Angel Has Fallen

PLOT

Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) undergoes training at a military facility in Virginia, owned by his former Army Ranger commanding officer Wade Jennings (Danny Huston), now CEO of private military company Salient Global. He is recommended for the position of Secret Service Director by President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), to replace retiring Director David Gentry (Lance Reddick), but hides the fact that he suffers from migraines and insomnia and takes painkillers to cope with chronic back pain from injuries sustained in Iraq.

While Trumbull is on a private fishing trip at Queen's Lake in Williamsburg, Virginia, a swarm of armed drones attack and overwhelm his protection detail, with only Banning surviving and saving the president. Both men are incapacitated, but Banning recovers while Trumbull is left in a coma. FBI special agent Helen Thompson (Jada Pinkett Smith) is presented with evidence implicating Banning in the attack, including traces of his hair and DNA found in the discarded van used to transport the drones, leading to his arrest. En route to a detention facility, Banning's transport is ambushed, but he escapes after killing the assailants and unmasking them as mercenaries from Salient Global with whom he partook in the training exercise. Realizing that Jennings has betrayed and framed him, he calls his wife Leah (Piper Perabo), letting her know he is alive and determined to expose the real perpetrator. The call alerts Thompson to Banning's location, leading to a car chase by numerous police officers. Banning manages to slip away into the night again, setting out the next morning to his Vietnam veteran father's cabin in the backwoods of White Hall, West Virginia.

At the White House, Vice President Martin Kirby (Tim Blake Nelson), now acting president, reveals to the press that Banning is responsible for the assassination attempt with support from the Russian government. Banning and his father Clay (Nick Nolte) observe Salient mercenaries approaching the house on surveillance cameras. Clay detonates multiple explosives around the perimeter, killing the would-be attackers as he and Banning escape. Banning reveals to Clay that he has a wife and daughter. Leah and her daughter are on the verge of being kidnapped by Salient commandos when Clay saves them. Finding the bodies of Jennings' gunmen lined up against Clay's cabin, Thompson deduces that Banning may have been set up after all. Trumbull awakens from his coma and Kirby is revealed to be Jennings' secret co-conspirator, planning to retaliate for Trumbull's "attempted assassination" by declaring Cold War II. Thompson and another agent Ramirez (Joseph Millson) meet Jennings on an airfield, but Jennings kills both of them.

Banning reaches the hospital and gives himself up, but Trumbull orders his release. Banning leads Trumbull to safety with help from Gentry and other loyal agents as Jennings destroys the hospital's ICU by increasing the oxygen and nitrogen supply to unstable levels, causing a massive explosion that levels the hospital. Banning hides Trumbull and Gentry as Jennings' men pursue them. In an extended gun battle, Salient Global kills most of Trumbull's security detail, but Banning ambushes a flanking attempt and eventually the mercenaries are forced to retreat after government reinforcements arrive. A handful of them, led by Jennings, are gathering on the rooftop to escape in a helicopter, when Banning blows up the helicopter with a grenade launcher. Only Jennings survives the explosion, leaving the two of them to fight it out. They engage in hand-to-hand combat ending with Banning fatally stabbing Jennings. The remainder of Jennings' men are either killed in the firefight or arrested by U.S. federal law enforcement officers.

Banning is exonerated while Trumbull and Gentry arrest Kirby for treason, revealing that Jennings had kept detailed records of Kirby's involvement, as an insurance policy, and which is uncovered by Thompson. Clay decides to live with Banning and his family. Feeling guilty over his failure to protect Trumbull and concealing his ailments, Banning offers his resignation, but Trumbull forgives him and offers Banning the promotion to Director of the Secret Service, which he proudly accepts.

In the mid-credits scene, Banning convinces his father to try therapy at the Zero Gravity Center together. There, they are placed in pools and float in water, exchanging comments until (and after) the lights go out.

CAST

Gerard Butler as Secret Service Agent Mike Banning

Morgan Freeman as President Allan Trumbull

Jada Pinkett Smith as FBI Agent Helen Thompson

Lance Reddick as Secret Service Director David Gentry

Tim Blake Nelson as Vice President Martin Kirby

Piper Perabo as Leah Banning

Nick Nolte as Clay Banning

Danny Huston as Wade Jennings

Frederick Schmidt as Travis Cole

Joseph Millson as FBI Agent Ramirez

Ori Pfeffer as Secret Service Agent Murphy

Mark Arnold as CIA Director James Haskell

Michael Landes as White House Chief of Staff Sam Wilcox

Chris Browning as Militia man

Jessica Cobley as Lynne Banning

Rocci Williams as Bruno

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

the third installment in the Has Fallen film series, following Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and London Has Fallen (2016)