Angel Has Fallen Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

4. It's Basically The Fugitive X Skyfall

The film wears its very specific cinematic influences on its sleeve, and ultimately that's no bad thing.

The most obvious touchstone is The Fugitive, given that Banning finds himself on the run for the vast majority of the movie, attempting to clear his name after being framed for an assassination attempt on President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman).

Several sequences appear to be intentionally tipping their hat to the Harrison Ford-starring classic, and while executed with nowhere near the same level of panache, help the film feel distinct from its predecessors.

The second clear influence is, surprisingly enough, Skyfall. Between the fact that Banning is similarly taken out of commission early in the film, has to deal with a bevy of mental and physical issues and ends up receiving help from an old man out in rural nowhere, it's surely no coincidence.

Again, this is nowhere Skyfall's level of filmmaking, but there were far worse ways to take this franchise than cribbing from two beloved action thrillers.