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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

White House Down (2013)


What sets Roland Emmerich apart from many of today’s blockbuster filmmakers is the absolute sincerity with which he goes about his schlocky business. He is preoccupied with just a single thing: making his movies as fun as he can for the broadest possible audience. Even as most big-budget filmmaking seems to be going in a darker direction, Emmerich has stood pat in his ways. His new film White House Down is, as you might expect, a dunderheaded piece of work. But it’s also an absolute blast for all the right and wrong reasons; a film completely aware of what it is and embracing it every step of the way. Emmerich aside, the not-so-secret weapon of White House Down is the chemistry and charisma of Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum, who play every ridiculous moment just about perfectly. Audiences are going to eat this thing up.


Tatum plays John Cale, an officer looking to break into the Secret Service. One day while visiting the White House with his daughter (Joey King), a group of terrorists led by Jason Clarke begin an attack that leaves many dead and most civilians as hostages. However, they do not immediately capture Cale, and that leaves him to wander around the White House looking for his daughter. He isn’t successful in that regard, but he does find President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). The two of them begin looking for a way out of the mess, but the conspiracy surrounding the attack reveals itself to be even crazier than anyone imagined. Other key players involve James Woods and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Secret Service agents, Richard Jenkins as the Speaker of the House, Michael Murphy as the Vice President, Jimmi Simpson as the terrorists’ computer geek, and Lance Reddick as some important military person. I don’t recall specifics, and they don’t matter.

The one thing that keeps White House Down from being a wholly successful thrill ride is the less-than-stellar CGI, which has never been Roland Emmerich’s friend. The reason the effects in Independence Day were so brilliant is because of the use of miniatures and practical effects, and that is when Emmerich is usually at his best. If he’s not just handing it over to the computer people, he’s usually able to create something worth looking at. There are some really good action beats here, but much of the CGI-driven setpieces fall flat. Yes, I’m an old man when it comes to this subject, but movies look more impressive when the audience knows what they’re looking at is, on some level, actually happening.

At least White House Down doesn’t go overboard with the effects, and the biggest advantage it has over this year’s other White House invasion movie Olympus Has Fallen is that it actually presents us with characters we want to root for. That film was a cavalcade of stupidity, but you wouldn’t want to tell anyone involved that. White House Down heaps silliness on top of silliness to the point where you can’t help but admire it, and it’s never better than when it just sits back and lets the duo of Tatum and Foxx do the heavy lifting. Tatum in particular is impressive here, and he continues his winning streak that began early last year with films like 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike. He’s always had charisma, but only recently has the movie industry recognized how to use it the right way. The more stoic the character, the more awkward it’s going to be. If you’re going to cast him, you’ve got to let Tatum be Tatum. Meanwhile, we’ve always known that Foxx is a fantastic presence, and he proves to be the perfect commander in chief for Emmerich’s universe. Whether he’s acting presidential or in the midst of a quip-heavy action scene with his partner in crime, he’s equally convincing.

In keeping with Emmerich’s modus operandi, this movie is also absurdly cheesy in its most climactic moments. Imagine Bill Pullman’s speech in Independence Day times a million, and you’ll start to get the right idea. That’s all part of this movie’s over-the-top charm, and it provides a nice break from movies like Man of Steel where entire cities are destroyed in an entirely humorless and compassionless fashion. There’s destruction galore in White House Down, but it isn’t nearly as soul crushing. This is not a great movie, but it’s the kind of project where everyone showed up knowing what the mission was and knowing precisely the kind of movie they were going to make. Other blockbusters look to pummel the audience into submission. Emmerich isn’t nearly as aggressive. He just wants to entertain, and he’s willing to make his films as silly as possible in order to accomplish this goal.


Grade: B

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