The cast of the film “Angel has Fallen” explained that they hope the movie will make viewers think about the lives of military first responders.

The film is the third in the “Fallen” franchise. Its predecessor “Olympus has Fallen” depicted terrorists taking over the White House and “London has Fallen” depicted the British capital being attacked by terrorists as well.

Gerard Butler stars in the third film alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, Morgan Freeman and Piper Perabo.

In it, Butler’s Mike Banning character is taken into custody after a failed assassination attempt on the U.S. President is blamed on him. He escapes and sets out on a mission to clear his name.

The cast sat down with People TV to discuss the overall message of the film beyond all the action and the drama,.

“I think often the messages in these movies are, you know, about no matter what the struggles are in life, just getting through it,” Butler explained. “Believing and being able to push through it, sit in the fire and come out the other side.”

For director Ric Roman Waugh, the film is an honest attempt to show the human side of the men and women in uniform.

“There are men and women all over the world that are military first responders, law enforcement,” he explained. “They’re real human beings. They have flaws, they have families.”

“As citizens, understanding that men and women who serve our country and our society in that way, they also have personal lives outside of the jobs that they do. They have families,” Pinkett-Smith added.

Perabo noted that she took her role as the wife of a military service member very seriously, noting that they’re often unsung heroes on the civilian side of supporting the armed forces.

“One of the things that was really important to me was playing the spouse of military, Secret Service first responders,” she explained. “Those people sacrifice a lot to try and keep their families together. They’re under a lot of pressure and they don’t always get a lot of information about where their partner is. So, I think that they deserve a lot of the credit for the service that’s done in this country.”

Butler boasts that “Angel Has Fallen” contains more action sequences than either of the first two films. However, the director noted that there’s more at play than some fun fight scenes.

“Hopefully this movie is escapism, and has a cool action-packed ride, but it does make us think and appreciate and support the people that are protecting us and keeping us form harm.”