"You lost... How do you lose a rocket launcher?"
John Cale (Tatum) is a Capitol Police Officer who is assigned to protect Secretary of State Eli Raphelson (Jenkins). Cale has a fractured relationship with his daughter Emily (King), who is fascinated by politics. He gets a interview for the President's Secret Service detail and brings his daughter to visit the White House. President James Sawyer (Foxx) is preparing for a major peace treaty, which is a major source of controversy.
Cale is interviewed by Agent Carol Finnerty (Gyllenhaal), an old acquaintance, who refuses to hire him for the job. To avoid telling Emily that he did not get the job, they go on a tour of the White House. During their tour, a group of men led by Emil Stenz (Clarke) attack the White House and Cale and Emily are separated. Can Cale find his daughter and save the day?
2013 saw the release of 2 films with the same basic premise: criminals taking over the White House and holding the President hostage. In both case, the President's only hope is a disgraced agent and the threat is from within his staff. This film was received better, but the other film, Olympus Has Fallen, is getting a sequel (London Has Fallen, to be released in 2016). The only similarity between the films is their overall premise...they even had different ratings and different tones.
Director Roland Emmerich is known for disaster films. He previously destroyed the White House in 1996's Independence Day (which he wrote and directed). The other films that he has served as both writer and director are also disaster films that have impressive body counts / destruction, etc: Godzilla in 1998, The Day After Tomorrow in 2004, 10,000 B.C. in 2008, and 2012 in 2009. The script for this film was written by James Vanderbilt, who is best known for writing action films (he is set to collaborate with Emmerich again in 2016's Independence Day: Resurgence, which is a direct sequel to Emmerich's Independence Day.
The film as a whole is ok. The action and stunt work is impressive. The script has moments of humor interspersed throughout...even though it is an intense situation there are still funny moments. Most of the humor comes from Nicholas Wright's Donnie the tour guide... he even gets a line that references Emmerich's Independence Day. Jamie Foxx also gets some funny moments, although his role is mostly serious. Channing Tatum is a bankable action star and has the most physical role in the film, along with Jason Clarke's Emil Stenz. James Woods is great as usual.
Decent, but not great.
White House Down (2013) 131 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for prolonged sequences of action and violence including intense gunfire and explosions, some language and a brief sexual image
Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Channing Tatum as John Cale
Jamie Foxx as President James Sawyer
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Carol Finnerty
Jason Clarke as Emil Stenz
Richard Jenkins as Eli Raphelson
Joey King as Emily Cale
James Woods as Martin Walker
Nicholas Wright as Donnie
Jimmi Simpson as Skip Tyler
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