Angel Has Fallen. Ric Waugh, dir. Gerard Butler. Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is set to become the next Secret Service director. He saves President Allan Trumball (Morgan Freeman) from an overwhelming attack that puts the president in a coma. The Rambo-like security man is framed for the attack, so much of the film is dedicated to his discovering those responsible for the frame and hunting them down. I soon picked out the sniveling jerk in the White House responsible for everything, so there’s not much left to the imagination here. Nick Nolte is great as Banning’s father and Butler and Freeman are okay too.

Reviewers didn’t like this movie; I did. So did audiences. I guess I’m not a reviewer yet! This action/thriller is entertaining, albeit violent. Mr. Waugh must be another director who loves to blow things up. Much better to see it on the silver screen than in real life, of course, where the good guys so often win.

Official Secrets. Gavin Hood, dir. As many readers of this blog know, I favor British-style mysteries a lot in my reading for R&R. This is one on the silver screen. Unfortunately it’s not fiction but a true piece of history I was unfamiliar with. And it’s simply the best movie I’ve seen this year! It now replaces Vice as #1, although it overlaps the same period. (Funny that Cheney wasn’t in this one—he’s more responsible for all those deaths in Iraq than anyone else!).

Katharine Gun (Keira Knightly), who works at Britain’s GCHQ (the Brits’ counterpart of the NSA), receives an email about Blair’s bro act with Dubya to spy on UN diplomats so they can blackmail them into voting for a resolution against Saddam Hussein. Said resolution would give some legitimacy to the US government’s murdering nation-changing plans.

Gun gives a copy of the email to an antiwar activist who in turn gives it to a reporter from the Observer, Martin Bright (Matt Smith). Thus begins a year of hell for Gun, which includes the invasion of Iraq, as Blair and company torment her, including trying to deport her husband, a Kurdish refugee who has no love for the Iraqi strongman.  Real video is interpolated into the film at key spots to add authenticity. A free-speech lawyer Ben Emmerson (Ralph Fiennes) helps Gun finally get around that Official Secrets Act that doesn’t even allow Gun to discuss her defense with her lawyers.

This is a true exposé of American and British duplicity used to initiate an illegal war where millions were killed—Americans, British, Iraqis, and others. Like that movie about the atrocities in Benghazi, I wonder how long this movie will stay around before authorities on both sides of the pond force it out of theaters. Like that Benghazi movie, this is at least a damning indictment of ineptitude at the highest levels of government. Maybe with bigger stars, American and British governments wouldn’t dare censor this movie this time.

In this case, the audience was stunned. Getting the information about bad deeds after the governments do them does that to people.

***

Comments are always welcome.

Son of Thunder. #2 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series.” This sequel to Rembrandt’s Angel has Esther Brookstone, now retired from Scotland Yard, obsessed with finding St. John the Divine’s tomb, using directions left by the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. The disciple’s missionary travels and Botticelli’s trip to the Middle East make for three travel stories that all come together. Esther’s boyfriend, Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden, has problems with arms dealers, but he multitasks by trying to keep Esther focused and out of danger. The reader can also learn how their romance progresses. History, archaeology, romance, and art make for a tasty stew in this mystery/thriller novel soon to be published by Penmore Press in print and ebook formats. While it can be read independently of the first book, you can learn more about Esther and Bastiann in Rembrandt’s Angel—available in print and ebook formats at Amazon and in ebook format at Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lenders (Overdrive, etc.).

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

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