Dir. Roland Emmerich
137 Minutes
Rated PG-13
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Known for his over-the-top disaster films like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, Roland Emmerich just loves to see America deal with catastrophic situations. In White House Down, the stakes are just as high as any other of his works; a band of homegrown terrorists led by James Woods take over the white house in an attempt to launch some nukes triggering World War III. Yup, you read that right. Jamie Foxx is the president and Channing Tatum is a down-on-his luck father who wants to prove himself despite not having the credentials for a secret service position. The story is as cliched as anything you'll see all year, and the nearly two and a half hour run time will leave you numb with action, but with lowered expectations, it's a totally "OK" movie with some likable performances.
White House Down could be called 'Character Actor: The Movie' because there are tons of recognizable "that guy" faces walking around. Richard Jenkins, Jason Clarke, Jimmi Simpson, Lance Reddick: all guys that you've seen somewhere before but may not know by name. The impressive casting elevates the film considerably, and at times fools you into thinking this is Die Hard quality. Jamie Foxx makes the president as likable as he could be given the script, making actions as simple as chewing gum into a funny little moment. Channing Tatum is less stellar, but manages to pull off the typical action hero persona. One of my favorite performances in the film though was Joey King, who plays Tatum's 11 year old daughter. She was a better actor that Tatum, and honestly seemed a lot to me little a little Rachel Weiss.
The musical score for the film was completely generic, the big budget was wasted on mindless explosions, there are tons of unintentionally funny moments that come from pure stupidity, and the story goes to such an "11" degree it becomes cartoonish. Although there are jokes scattered throughout the film (including my favorite scene with a tour guide), it takes itself way too seriosuly. White House Down is a big, dumb movie that may be an entertaining enough couple hours, but doesn't add up to anything special.
Rating: C
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