White House Down

It is impossible to talk about White House Down without mentioning Olympus has Fallen, a film that came out a few months ago with a similar story. The White House is taken over by terrorists and one man must save the Country and possibly the world. Olympus has Fallen starred Gerard Butler and White House Down stars Channing Tatum. Olympus has Fallen was very serious in tone, featured super patriotic music and feature plenty of slow motion shots of the American Flag, and a gorgeous slow motion shot of a bullet hole filled American Flag falling to the ground. It bordered on ridiculous in its serious tone, but I appreciated that it did so without settling for irony. Olympus has Fallen featured North Korea as the threat and the President was a complete hostage. White House Down has a more action oriented story, it goes for laughs in place of serious patriotism, the President is not a hostage and there are no slow motion shots of the American Flag. Also, the terrorists are domestic, not Korean. If you think these two movies are the same thing, you have clearly not watched both movies, or you clearly do not understand how the tone of a film can make that film unique. From here on out, there will be no mention of Olympus has Fallen.

John Cale (Tatum) is bored with his protection detail of the Speaker of the House (Rickard Jenkins). He really wants a shot to be on the President's Secret Service and he wants this because his daughter, Emily (Joey King) is obsessed with President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) and the White House. Cale and his daughter are not on good terms and Cale would do anything to have his daughter stop calling him by his first name. Somehow Cale gets an interview at the Secret Service, not so fortunately, the woman who does the hiring, Finnerty (Maggie Gylenhall) remembers him from their past and knows he never follows through on anything and is not dependable. That all changes when the White House is taken by some crazy terrorists while Cale and his daughter are there for the tour. I will not say much about the terrorists because I do not want to spoil anything, but as I said earlier, they are domestic and they are after some serious cash. At first they have the president, but Cale springs into action, grabs the president and they use the tricks of the White House to avoid being captured again. All the while, Emily has become a national celebrity/hero because before she was caught, she managed to take video footage of the terrorists and upload it to her Youtube channel.

Channing Tatum has emerged into one of my favorite guys to watch on screen. I do not say this lightly. He is not the best actor, or the funniest or most charming actor, but he plays to his strengths and when given the chance to do something interesting, he jumps. In his first real starring role in a big budget action movie where the movie will be all on his broad muscular shoulders, Tatum succeeds like crazy. he is in complete control of the film, and since he is in most of the scenes that is a very good thing. He is believable as an action star, and believable as a guy who screws up a lot, but is trying to do the right thing. Of all of the Die Hard clones we have seen, this one is absolutely one of my favorites. Tatum does not have the Bruce Willis quality, but he has his own flavor and it very much works here. The chemistry he has with Jamie Foxx is also excellent. Foxx is not given nearly enough to do here, but as a President who is trying to fix the world, and believes whole heartedly in his cause, Foxx does a great job. He looks Presidential and delivers some very Presidential statements in an honest manner. The dynamic between non-violent President and perpetual screw up trying to save the world is mined for laughs and is also mined for some truly outstanding action scenes. I am not sure I can remember a movie where so many bullets flied left and right.

Roland Emmerich does not make great movies. I do not think he aspires to make great movies. He, like Michael Bay, makes big giant explosion filled set pieces strung together in the most entertaining of ways. One thing he does better than Bay, is nail the comedy. The comedy in his films never feel like filler. it does not detract from the film, it adds to it and this one is no different. The one-liners are solid when they come and like Willis, Tatum can be funny in the worst situation and make it not seem forced. If there is any justice in this big budget blockbuster filled summer, it is that people will go see this movie. If you want awesome action, look no further than a car chase outside of the white house, but still within the grounds. You get a car chase, with Gatling guns, rocket launchers, tanks, grenades and explosions, all while just circling a fountain on the White House property. It is a fun sequence, but also more intense than I was expecting. I think that level of intensity comes from having the man being chased down be the President. There is something a bit harrowing about the visual of our President being fired upon. I know it is not the real President, but I think you understand my point.

White House Down is about as fun a summer movie as you are going to find this summer. There is not much depth to it and it might not look as pretty as some of the other films this summer, but it is tons of fun. I was never bored. I was either laughing or in awe at the awesome action. There is even some great hand to hand combat going on and when you see an SUV drive right into the White House, it is hard to beat that. There is a very goofy moment towards the end, but I'll damned if that goofy moment did not very nearly fill my eyes with ridiculous nonsense tears. Channing Tatum had one of the best years an actor can have back in 2012. Here he opens a big budget action movie and while it has not been financially as successful as it should be, Tatum is well on his way to being an A-lister through and through.