The White House under attack is not a new theme for Hollywood; the “leader of the Free World” and his residence has been blown up and invaded on many an occasion. However, depending on the terrorist situation the White House are dealing with in reality or what they are involved in on foreign shores, the type of invasion has differed widely.
Already this year, we have had one major invasion of the White House, this time by the North Koreans, which is arguably pretty apt at the moment. Olympus Has Fallen worked, mainly because Butler is completely likable, and the entire film never took itself too seriously. The move to action happened quite quickly in Olympus, without getting too bogged down in a back story.
On the other hand, this is exactly the problems that White House Down suffers from. Considering that the film is directed by Roland Emmerich, he of Independence Day, you would think that this would be at least an interesting production. Well, don’t be fooled.
The film begins with Tatum’s character, Cale, a security officer who has aspirations to join the Secret Service. While attending an interview for the position, he brings along his daughter for a tour of the White House. His daughter Emily is conveniently obsessed with politics and Cale thinks he is going to win the award for Father of the Year, until events take a terrible turn.
Like Olympus Has Fallen, an attack occurs from within the House, the President is kidnapped and his entire staff is done away with, leaving only Cale to defend the world, save the President, find his daughter and bring the baddies to justice. Yes, the plot is that unoriginal.
Apart from the fact that the film is just completely unoriginal and nothing you will not have seen before, the action doesn’t kick in for about forty minutes. Yes, forty whole minutes before anything happens that is any bit exciting. White House Down gets too involved in its characters, asking you to develop a connection with them. Realistically, you will be so bored by the first forty minutes of the film that you will lose all interest in what happens to the characters anyway. After this, the rest of the plot is entirely predictable.
White House Down also suffers from a terrible script, one that tries to take itself incredibly seriously but just comes across as absolutely comical, and not in a good way. Some of Jamie Foxx’s lines as the President are truly woeful, as is all of the inclusions of “God Bless America”.
The performances are also completely over the top, Foxx is completely unbelievable as the President, Maggie Gyllenhaal as his adviser Finnerty also suffers from a bad script and some reasonably cheese-filled scenes. Tatum is appealing when he takes his top off, likable but not on the same level as Gerard Butler.
Just watch Olympus Has Fallen again. Definitely more fun.
