Review: White House Down

Channing Tatum plays a screw-up with a military past who gets rejected for Presidential Secret Service detail. Nonetheless he takes the time to take a tour of the White House with his political geek 11 year-old daughter (Joey King) when all hell breaks loose. A group of the FBI’s Most Wanted headed by paramilitary-type Jason Clarke and working for disgruntled retiring head of Secret Service James Woods has invaded the White House! Woods’ son was a soldier killed on what he feels was President Jamie Foxx’s watch, something he wants POTUS to pay for. Now it’s up to Tatum, whose presence is not yet known to the terrorists, to save the President’s life, and the day. Michael Murphy plays the useless VP, Richard Jenkins plays the Speaker of the House whose protection Tatum is currently a part of, and Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Woods’ star pupil, who rejected Tatum (whom she went to college with, no less) for the Presidential Secret Service gig.

 

Every year brings with it a few films that genuinely surprise you in a positive way you weren’t expecting, and this refreshingly old-school action/thriller from director Roland Emmerich (“ID4”, “The Day After Tomorrow”) and writer James Vanderbilt (“Basic”, “Zodiac”, “The Amazing Spider Man”), was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2013 for me. In fact, I’d argue it’s Emmerich’s best film to date, for whatever that’s worth. The set-up is definitely in the tradition of “Die Hard”, and elements of the Channing Tatum character aren’t too far removed from John McClane, either (A father with a strained relationship with the mother of his kid, he’s a resourceful hero stuck in the middle of a terrorist situation, etc.). Co-star Jimmi Simpson has undoubtedly seen “Die Hard” as he’s essentially giving the same performance as the guy who played the computer whiz among the terrorists in that film.

 

It’s a pretty good role for Tatum, and given he served as EP on the film, he obviously believed in the project. It takes a lot of balls to try and make a traditional 80s-style action-thriller today, especially when the President is a key figure in the plot of the film (As is the case with another film from 2013, “Olympus Has Fallen”, which came out first but I saw second). The character is rather troubled, and while he’s easy to root for, you can also see why he doesn’t get hired at the beginning of the film. You want the best and most reliable to be among the POTUS’s security detail, and this guy doesn’t seem reliable. But then he spends the next two hours or so redeeming himself, and proving himself. Jamie Foxx, meanwhile is an easygoing Obama-esque President. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Republican James Woods is the lead villain. When it’s his wont, Woods can be one of the most dynamic of all actors, and here he’s having an absolute field day basically trying to kill Obama. Both he and the lead terrorist played by a well-cast Jason Clarke have interesting motives and backgrounds. The film may be silly as all hell, but it’s not brainless and stupid. There’s also good back up by the very fine Richard Jenkins and the just plain lovely Maggie Gyllenhaal, who needs to be in every movie as far as I’m concerned.

 

It’s a bit slow early on, but this should’ve been awful…and it’s not. I’m shocked, but this is jolly good fun and certainly better than “Air Force One”. Some will likely find it distasteful in a post-9/11 world, but I somewhat yearn for the days of 80s action blockbusters and this is perhaps the first film since 1997’s “Con Air” to bring me back to the good ‘ol days. You’d swear Steven E. de Souza (“Commando”, “The Running Man”, “Die Hard”) had a hand in the script, it certainly has his mixture of action and a sense of humour. God help me, but I had a ball with this one.

 

Rating: B-