Review: White House Down

Review: White House Down
*Spoilers Alert
  Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.

Official 'White House Down' Poster.

      From the director of 'Independence Day' and '2012', comes 'White House Down'. A movie that has it flaws, yet manages to hold on thanks to its lead actors.

"Channing Tatum" and "Jamie Foxx".

"Maggie Gyllenhaal".

      'John Cale'(Channing Tatum) is a U.S Capitol Police Officer assigned to Speaker of the House 'Eli Raphelson'(Richard Jenkins) and is struggling to form a good relationship with his daughter 'Emily Cale'(Joey King), who is a strong enthusiast of politics. Hoping to impress his daughter, 'John' takes her to his interview with 'Carol Finnerty'(Maggie Gyllenhaal) to try getting a job with the secret service. When he fails he lies to 'Emily' and takes a tour at the 'White House’. What was supposed to be an ordinary day turned to a nightmare after a bomb detonates at the center of the U.S Capitol Building, which results to an attack on the White House by a group of mercenaries who are trying to capture the President of the United States 'James Sawyer'(Jamie Foxx). Caught up in the midst of the action, 'John' unwillingly becomes the only person who is able to save the President. He will also face the dilemma of saving his daughter, the hostages and the entire country. Other characters include 'Martin Walker'(James Wood) head of the Presidential detail, 'Donnie'(Nicolas Wright) White House Tour Guide, 'Emil Stenz'(Jason Clarke) head of the mercenaries group, 'Skip Tyler'(Jimmi Simpson) renowned hacker, 'Melanie'(Rachelle Lefevre) 'John''s ex-wife, 'Conrad Cern'(Falk Hentschel) one of 'Stenz''s mercenaries, and 'Alison Sawyer'(Garcelle Beauvais) the President's wife.

"Joey King".

"Channing Tatum".

      When Sony announced to the world about the plans of the movie, many were excited of the prospects of this movie being one of the biggest hits ever. And all the data pointed to that direction. One of the best action movie directors, a good script, and a great cast lead by two of the most famous and talked about actors in the last two years. And yet 'White House Down' managed to disappoint. The main reason for its box office failure is that approximately 5 months prior to 'Olympus Has Fallen', a very similar movie in its premise and story, was released which people actually enjoyed. However, I truly believe that if not for the reason stated before and the stupid decision by Sony to release it at the same week with 'The Heat' and one week after 'Monster University' and 'World War Z', 'White House Down' could have been one of the biggest box office hits of 2013.

"Jamie Foxx".

"James Wood".

      "Roland Emmerich", who is known for the hits 'Independence Day', 'The Day After Tomorrow', and '2012', did the job that he was supposed to. "Roland" is great when it comes to action and over the top CGI action sequences, yet his only fault that many times these good skills overshadows the whole story and makes the action seem more important than the actual story. The movie was based on a screenplay by "James Vanderbilt", known for his work as screenwriter on 'The Losers' and 'The Amazing Spider-Man', did a decent job. Yes the movie story has its special ideas that differ from similar movies; however, nothing special was depicted which made the movie predictable to a certain extent. The comedy in this movie was a good point that actually helped it. The music was helmed by composers "Thomas Wanker" and "Harald Kloser", whom both worked with "Roland" before on '2012'. They did a good job making a good score for the movie, but failed to elevate the action movie.

"Channing Tatum" and "Jamie Foxx".

"Nicolas Wright", "Joey King",
and "Channing Tatum".

       The effects of this movie were pretty impressive, and the effort to build a replica of the White House allowed the movie to have more real feel to it. Still the CGI scenes and the realism of buildings led to conflict of quality within the movie. The first 30 minutes were for me more than enough to build up the movie and the characters. After that, 'Roland' did what he does best: blowing things! The best scenes no doubt had to be all of the scenes that included "Channing Tatum" and "Jamie Foxx". The best action sequences were that of the car chase as well as the blowing up of Air Force One. The ending was predictable, and the writer should have done a better job hiding the real villain at the end of the movie.

"Jamie Foxx" and "Channing Tatum".

"Maggie Gyllenhaal".

      Let’s be honest, the only reason the movie was able to stand on its feet was because of its two stars. "Channing Tatum" proved why he is a true movie star and showed his ability to carry a movie by himself (at least 80%). "Jamie Foxx" also showed his ability to be part of these kinds of movies and his ability to pull it off. Joining these stars together definitely helped the movie, and to be fair it was for many the only reason to actually go and watch it. What the movie fails to do is to truly use the supporting cast to its benefit. Most of the supporting characters were one dimensional, which didn't help the actors that much. "Joey King" was a breath fresh air and was able to do her best to improve a character that could have easily been useless. "Maggie Gyllenhaal"'s character was one that disappointed me the most. I expected a bigger role for her character, still she was able to pull it off. "Jason Clarke" also proved his ability to develop a character, which had no development, like the other mercenaries. "James Wood"'s character motives were believable, unlike "Richard Jenkins"'s character, whose story arc was predictable. The other cast's characters, "Nicolas Wright", "Jimmi Simpson", "Rachelle Lefevre", "Falk Hentschel" and especially "Garcelle Beauvais", should have had a much bigger role than what was shown.

      Yes, 'White House Down' is not a perfect movie. That said it is an enjoyable summer movie for all moviegoers who are trying to find a movie they can simply enjoy.

'White House Down'.

-'White House Down' Info:
-Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Joey King, James Wood, Jason Clark, Richard Jenkins, Nicolas Wright, Jimmi Simpson, Rachelle Lefevre, Falk Hentschel, and Garcelle Beauvais.
-Studio(s): Colombia Pictures and Centropolis Entertainment.
-Directed by: Roland Emmerich.
-Written by: James Vanderbilt.
-Music by: Harald Kloser and Thomas Wanker.
-Running Time: 131 minutes.
-Budget: $ 150,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 73,103,784.
                       -Foreign: $ 132,262,953.
-Ratings: -IMdb: 6.4/10.
                 -Rotten Tomatoes: 50%.
                 -Metacritic: 52%.

                 -PERSONAL RATING: 7.1/10.
               
-"White House Down" Trailer: