Directed by:
Roland EmmerichScreenplay:
James VanderbiltCinematography:
Anna FoersterCast:
Channing Tatum, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, Richard Jenkins, Joey King, Rachelle Lefevre, Lance Reddick, Garcelle Beauvais, Jason Clarke (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
When Washington DC policeman John Cale (Channing Tatum)'s interview for the Secret Service goes badly, it seems he will be denied the chance to serve President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). However, when a group of paramilitaries under the command of Stenz (Jason Clarke) launch an assault on the White House and take Sawyer hostage, Cale is offered an unexpected opportunity to redeem himself. Attempting to protect his daughter Emily (Joey King) on one hand and to take down a gang of highly trained mercenaries on the other, Cale will have to prove his mettle in spectacular style if he is to save the nation and its president from the evil designs of Stenz. Will he be up to the task? (Sony Pictures Releasing)
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Reviews (11)
A big surprise for me. The Americans finally make fun of themselves too, and it has to be said that they do it very well. Emmerich has made an utterly easygoing action film that, while it has, as always, a dire plot in the background, is otherwise taken with a lightness I've never seen from him before. Thanks to this, even Jamie Foxx, whom I normally don't like very much, is really comical as the president together with his bodyguard Tatum. It's a pity about the somewhat uneven pace and the related contrasting transitions between genres, when sometimes the fun is lost. The plot then has to be handled by bad guys with nerves to spare, led by Jason Clarke.
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It’s a movie by Roland Emmerich, so what else could I have really expected? I mean, yeah, I could have expected something else because he already blew the White House into pieces once in Independence Day. Here, he just looted the president’s quarters, ruined the president’s lawn, his pond and so on. It was nice to see. I was almost wondering if this movie replica was really close to the actual White House. Because if it was really accurate and I was a terrorist, I would have considered this movie an educational tutorial. The movie is sort of a well-done action classic which is something Roland’s simply good at. You can’t deny that and I had a good movie to chill with.
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The hardest job interview ever. Emmerich is a destroyer, but doesn’t let the smaller scale restrict him, in fact he enjoys the destruction even more this way. White House Down is on a par with erm... Olympus Has Fallen, in fact both are more or less equally enjoyable. Butler relies on bloody inevitability, while Tatum relies on hamfistedness and frivolous fun that to entertain the whole family. His loquacious sidekick is the president (entertainingly ham-fisted Foxx) and wears red and white Jordans (he’s got what it takes). Vanderbilt’s screenplay contains lots of refreshing elements, absurd lines and unexpected twists (credit card not working at the end) and it’s not the president, but the main protagonist’s daughter who gets saved. It was good to see the unusually eccentric Jason Clarke. Simply another variation on Die Hard (yep, the hero talks to himself, as well into his walkie-talkie/cellphone and sneers at the baddies’ dead bodies), but this time Emmerich-style. An ideal, relaxing family movie with a happy ending that leaves you with that great feeling that everything ended happily (even though the whole government and a load of other people died). P.S.: Probably the most entertaining tour of the White House and surroundings.
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Maybe if "White House Down" came out in theaters later and Gerard Butler didn't play in it, I would have liked the movie "Olympus Has Fallen". Having two identical movies in one year is just poor production. Couldn't they have moved the second one? Emmerich's bad luck. This is a financial mess and eventually a film mess as well. The occasional attempt at a cool joke definitely doesn't overshadow the patriotism that oozes from it in all directions. Just another American destruction of American values presented by a native German.
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I wouldn't exaggerate it with those superlatives, the only thing that White House Down has over Olympus Has Fallen is lightness, detachment, and less pathos, everything else falls behind heavily. Old-school action? Where? Maybe one or two fights and high-quality "physical sounds", the clarity is minimal, the rating is lethal, and the overall editing composition is heavily off. In action scenes, it is mainly the editor who can get the necessary pace into the sequences, and it didn't go very well here. Gerard Butler is better than Channing Tatum, no matter what anyone says, though, surprisingly, the latter excels in comedic and light moments rather than in action ones. And so the film's reins must be taken over by James Woods and his gang, who are constantly showing a barrage of looks and emotions. Perhaps Ronald Emmerich's work is genre-consistent and a tribute to the '90s, but in a direct battle with its older brother, it loses.
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