike is framed for an assassination attempt on US President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) - an attack which left several of his colleagues dead - he flees into the countryside, hoping to not only preserve his life and the lives of those he loves but also clear his name and bring the true perpetrators to justice.

His wife Leah (Piper Perabo) and young daughter find themselves caught up in the whole messy situation as well, and become house-bound as the FBI - led by Agent Thompson (Jada Pickett Smith) - and the nation’s press are on their doorstep and watching their every move.

President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman).

And Mike’s former colleague and close friend Wade Jennings (Danny Huston) may be more involved than Mike initially suspects.

As the President lies in a coma, control of the government falls to Vice President Kirby (Tim Blake Nelson), who sets in motion a plan to go to war with Russia, who it seems has taken credit for the attack.

If you have seen either of the other films in the series, there are a few things you will know already. Firstly, there are plenty of twists and turns in the plot, and absolutely no one is who or what they may seem. And secondly, the body count is going to be incredibly high. And this film delivers on both counts.

Mike Banning (Gerard Butler).

The screenplay, by Robert Mark Kamen and Matt Cook & director Ric Roman Waugh, is very well written, with the aforementioned plot twists keeping the audience on the edge of their seat from beginning to end. The characters are all clearly defined and delineated, with plenty of conflicts - both internal and external - to round them out and keep things interesting.

David Buckley’s score feels a touch heavy-handed at times, but this could be due to tropes of the genre. The music is still well-suited to the level of action, and the numerous rises in intensity. Maybe I was just a little too close to one of the speakers in the cinema, as it did seem louder than I might have liked, so this is not a criticism of the composition itself. Perhaps it is even down to the sound mix; who knows?

The cinematography - courtesy of Jules O'Loughlin - is fantastic, with large sections of the film taking place in almost total darkness. The fast, quick edits and cuts again add to the tension. This film is most definitely a thriller, and the rapid changes of camera angle and framing not only indicate, but support, this.

FBI Agent Thompson (Jada Pickett Smith).

The performances of the cast are nothing spectacular in a dramatic sense, but as the film is a thriller, this isn’t as big an issue as you might think. The cast are adequate, but not exceptional. There is a great appearance by actor Nick Nolte - I won’t go into too much detail on that, though; I’ll let you see it for yourself - in the second half of the film, and his character seems like it would have been a lot of fun to play.

Director Ric Roman Waugh has made a perfectly adequate, fast-paced thriller here that more than lives up to the two previous films following these characters. If you enjoyed either of the other films, I would definitely recommend you watch this one. If you haven’t seen the other two films, you would still be able to follow this one, as it can stand well on its own, but you might miss some of the references and in-jokes.

8 out of 10.

Over the Hedge (2006)

Raccoon RJ (Bruce Willis) is always on the hunt for food. He steals the entire store of food from hibernating bear Vincent (Nick Nolte). When Vincent wakes up just in time to see his entire stash of food destroyed by a passing truck, he gives RJ an ultimatum: return his food by the time his hibernation ends in a week, or he will be killed.

Meanwhile, a whole group of foraging creatures are waking up from their own hibernation: turtle Verne (Garry Shandling), squirrel Hammy (Steve Carell), skunk Stella (Wanda Sykes), possums Ozzie (William Shatner) and Heather (Avril Lavigne) and hedgehogs Lou (Eugene Levy) and Penny (Catherine O’Hara). They only have 274 days before the next winter to gather enough food to fill their log that will keep them fed throughout their hibernation.

Hammy remembers somewhere he had left some nuts, and he goes to find them. Instead, he finds that, while they were asleep, a massive hedge has been built in the middle of their habitat. Not only that, but on the other side of that hedge, an enormous housing estate has been built where there used to be forest.

It is at this point that RJ tells this entire ‘family’ of creatures that the humans on the other side of the hedge are not to be feared, but that they have massive stores of food, most of which they don’t eat and end up throwing out.

He tries to recruit them (without telling them the real reason, of course) to get enough food to return to Vincent, to save his own skin.

But it isn’t going to be as simple as that. President of the Housing Association Gladys (Allison Janney) and her cat Tiger (Omid Djalili) are standing in their way.

The script, by Len Blum and Lorne Cameron & David Hoselton and Karey Kirkpatrick, is very clever, and, like a lot of animated films from recent years, is filled with plenty of clever puns and jokes for older viewers such as parents of children made to sit through these films. As I have said before, I think it’s smart of the filmmakers to include these kinds of jokes, knowing that audiences will be made up not only of children, but just as many parents and other adults.

Composer Rupert Gregson-Williams has given us an excellent score that, unlike a lot of other animated films, does not run for the entire length of the film. But when music is used, it is done incredibly well, with just enough ‘accompaniment’ to support what is happening on-screen.

The performances of all the cast are fantastic, in particular Garry Shandling and Wanda Sykes, whose voices are full of so much expression, they fill their respective characters with so much life.

Directors Tim Johnson & Karey Kirkpatrick have done an amazing job in bringing this film to the screen. Even though I have seen this film many times already, I know I will watch it many more times before tiring of it; there is just so much enjoyment to be had on every single viewing.

7 1/2 out of 10.