White House Down review

WHITE HOUSE DOWN:

AWESOME ACTION SCENES AND VISUAL EFFECTS AND A VERY TALENTED CAST, BUT A PRETTY UNORIGINAL STORY!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Channing Tatum protecting the president from terrorists in White House Down

            Director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) just can’t leave the White House alone, now can he? He already had it get blown up by aliens in his 1996 sci-fi hit, Independence Day, and just about every country on Earth got destroyed in his 2009 disaster movie, 2012. Well, now terrorists have taken over the White House in Emmerich’s new thriller, White House Down, or should I say…Olympus Has Fallen 2.

            The plot is pretty unoriginal, especially due to the fact we already had a movie like this come out this year, Olympus Has Fallen with Aaron Eckhart, Gerard Butler, and Morgan Freeman. While it wasn’t a film I went nuts over, it was a guilty pleasure for me, the same thing can be said with this movie.

            The action is gripping, the characters are well casted, and it’s an entertaining summer flick. However it’s nothing compared to other summer blockbusters out now like Man of Steel, Star Trek Into Darkness, or Iron Man 3.

            Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, Magic Mike, Side Effects) plays Cale, a Secret Services newcomer who goes to the White House for an interview with his young daughter, Emily (Joey King-Oz: The Great and Powerful). Little do they know they’re in the middle of a war zone against a terrorist group who want to take over the White House and kill the president (Jamie Foxx-Django Unchained).

            Cale and the president must defeat the terrorists, save all the hostages, and stop the former Head of the Presidential Detail, Martin Walker (James Woods) from plunging the world into World War III, and from shooting Cale’s daughter.

            White House Down is entertaining enough for fans of Emmerich’s movies and it should be a decent film for the summer. I just wished it wasn’t so similar to Olympus Has Fallen, they were both okay movies but White House Down would have been a little better if they tried doing something different with the terrorist actions and situations.

            Much like most of Roland Emmerich’s movies, I’d consider this a guilty pleasure. The plot may be unoriginal and full of clichés, but with its dynamite cast, thrilling action scenes, and goofy action movie dialogue, I’d give it a pass, for the most part. Again, lacking in originality but undeniably entertaining.