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The problem is compounded as Cale’s daughter Emily (Joey King) is on the tour but separated from her father and finds herself in great jeopardy. It is a shame that strong violence and heavy language will prevent families from seeing it together.ĭuring a tour of the White House John Cale (Channing Tatum) winds up unexpectedly aiding the President of the United States (Jamie Foxx) after terrorists attack from within. It is action-packed, suspenseful and contains several instances of humor and funny one-liners.
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They end up as a very unlikely buddy team able to share laughs - as well as armaments.Īt 2 hours and 17 minutes, “White House Down” goes on for too long, and even by its own admittedly loose standards it has an ending that defies belief.This movie is very entertaining and fast moving.
Helping add verisimilitude are the actors, especially Tatum and Foxx. But the action in “White House Down” is so continuous and so convincingly photographed by cinematographer Anna Foerster - even when it involves flaming helicopters and armed limo chases around the White House lawn - that it rarely leaves you the leisure for mature reflection. Of course all of this is wildly implausible and completely silly if you stop to think about it. Lots of bullets head in his direction, but the one with his name on it has yet to be made. Possibly the most resourceful man on the planet, Cale is soon demonstrating every gift necessary to take on these heavily armed evildoers and keep the president safe. Special Agent Finnerty may have sniffed at Cale’s abilities (O ye of little faith) but they turn out to be formidable. For John Cale and his daughter are among the folks being held hostage, and that is no small thing. It takes awhile for the aims of these terrorists to be revealed (and, frankly, they are never as clear as they might be) but it matters not. Bullets are fired, men are killed (though almost no blood is visible in this PG-13 film) and soon the dread words “White House Down” are heard in the land. Martin Walker (a strong James Woods), the outgoing head of the Secret Service and a man with problems of his own, knows just the protocol to follow when things like this happen, but it’s to no avail. Which would have ended the movie right there.įor while Cale has been fruitlessly pleading his case, a gang of nefarious intruders so suspicious looking they practically have “terrorist” tattooed on their foreheads, have infiltrated the White House and, under the leadership of Emil Stenz (“Zero Dark Thirty’s” Jason Clarke), make taking over the building look easy. Unwilling to break the bad news to Emily, Cale takes her on a conveniently timed White House tour instead of leaving the building.
Unfortunately for Cale, the person he has to go through to make the career change is Special Agent Carol Finnerty (a buttoned-down Maggie Gyllenhaal), who, wouldn’t you know it, had a fling with Cale back in the day and is the last person likely to forgive his checkered past.
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Petruccelli in a series of Montreal sets), he brings Emily along. So when Dad wangles a job interview with the Secret Service inside the building (realistically duplicated by production designer Kirk M.
Capitol Police, assigned to guarding Speaker of the House Eli Raphelson (the veteran Richard Jenkins), Cale burns to be a Secret Service agent keeping watch over President James Sawyer (a low-key Jamie Foxx), an idealist who’s pushing a controversial plan for peace in the Middle East.Ĭale didn’t even vote for Sawyer, but he’s a divorced dad in the doghouse with his sullen 11-year-old daughter Emily (Joey King), and she just happens to be obsessed with all things White House. Yes, Cale’s had a rough past, including two combat tours overseas and an insubordinate personality that’s made holding a job difficult, but his aspirations extend all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.Ĭurrently an employee of the U.S. Tatum plays John Cale, a man with a dream.
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Someone, however, who just happens to possess the kind of extraordinary skill set that comes in handy when the fate of this nation, not to mention the entire free world, is on the line. Here, however, he has the benefit of a script by James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”) that has a fine pulp premise and keeps the cringe-worthy lines to a minimum.Įmmerich also has the great benefit of Tatum, an actor who is ideally cast as the kind of regular guy you might not look at twice.
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Emmerich, as the $3 billion worldwide gross accumulated from films such as “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow” indicates, is a director with an instinct for the obvious, a past master at making overblown versions of old-fashioned Saturday matinee-type stories.īut though the director knows how to keep action moving, he’s done himself no favors in the past as a screenwriter.