White House Down

Not since President Harrison Ford battled terrorists aboard "Air Force One" has a U.S. movie president faced the peril that challenges President Jamie Foxx in "White House Down." An unidentified group detonates a bomb in the U.S. Capitol Building, then takes hostages in the White House and shoots up the historic mansion, destroying priceless artifacts and paintings to the chagrin of a tour guide. Audiences know what they want from a Roland Emmerich movie, and "White House Down" delivers the goods; rapid cutting, action, explosions, gun battles, cheering onlookers, wise-ass heroes and bad-ass villains.

Clichés abound; from a troubled father-daughter relationship to an expository job interview that details the hero's past and a White House tour that fills in the history of the presidential mansion, the plot inches forward until the explosions literally begin. However, logic and plausibility also evaporate as the pace accelerates. While metal detectors screen visitors, the terrorists have an arsenal of automatic weapons already in the White House. While bullets fly and White House staff and visitors cower and flee, a young girl records everything on video for her on-line blog. Preposterous would come to mind, if the action allowed viewers to pause and think for a moment.

The cast of professionals is capable for this type of film. Headed by Channing Tatum, who sports a fetching sleeveless tunic to highlight his biceps, is the negligent father, caught in the dire White House situation with his blogger daughter. Jamie Foxx is fine as the President, while Maggie Gyllenhaal and Richard Jenkins both try to rise above the trite material, which was written by James Vanderbilt. Always fun to watch, James Woods manages to chew on the government-issue scenery in a showy role. The current resident of the White House, who claims ignorance of the 25th Amendment, should catch this film as that amendment is cited several times.

Audiences for a Roland Emmerich movie know what they want, and "White House Down" will deliver the goods for them. However, after two hours plus of mindless action, plot holes big enough to swallow a tank or a helicopter, and casual dialog between elected officials that propels the world towards Armageddon, some viewers may long for a slower paced film with a literate script and a plot based on logic. But then again, some may find Channing and his muscles more satisfying than either literacy or logic.

White House Down (2013)

1/2 (out of 4)

To quote Roger Ebert: "I hated, hated, hated this movie." Roland Emmerich's latest disaster is about a cop (Channing Tatum) who is taking his daughter on a tour of the White House when terrorist take it over and try to take the President (Jamie Foxx) hostage. Now the cop, whose daughter can't really stand him, must try to impress her by saving the day and her favorite President. For starters, go watch OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN as it's a much better action movie and deals with the same subject. I'm sorry but if Emmerich were making movies back in the 70s they'd be lucky to play third bill at a drive-in just before the sun comes up. I really can't wrap my brain around how someone can make such bad movies one after another. Is he doing it on purpose? Surely he didn't make this film as bad as it is without doing it on purpose. Everything from the story to the acting to the CGI effects are just downright bad and all of it has Emmerich's style behind it. I mean, were we really supposed to find this movie touching and patriotic? The Foxx character is obviously "inspired" by Obama but if this was meant to be a tribute then they failed because it comes across as really embarrassing. Even worse are the bits of comedy, which includes some of the worst one-liners that you're ever going to hear. Even worse still are the awful action scenes with some of the worst looking CGI action effects that you're going to see this side of a SyFy production. Then, you have an incredibly awful subplot dealing with the cop's teenage daughter who is a complete brat but they try to make her out as some sort of patriotic hero. This entire bit of the story is just a complete embarrassment and it made me cringe as I watched it. I won't call out the actress but it was just a really bad position that the director put her in and it's almost as bad as Jaden Smith in AFTER EARTH. Let's pray that the two never team up. Both Tatum and Foxx are clearly just picking up paychecks and the great character actors like James Woods, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Allen Jenkins are just wasted in worthless roles. There are some moments here that are so incredibly bad that I couldn't help but laugh at them but sadly the film runs way too long to enjoy it as simply an awful movie with laughs.

WHITE HOUSE DOWN is a film with myriad problems. It's directed by Roland Emmerich for once, a guy known for his less than stellar effects films like 2012 and GODZILLA, although once in a while he makes something like INDEPENDENCE DAY to make up for the bad stuff. It has some terrible CGI effects of helicopters in particular. It's a 12 certificate movie, which means that although violent it's not realistically violent. It's overlong. Channing Tatum, despite being a hot property in Hollywood, is wooden beyond belief. And, as with many Hollywood blockbusters, the writers have to shoehorn one of those annoying teenage characters into the storyline.

Despite all these flaws, I have to say I enjoyed WHITE HOUSE DOWN. It's no masterpiece, and it's not as good as the more serious OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN which came out at the same time. But it keeps your attention on it throughout, and it never fails to entertain. The various DIE HARD homages come thick and fast, and Jamie Foxx has never been so much fun as the Obama-style President who gets in on the action. The bad guys are suitably bad, James Woods acts up the screen, and there's a ton of explosive action to enjoy. You may want more, but this didn't disappoint as a light popcorn flick.

A bunch of terrorists attack and (way too easily) occupy the White House. Cale (Channing Tatum) is there with his 11 year old daughter Emily (Joey King). Through circumstances Cale saves President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) from being killed and they try to figure a way to beat the terrorists and save the White House.

This starts out badly. The first half hour deals with character development. Nothing wrong with that--but it's so DULL! Then the action starts up and it picks up. There's plenty of violence--LOTS of shootings but no blood (hence the PG-13 rating). Still it isn't that good. The action is strong and violent but not enough to carry the movie. Also it's far too long and gets stupider as it goes along. Seriously--by the end I was getting insulted as how moronic the film was getting. Also Emily (an 11 year old) is slapped around, threatened and (more than once) has a gun held to her head! That's going too far. Even worse is Tatum's acting. He was blank-faced throughout. On the plus side the special effects were great, Foxx was good as the president, and Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Woods were great in supporting roles. So it was loud and violent but too long and too stupid.

White House Down offers very little that's new or interesting. It's a convoluted mess that's caught in no man's land. It takes itself far too seriously yet offers ridiculous action (ridiculous as in dumb, not as in wild or fun) and even more ridiculous characters. It wants to be taken seriously but functions in bizarre surroundings with a foolish plot. A calamity of underdeveloped ideas, half the film is flat out brain damaged and the other half is pure schlock. Do yourself a favor and avoid this dumb and actually boring farce.

This movie simply can't stand on its own as a film. Does often joyless, dark and dumb appeal to even the popcorn crowds? The rest of us want way more in our summer movies.