White House Down

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White House Down
Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods
Directed by Roland Emmerich

Cale (Channing Tatum) and his young daughter Emily (Joey King) take a tour of the White House, as well as interview to be a member of the President's (Jamie Foxx) Secret Service.  He is interviewed by old friend Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who dismisses Cale's desire to be in the Secret Service because, according to her, he's never finished anything.

As they're about to leave, the Capitol building is blown up, and the White House is taken hostage.  Cale is able to find and rescue the President, and together they try to find out who's behind the terrorist attack and why, as well as figure out a way out of the White House with Cale's daughter and the other hostages.

Director Roland Emmerich is well known for his disaster films such as "Independence Day" and "2012," and "White House Down" is no exception.  Lots of explosions, gunfire, and carnage, but of course done at a family-friendly PG-13 level, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except for the fact that this concept was done almost exactly the same a few months ago with "Olympus Has Fallen," which takes a more hard R-rated take on the White House attack, and is more serious and dark.  What makes "WHD" different is the comedic duo of Tatum and Foxx, which at some points demeans the seriousness of the story.

Nevertheless, it was still an enjoyable film to watch, if not a deja-vu moment if you saw "Olympus."  The only really negative issue is with the stupidity of these people.  Cale communicates to Finnerty through a phone on speaker, so everyone around him can hear where they're at.  The terrorists don't seem to know what's going on through most of the film either, especially when Cale's daughter records them and uploads the images to YouTube.  They seem absolutely inept at their job, as does Cale in protecting the President.  Maybe it shows the humanity of both, but for me, seeing a film like this, I don't want to see realism - I want to see action, which thankfully it still delivers.

My Rating: B+

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