White House Down

In White House Down, Director Roland Emmerich provides the same energy and excitement he gave us in Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow.

For those who think this might be a copy of Antoine Fuqua’s Olympus Has Fallen that came out at the beginning of spring, I would say that would be like thinking, if you’ve seen one Western, you’ve seen them all.  White House trashing has become a genre like heist films, buddy films or romantic comedies and I’m sure we’ll continue to be seeing many more of the years.

 

Here, the bad guys, extremely well played by Jason Clarke and his team, are domestic terrorists and there is an agenda far worse than that of the foreign terrorists in Olympus Has Fallen. With Jamie Foxx as the President, the situation seems closer to today’s reality.

Channing Tatum as John Cale is not as tough as Gerard Butler in Fuqua’s film, but tough enough to come through in a clutch.

What really sets White House Down apart from Olympus is Joey King, who plays Cale’s 11 year-old daughter and is visiting the White House with her father, when the invasion occurs.  She becomes the real hero of the film and a true role model for tweeners.

 James Vanderbilt’s script provides for non-stop action, Production Designer Kirk M. Petruccelli puts the action in fabulous sets and Cinematographer Anna Foerster captures it all, beautifully. 

For summertime action, I give White House Down a 4 out of 5.