(film review) - Angel Has Fallen

I'm a 'Die Hard' Fan!  So, I was in absolute shock and horror when I watched 'A Good Day to Die Hard'.  Although I enjoyed the movie (I probably somewhat felt compelled to, as John McClane is my favourite movie character), but 'Man Like...' Mike Banning showed us heroism at it's finest! Man like Mike was avoiding death and saving the day, just like John McClane would and refusing to die.  However, Olympus Has Fallen was the better "Die Hard" movie of 2013 and deep down, that really upset me.
The sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen is easily forgettable.  All I can remember from it is that, they were in London...yeah, like 'no shit!', and not as good as the first and now a dying franchise because the sequel didn't live up to the original - not even close.
But Angel Has Fallen! This is a different film to the last one or better yet, has a better story and better action than the last one as it seems, the 'has Fallen' franchise has now found it's feet.  Angel Has Fallen could actually be the NEW 'Die Hard' movie...The 'Has Fallen' Franchise. What is going to fall next?  To be honest, if they made 'Kremlin Has Fallen' or something of that ilk where Man like Mike was vacation-ing or taking the President on a presidential trip somewhere to sign some papers for world peace or whatever and they get under attacked wherever the meeting is held up and Man like mike has to figure out a way to evade the terrorists and keep the president safe with nothing but action, action and more action accompanied with near death in nearly every action set piece and some cunning, I. WOULD. NOT. BE. MAD. AT. THAT. AT. ALL!

So, Man like Mike (Gerard Butler) is with the president (Morgan Freeman) whilst the president is on a fishing trip, however, the president comes underfire from drones.  As the President is placed into a comma from the incident and DNA from Man like Mike is found at the scene with the control panel for all the drones, Man like Mike is now an enemy of the state and he is a fugitive of the run doing the best he can to keep himself alive and prove his innocence.

Something we have all seen before, right? 'Enemy of the State', 'The Fugutive' so on and so forth, but none of them had Man like Mike - The John McClane of his franchise who will narrowly escape death and save the President at the same damn time.  This was a loud and entertaining movie.  I knew who the bad guys were and that is something they could probably work on like a Mission Impossible with some double/triple agent stuff for the future, but I hope they decide to do another 3 more before Man like Mike retires or dies in service.  Funny in places and a simple story we have all seen before but executed well.  If you like loud, boisterous all guns blazing type of action, kind of like the Fast and Furious Franchise or Die Hard Franchise, then you will like this.  Nick Nolte is a gem!

(film review) - Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw

The F&F series has had its ups and downs.
When Tokyo Drift came out, putting a slight spin on the series where the franchise “drifts” and attempts to change direction, they needed something different and a change in pace.  It was when F&F5 (Fast Five) when Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson (Franchise Viagra) stepped into the fold and joined the franchise.  The F&F series got a lot better.

I’m not ashamed to say I’ve seen all of the F&F movies and Tokyo Drift was the worst of them all (It just wasn't as good).  But with some well written interwoven stories, the order the films coming out, is NOT the order you should view them which makes for interesting viewing.  But I say all of that to say this.  Branching out into a spin-off of the F&F franchise, like what Transformers done with Bumblebee, but failed on the title, this movie not only benefits from having Fast and Furious in the title, (because if you are a fan of the franchise, you know what to expect), but the movie also benefits from being as absurd, crazy, silly and unbelievable as the regular F&F movies and on top of all that, this film doesn't take itself seriously and is very funny and entertaining.

Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckhard Shaw (Jason Statham) are two completely different people who are very good at their respective jobs, are from two different worlds and they hate each other.  After the events of Fast & Furious 8, these two are paired up to stop a man named Brixton Lore (Idris Elba) who will stop at nothing to obtain a deadly virus that threatens to wipe out the human population (not that original, more Mission Impossible-esk).  However, things become a bit tricky when Deckard's sister (Vanessa Kirby) is involved somehow and caught in the mix of it all.  Our two "heroes" have to "play nice" with one another in order to achieve their goal, Stop Brixton!

How do you think this film would play out by watching the trailer below? The one you've already seen or the many you have seen before watching this?  Or, if you have seen the latest few F&F movies but not seen this trailer, what are your thoughts? Yes, it plays exactly how you thought.  It does exactly what it says on the tin and then some - only because it was a little bit long in the tooth.  But with the surprise cameo or involvement of 2-3 other characters played by well known actors, this movie treads from being your normal F&F type of movie with a few laughs and inhumanly courageous death-defying stunts and lunacy to all of that and a barrel of insanely funny comedy moment's that may have you wet yourself or die of laughter.  They even threw in a few known wrestlers.

The acting for this type of movie by these quality actors are very good, as expected and as to be expected (no oscars here).  The story, meh..who cares!?! The villain Top-Notch, especially how Idris plays him, plus his name is BRIXTON!!! (I'm from London England, Brixton is literally down the road. [It's a place, look it up] But it's a wonder why he never chose any other "close-to-home, towns).  The chemistry between Dwayne and Jason is pretty much unrivalled and their banter, they have banter for days.  The visuals are excellent especially the fighting scenes.  There is a shot where the rock has a fight very early on involving, a woman...excellent, visually. I'm just hoping there were no strings involved.  But then the ending fighting scene, visually, also stunning.  I didn't dig the ending THAT much and how it ended, but it was interesting how they left it, definitely open for a sequel....as they do in Hollywood.  I guess when they do their female spin-off and should that do well...they would have successfully milked the cow by the tit and produce liquid gold.  Let's just hope it's more quality than quantity before they destroy themselves over money.

If you are a fan of the franchise this is a definite must watch.  But you would need to know that Vin Diesel's character or better yet Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson, DO NOT GET ALONG AT ALL!!! So with that said, you can't expect to see Dominic appear in the Hobbs & Shaw spin-offs, unless they squash their beef.
However you can expand the universe outwards and involve other characters and have many different mini franchises under one franchise. I believe that's possible.

Enjoy! If this is your kind of thing.