White House Down – Film Review
Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Joey King and James Woods
Release Date: Sep 6
The man who has made a career out of blowing up the White House is finally embracing his blunt yet hugely enjoyable auteurism! Roland Emmerich, who has held a grudge against the presidential palace since 1996’s Independence Day, brings us White House Down, which involves blowing up the White House, but over the course of an explosively enjoyable 2 hours, in one of the best popcorn movies, that doesn’t involve superheroes, in quite some time.
In classic Emmerich style, the film is divorced from actual politics and, in many ways, reality. This is old school action, reminiscent of Die Hard or Total Recall, with over the top one-liners and insanely ridiculous scenarios. Terrorists infiltrate the White House, for somewhat dodgy reasons, but it eventually comes to light that, of course, ‘this time it’s personal”. And naturally, all of the security in the White House gets wiped out pretty quickly. Except for one wannabe Secret Service Agent, who is on a White House tour with his daughter. Enter John Cale AKA Channing Tatum AKA Sergeant Patriotism, the only hope left for the President to make it out of the White House alive. Is this starting to sound familiar?
It’s bottom-of-the-barrel generic stuff, but yet this is Roland Emmerich at his best, pouring sweat and blood in order to craft such an enjoyable, fist-in-the-air retro action flick. When Jamie Foxx, the quirkiest American president by a long shot, yells out his cheesy show stealing one-liner, you don’t cringe as you should. You laugh and yell ‘YES!’, because it confirms what you went into the film for in the first place: that we’re all just here to have fun. It’s an extravagant and simplified take on terrorism, but never to the point of banality.
So much of this is down to pacing, and with as wild a film as this, Emmerich appreciates that you need calm beats in order to keep everything balanced. Guns are fired and jaws are punched inside, outside, on top of and underneath the White House, but unlike so many other films of this ilk, it isn’t a complete pastiche of overwhelming violence. It escalates gradually, giving you time to appreciate the grand scope of action that Emmerich is going for. It’s pretty intense stuff when the first bomb goes off, but when compared to the nitro-fueled sequence on the White House lawn, it pales in retrospect. And just when you think you can’t top rocket launchers and tanks, Tatum steps in and kicks it up a notch.
This isn’t a hugely demanding role for Tatum, considering all we’re asking for is 2-dimensional action hero. But he still deserves praise for coming across as so very likable and easy to root for. The presence of his daughter in the White House, which tears his loyalty between his family and his job, complicates things enough, just enough, to prevent him from being a simple caricature. The banter he has with his technophile daughter, a role that could have easily been annoying but is filled excellently with Joey King, really humanizes his character. He is actually far less brutal than most action heroes, but that just makes him easier to root for.
It’s Jamie Foxx that steals the show though. Riffing off of the celebrity persona of Obama, he is the quintessential good-guy president, efficient, but nonetheless kooky and wonderfully cheesy with a gun in his hand, an absolute joy to watch on screen. When things go south and he joins up with Cale, it’s like watching Die Hard With a Vengeance all over again. He really cuts loose at this point, embracing the reluctant hero persona and exhibits surprising chemistry Tatum that is utterly unexpected at first.
The rest of the cast are largely supplementary to the action, but all compliment the film nicely. When your cast consists of mostly generals, politicians and henchman, it’s admirable work indeed that each one is memorable due to their distinctive personalities and excellent casting. James Woods, as the vengeful Walker, punches in a performance that is distinctive but restrained. It may have benefited from having a more developed character arc, but he gets the job done even if he is a little forgettable. His partner Stenz however is a standout. Essentially a brutish henchman, he adds a layer of complexity to the stereotype rarely seen in the action flick and makes his eventual clash with Cale all the more anticipated.
It’s a little predictable, but because White House Down is just so much fun to get swept up in, this is easy to overlook. It’s a callback to shamelessly patriotic American action movies. Just as much fun as Terminator 2: Judgement Day, but with a healthy dose of self-awareness (a fact made most explicit with a blatant reference to Independence Day). If you’re looking for a harmlessly good time and a film without a taxing message, this is the way to go.
Score: 4/5
Written by Stephen Hill
