Directed by: Roland Emmerich.
Written by: James Vanderbilt.
Starring: Channing Tatum (Cale), Jamie Foxx (President Sawyer), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Finnerty), Jason Clarke (Stenz), Richard Jenkins (Raphelson), Joey King (Emily), James Woods (Walker), Nicolas Wright (Donnie the Guide), Jimmi Simpson (Tyler), Michael Murphy (Vice President Hammond), Rachelle Lefevre (Melanie), Lance Reddick (General Caulfield), Matt Craven (Agent Kellerman), Jake Weber (Agent Hope), Peter Jacobson (Wallace), Barbara Williams (Muriel Walker), Kevin Rankin (Killick), Garcelle Beauvais (Alison Sawyer), Falk Hentschel (Motts), Romano Orzari (Mulcahy), Jackie Geary (Jenna), Andrew Simms (Roger Skinner).
There
is a difference between an ordinary stupid movie and a gloriously stupid movie,
and I cannot think of a better example to highlight the difference than
comparing two 2013 films – Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down. Olympus Has
Fallen is an ordinary stupid movie – a group of terrorist take over the White
House for their own nefarious purposes, and a lone Secret Service agent takes
them out one at a time on route to rescuing the President. White House Down is
a gloriously stupid movie with the same basic premise – the only difference
being that the lone man is not a Secret Service agent yet, and he actually
teams up with the President to take down the terrorists. Both movies
essentially want to be Die Hard in the White House. But Olympus Has Fallen is
just a regular stupid movie – a mildly diverting action movie that is okay
while you’re watching it, and then completely forgotten. White House Down on
the other hand is a gloriously stupid one. Director Roland Emmerich throws
everything imaginable at the audience through the over two hours the movie
runs, and while it’s impossible to take a moment of the movie seriously, I also
found it impossible to resist. If you want to call White House Down a stupid
movie, I won’t argue with you. But it’s gloriously stupid because it goes for
broke at every moment. I left the theater grinning from ear to ear.
The
basic setup is simple. John Cale (Channing Tatum) works on the security detail
for the Speaker of the House (Richard Jenkins) – but his dream job is to be a
Secret Service agent on the President’s protection detail. He is divorced, and
has an 11 year old daughter Emily (Joey King), who is obsessed with politics,
and idolizes President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). So Cale pulls some string, gets an
interview with the head of the President’s details – Finnerty (Maggie
Gyllenhaal), and brings Emily along so she can see the White House. The
interview doesn’t go well, but the two of them join a tour, and things seems to
be going well – that is until a group of terrorists coolly, calmly and
efficiently take over the White House. They need the President – what for, you’ll
have to wait to find out – and somehow Cale ends up saving the President, and
the two of them hide in the White House while trying to find a way out – and taking
out the terrorist’s one at a time. Oh, and Emily – who was separated from Cale,
of course – gets herself into a lot of trouble with the terrorists, by not
being the dumb kid they think she is.
As
a director, Emmerich has no subtlety in him – he deals strictly in this type of
huge, bombastic action movie. Even when he tried a more serious movie – with the
Shakespeare was a fraud drama Anonymous – the result was a bloated mess of a
movie. He has his share of those on his resume – Stargate, Godzilla and 10,000
BC chief among them. But when he hits it just right – like Independence Day and
parts of The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 – the result can be a ridiculously good
time at the movies. White House Down certainly fits the bill on that level.
The
movie works so well for a few reasons. The first being Emmerich can direct
action, and thankfully, he has not gone with the trendy hand held camera and
rapid fire editing approach to the action sequences. The action sequences are
clear and well shot – you’re never confused about what’s going on, unlike so
many other action movies.
Perhaps
the bigger reason why the film works though is the performances. Tatum and Foxx
have a nice chemistry together – they are essentially doing buddy action movie shtick,
but it works well. Both have effortless charm and humor, and that keeps the
movie afloat no matter how ridiculous things get. I also appreciated that they didn’t
make Foxx some anonymous, no politics President like they did with Aaron
Eckhart in Olympus Has Fallen – he’s clearly modeled after Barack Obama, and he’s
clearly a Democrat (even if the word is never uttered). It may have been even
more interesting to make him a Republican, but I’m not going to nitpick too
much. The supporting cast – from Gyllenhaal to King to Jenkins to James Woods and Jason Clarke as two of the bad
guys to Michael Murphy as the Vice President to Nicolas Wright, as a tour
guide, all have nice moments as well.
I’m
not trying to argue that White House Down is a great movie – it isn’t. But it
is a great guilty pleasure experience. So many of the blockbusters this summer –
both good and bad – have taken themselves very seriously. It’s somewhat refreshing
to see such glorious, ridiculous stupidity on full display in White House Down.
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