Film Review: Angel Has Fallen

"Mike Banning, You’re Being Charged For The Attempted Murder Of The President Of The United States..."

Declaring himself with a beaming smile as the world's worst actor come the conclusion of 2016, a year in which film fans across the world were "treated" to the double delight of both Gods of Egypt and London Has Fallen, two films which will forever remain as prime examples of cinematic garbage at its' most wretched and unbearable, the Scottish cash-grab that is Gerard Butler once again returns to the big screen with yet another entry into the "Has Fallen" film series with Angel Has Fallen, an equally poor attempt at furthering the saga of Butler's super secret agent, Mike Banning, as we see the raggedy Bruce Willis wannabee framed for the attempted assassination of Morgan Freeman's (The Dark Knight) peace-loving President of the United States, even after saving the world twice and being declared as a national hero. Plot holes aside, Angel Has Fallen sees Snitch director, Ric Roman Waugh, being handed the reigns for a movie which bears all the worst attributes you would expect from a recent Gerard Butler vehicle, albeit Den of Thieves which was actually very good, as it incinerates, massacres, stabs and blows its' way through a rather generic action plot with enough brute force to leave you with quite a nasty, elongated headache. We soldier on...

With London Has Fallen not only being a genuinely terrible excuse for a big-screen action movie as it succumbed to a jaw-dropping level of xenophobia and racism I had previously not overly noticed from a blockbuster shoot-a-thon, it does comes as a warm relief to report that Angel Has Fallen stays well clear from such levels of bad taste and instead holds out more so for the utter ridiculous. With the movie executives suddenly realising that Butler himself is no longer the fresh runner bean he may have been in the past, Angel Has Fallen does sort of start in semi-interesting fashion as we come face to face with the inevitable movie baddy in the first ten minutes alongside a focus on Banning himself, whose years of war and murder seem to have finally taken a toll on both his physical and mental capacity. As soon as the explosions occur however, all level of depth is completely dropped in favour of poorly CGI'd destruction, endless, pointless cannon fodder death and a central Taken meets Shooter plot line which doesn't make any sense whatsoever but still ends in exactly the same way you would expect from a film attempting to reach as wide an audience as possible. Add into the mix a strange cameo role from Jada Pinkett Smith (The Matrix Reloaded) and a laughably bad Nick Nolte (Warrior) and Angel Has Fallen is exactly the type of movie you suckers made possible by paying to see London Has Fallen, albeit one which actually does manage to improve on its' predecessor ever so slightly. 

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: Bad Moms

"You're The Best Mother That We've Ever Seen, You Give Your Kids Salad...!

Let's face it; US comedy can sometimes be a drag. Not only is comedy itself one of the hardest genres to actually succeed in when it comes to the movies, it is also one of the easiest to get wrong. With Bad Moms however, it was one those rare cases in which although the trailer made it out to be another lazy, ill-judged mess of a movie, the final product was something rather solid, something that not only was continuously funny throughout, but also included a rare sense of warmth in its' attempt to address something trivial and commonplace in everyday life; motherhood. Where some may get upset by its' rather hideous portrayal of the father figure within the world of Bad Moms, personally, the shift from masculine-strung comedy to that of the female POV was a refreshing subject matter, harking back to the critical success of films such as Bridesmaids and others in recent years which have seen the rise of the female-led comedy in cinema today. Although it's fair to say that not every comedy has hit the mark in recent years, with The Boss being an example of when it goes completely wrong, Bad Moms is a solid example of when comedy is done right. 

Where the film ultimately succeeds is in its' true-to-life depiction of the overworked parent, with Mila Kunis' Amy being mother of unbearable struggles, with family life intertwining with school life intertwining with work life as well as the constant struggle to actually enjoy life rather than actually just managing to pull through reasonably unscathed. Where the movie loses touch is during scenes of recklessness, due in part to the two directors' affiliation with movies such as The Hangover, and although a film named Bad Moms has to include some sort of debauchery in some sense, the moral object of the film suggests that maybe being THAT bad isn't exactly the way to go. Although the film does sink into overbearing saccharin sweetness come the final act, Bad Moms manages to fight through the trivial acts of Hangover-esque plot-lines and sway into a comedic drama that says a lot about parenthood in the 21st century without ever feeling as if it's preachy or just plain dull. In a week where the creators of The Hangover franchise have pulled out both Bad Moms and War Dogs, maybe US comedy is back on the up and up? 

Overall Score: 6/10