One of the great things about streaming is that it gives movies a chance to shine years after their initial release, and this is something that is especially true for action films. It’s not uncommon for an action film that left critics and audiences divided when it initially hit theaters to find fresh success on streaming. That was the case recently for Liam Neeson’s Ice Road: Vengeance, which found surprise success when it arrived on Netflix, and now another film is hoping for the same success just weeks after it shot to surprise success on free streaming.

One of Gerard Butler’s best action films, 2019’s Angel Has Fallen, has just arrived on Netflix. The film’s arrival on the paid streamer comes just weeks after it cracked the top 10 on the free service Tubi. The film, the third in the popular …Has Fallen franchise, features Butler along with Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tim Blake Nelson, and the late Lance Riddick. Strangely, neither Olympus Has Fallen nor London Has Fallen are available to stream anywhere (unless you happen to pay over $60 a month for YouTube), so this is the only way to get your fix of Gerard Butler as perpetually unlucky Agent Mike Banning.

Critics Dismissed Angel Has Fallen But Fans Loved It (And Are Hopeful For a Fourth Film)

Angel Has Fallen is a classic case of a film that highlights the divide between critical opinion and fan reception. Critics widely panned the film, giving it a “rotten” 38% on Rotten Tomatoes with many critics calling out the film for a silly, predictable plot that lacked suspense and was just too predictable. However, fans see things far differently, giving the film a solid 93%, particularly loving the film’s action and praising the pairing of Butler and Freeman in the film.

Fan response to the film — it performed well at the box office — resulted in an announcement that there were plans for a fourth, fifth, and sixth film in the franchise, not to mention television spinoffs, shortly after Angel Has Fallen’s release. In 2020, it was announced that the fourth film, Night Has Fallen, would see Butler return, but there have been few updates since then.  Given the previous success of the film in theaters as well as the film’s more recent success on Tubi, should Angel Has Fallen also perform well on Netflix, it could be a catalyst for Night Has Fallen to continue moving forward. The franchise certainly seems to have some legs still — the television spinoff series, Paris Has Fallen, set in the …Has Fallen universe, premiered on Hulu in December 2024, and a second series, Apollo Has Fallen, began filming earlier this year.

Angel Has Fallen is now streaming on Netflix.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!