White House Down

WHITE HOUSE DOWN

Director : Roland Emmerich
Year : 2013
Genre : Action
Rating : ****

While I may be more inclined to the independent side of the movie world, I am not above watching a big, dumb fun blockbuster that throws reality out of the window and does everything in it's power to purely entertain and thrill. This Summer for example, Guillermo Del Toro's sci-fi epic 'Pacific Rim' combined astonishing special effects with a fantastic narrative and likable characters. Realistic? No. Fun? Absolutely. Now Roland Emmerich takes to the stage with his explosion filled adventure 'White House Down', that acts as a commentary on the corruption of our current governments and the dangers of conformity while posing as a nuts and bolts action thriller. With films such as 'Godzilla', 'Independence Day' and 'The Day After Tomorrow', Emmerich has made something of a name for himself as the don of destruction; a man who delights in the decimation of the world and the collapse of the major icons of the planet. 'White House Down' may not have the disintegration of the Empire State Building or the freezing of the entire Northern hemisphere, but it does have the White House crumbling to the ground while Channing Tatum runs around in an increasingly dirty vest armed with a machine gun. What's not to like? With a supporting cast of such stars as Jamie Foxx, James Woods, Maggie Gyllenhaall and Richard Jenkins, 'White House Down' is a silly, overblown romp that does exactly what is expected of it and as a huge fan of Emmerich's work, that's perfectly fine by me.

Tatum plays John, a determined Capitol officer who tries out but fails to win a position in the president's secret service. Not wanting to disappoint his estranged and politics - obsessed young daughter Emily, John lies to his child and takes her on a tour of the White House to explore the historical artifacts and gaze upon the portraits of the most important men in United States history. But John has picked the wrong day to impress his daughter as terrorists destroy the Capitol building and take control of the White House. With the building collapsing around him, John must use his power, initiative and strength to save the president (Played by Jamie Foxx), his daughter and the nation from a potentially deadly attack.

With as many narrative twists you can shake a stick at and featuring as many characters as a traditional biblical epic, Roland Emmerich spares no expense in involving us in the atmosphere of the movie and the motivations of each individual character. Not known for being a director of actors, Emmerich manages to squeeze out some pretty damn good performances from his cast and thanks to some great special effects, moments of deadly threat and an overwhelming air of American patriotism, he creates one of the most entertaining pictures of the year. While 'White House Down' may not be as down and out destructive as say 'The Day After Tomorrow' which told the story of the entire freezing of half of the globe or '2012' which delights in all manner of seismic and volcanic destruction, it still succeeds in bringing a heaping helping of fireballs, smoke, danger and death. Just like his other movies, Emmerich laces his action with humour and while some of the jokes fall flat, 'White House Down' is by far his funniest movie of his to date; mostly due to the great chemistry between it's leading stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. Replacing dialogue with extended shootout scenes and shots of the most important building in America falling to the ground, Emmerich wastes no time in placing us in Washington DC, right in the middle of the chaos. We feel the tension, we feel the heat, we feel the pressure on the shoulders of the main protagonist; as a drama 'White House Down' is a complete triumph.

From his earliest days in moderate fare such as 'Public Enemies' and 'Step Up', I have been fan of Channing Tatum who always manages to bring a charisma and infectious likability to every role he undertakes. Here, under the watchful eye of Emmerich, he evokes the ghost of Bruce Willis' now perfunctory John 'Die Hard' McClane and successfully carries the entire weight of the film on his shoulders. It is because of him that 'White House Down' works so well; smart, funny and not at all generic, he is a formidable force of nature who will do anything for his daughter, his leader and his country. 

Playing alongside Tatum is Oscar Winner Jamie Foxx, who brings a quietude and likable innocence to the character of President John Sawyer; a man who is willing to die for the nation he loves and the people he cares about. While his character is more serious, both Foxx and Tatum work extremely well together and their banter and comedic chemistry help to push the movie from straight - up action fare to a highly entertaining adventure. Of course the situations are unrealistic and Emmerich unashamedly pushes the boat out when it comes to archetypes and stereotypes, but thanks to the great performances from Tatum, Foxx and the rest of the cast, I could overlook these usually highly irritating conventions. 

As mentioned earlier, the supporting cast do a great job of giving each of their characters their own specific identity, voice and reasonings. James Woods is pretty threatening and surprisingly sympathetic as the main antagonist, Maggie Gyllenhaal is as reliable as always as a secret service operative and Joey King is remarkably good as John's young daughter, who falls captive at the hands of the terrorists. What I like most about King's character is that she is just as active in the movie as her cinematic father and plays just a bigger part in the narrative of 'White House Down' as he does. Bold, fearless but still realistically pre-adolescent, King turns her what could be extremely generic archetype into a brave and highly important character that is  key to the plot, narrative drive and above all, climax of 'White House Down'.

Like all of Roland Emmerich's films, 'White House Down' is too long and at nearly 140 minutes, the movie will lose the more action-resistant viewers. The editing can be quite choppy at times and the special effects while convincing are not up to par with the more inventive and visually interesting blockbusters of 2013; but in terms of pure entertainment and knowingly stupid fun, 'White House Down' is an absolute winner. Light on story but big on characters and big on explosions, 'White House Down' showcases exactly what mainstream blockbusters can do and after a two year absence, it is a joy to say ''Welcome back Mr. Emmerich. Oh, how I've missed you.''