{"id":12367,"date":"2025-07-07T23:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T03:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12367"},"modified":"2025-07-07T23:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T03:36:08","slug":"white-house-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/07\/07\/white-house-down\/","title":{"rendered":"White House Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"White House Down<\/strong> (2013)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 131 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG -13 (language, prolonged sequences of intense action and violence, a brief sexual image)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Roland Emmerich\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James Vanderbilt\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Anna Foerster\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 28, 2013 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, James Woods, Garcelle Beauvais, Lance Reddick, Joey King, Rachelle Lefevre, Michael Murphy, Nicolas Wright, Jimmi Simpson, Matt Craven, Jake Weber, Peter Jacobson, Barbara Williams.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $73.1M (US)\/$205.4M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have to admit that I do like Olympus Has Fallen Again \u2026.. I mean, White House Down<\/strong>, the second \u201cDie Hard in the White House\u201d action flick to hit cinemas this year. It does, however, leave me with this one burning question that I\u2019m sure others are asking as well. What does the German-born Roland Emmerich have against this country? He obliterated the White House in Independence Day (1996) and makes a bloody mess of it in White House Down<\/strong> by way of a terrorist attack. Actually, \u201cbloody\u201d is a poor choice of words since we\u2019re talking about a PG-13 action movie. There\u2019s action, mayhem and destruction aplenty, but precious little bloodshed is actually shown. In any event, it\u2019s of little consequence since the movie is darn entertaining.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I knew exactly what to expect going in, but I didn\u2019t expect to enjoy it so much. I haven\u2019t been very impressed with Hollywood\u2019s cinematic offerings so far this summer and, as the movie got underway, I had a sick feeling that it would be yet another letdown. Then something unexpected happened, I started to enjoy it. It hit me that White House Down<\/strong> is exactly what it\u2019s supposed to be, a total popcorn flick. That means it\u2019s silly, mindless, action-packed and, most importantly, not believable for a single second.\u00a0 It has OTT villains spouting goofball tough guy dialogue, a reluctant hero who proves to be a real bad ass, a President who proves to be a real bad ass and wall-to-wall stunts that defy all laws of gravity and physics. It even has a little girl who isn\u2019t afraid to stand up to the gun-waving bad guys. It wasn\u2019t too difficult to give myself over to White House Down<\/strong> and just enjoy the silliness of it all. I\u2019d even dare to say that it\u2019s the most fun I\u2019ve had at the movies this summer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0White House Down<\/strong> is one of those films that can be succinctly described in a single phrase. As previously stated, it\u2019s \u201cDie Hard in the White House\u201d. That\u2019s right, another terrorist situation has arisen at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This second time around, they\u2019re of the homegrown variety. And boy, have they picked the wrong day for an armed attack. In all their precision planning, they didn\u2019t count on John Cale (Tatum, 21 Jump Street). The underachieving DC police officer has come to apply for a position in the Secret Service, bringing along his 11YO daughter Emily (King, Oz the Great and Powerful) with whom he shares a dicey relationship. She resents him for the same reasons that his application is ultimately rejected; he\u2019s unreliable and never follows through on anything. All is forgiven, however, when he surprises her with White House passes. She\u2019s obsessed with politics (she has a YouTube channel) and jumps at the chance to meet President James Sawyer (Foxx, Django Unchained) who recently announced a historic Middle East peace treaty proposal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0After we get a rundown on White House security protocols as well as a guided tour, an explosion rocks the Capitol. Tourists and staff members run for cover, Secret Service agents rush their charges to safety, the President\u2019s head of security (Woods, True Believer) whisks him away and armed bad guys arrive on the scene, guns-a-blazing. It\u2019s a paramilitary group led by Emil Stenz (Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty), another pissed-off nutjob with a beef against the American government. Ever hear of writing to your Congressman?<\/p>\n

\u00a0In all the confusion, Emily becomes separated from her father and he runs off to look for her, gun and cell phone in hand. Certain events transpire that necessitate Special Agent Carol Finnerty (Gyllenhaal, The Dark Knight) to take command. By some strange coincidence, she\u2019s also the agent that interviewed and rejected Cale. Is it possible he might prove her wrong? It\u2019s up to him to keep Sawyer alive and free from harm while he looks for his daughter. Do you think he might take out a few right-wing psychos and mercenaries along the way? Is there a traitor in the President\u2019s midst? What could be the motive for all this? Are all the bad guys on the same page? Easy answers, all straight out of Action 101.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I really like White House Down<\/strong>, but it\u2019s far from being flawless. It\u2019s one thing for an action movie to lack any and all sense of verisimilitude; it\u2019s quite another to try and get certain things past more observant audience members. For example, Stenz and his men enter the White House posing as workmen installing a new sound system in the White House movie theater. They just waltz right past the security guards with their toolboxes in hand without being stopped and searched. What\u2019s the deal, is it part of their union contract to get a free pass when working at the White House? By the way, guess what\u2019s really in those toolboxes? Except for one unexpected plot development, White House Down<\/strong> is fairly predictable. For example, anybody who understands Hollywood typecasting will immediately know which character turns out to be a villain based on the actor who plays him\/her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As far as performances go, I can\u2019t complain too much. Based on physique, Tatum makes a pretty decent action lead. If only he had a bit more personality to go along with his muscles. Foxx does pretty well as the Commander-in-Chief who taps into his inner bad ass in the face of all the mayhem. Clarke makes a decent but hardly exceptional villain; he won\u2019t be remembered as easily and as fondly as Alan Rickman (Die Hard) or Jeremy Irons (Die Hard with a Vengeance). Young Ms. King pretty much steals the show as a preteen who\u2019s as fearless as she is intelligent. She manages to record footage of the terrorists in action on her cell phone and download it to her channel before getting caught. Naturally, it goes viral within hours and seriously pisses off the bad guys. Emily is no frightened little child, that\u2019s for sure. The only weak link is a woefully miscast Gyllenhaal whose emotions run the gamut from A to A1 in this movie. She\u2019s completely unconvincing as a Secret Service agent.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The main reason people will buy tickets for White House Down<\/strong> is the action. It\u2019s a pretty exciting flick, whether it\u2019s Tatum and Foxx taking part in a wild car chase around the White House lawn or Black Hawk helicopters flying along the busy DC streets to surprise the terrorists. Once the ball gets rolling, Emmerich doesn\u2019t let up too much. He\u2019s actually one of the better filmmakers who specialize in this kind of flick. His credits include Stargate, Independence Day (which gets a shout-out here), Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. There\u2019s absolutely no question that White House Down<\/strong> is as ludicrous as they come. Maybe that\u2019s why it\u2019s such a fun movie. Sometimes it\u2019s best not to ask too many questions and just surrender to the entertaining silliness of a summer action flick. So what if it runs a bit longer than it should? It\u2019s too hot to nitpick about a movie this fun.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

White House Down (2013)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 131 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG -13 (language, prolonged sequences of intense action and violence, a brief sexual image)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Roland Emmerich\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James Vanderbilt\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Anna Foerster\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 28, 2013 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kick-ass-actioners"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/White-House-Down-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12367"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12428,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367\/revisions\/12428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}