★★
Roland Emmerich’s “White House Down” brings us the second white
house take-over film this year [the other Being “Olympus has Fallen”…reviewed
by Trevor May 3rd] but that is not necessarily a good thing. The
story, written by James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man, The Losers) seems
tired—full of the standard espionage clichés.
The President makes a political
move that prompts power-hunger weapons
companies to want him removed from office; a plan is set in motion to take him
down; the proper people are paid off from all levels of the government;
mercenaries are hired; and a down-and-out soldier saves the day. Seem all-to
familiar?
Jamie Foxx (Ray, Django Unchained) plays President James
Sawyer, a very President Obama-esc president. He never served in the US
Military and is about to abolish the war in the middle east and completely
withdraw all military presence based on information given him by the Iranian
President AL-Shareef. This is not a very popular move on Capitol Hill,
especially with Speaker of the House Raphelson (Richard Jenkins) as is intoned
during a private conversation with his lead Capitol Hill Police officer, John
Cale (Channing Tatum).
John Cale desires more than being Capitol Hill police and is
set to interview with Secret Service for a job at the White House. At the interview
he discovers that an old college flame, Carol Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is
now the Special Agent in charge of White House Secret Service personnel. After
telling him that he is unqualified for the position, he is summarily dismissed.
However, since he brought his daughter along on the interview [exactly…WHAT???]
he decides to take White House Tour that is just beginning as they are signing
out to leave.
John’s daughter, Emily Cale, played by Joey King (Oz the
Great and Powerful) is the break-away star of the movie. During the ensuing White
House take-over, she records information on her phone and posts it to her
YouTube© blog for the world to see. She becomes an internet and media darling—ultimately
leading the bad-guys to recognize her and use her as bait to lure John Cale out
of hiding with the President who he managed to rescue from uncountable
mercenaries armed with fully automatic weaponry. King’s performance is amazing as she plays a modern-day
damsel in distress courageously and defiantly. She provides the much-needed (albeit
shallow) depth to the film’s entire story line.
During the course of this film we come to realize that not
only are multiple people on Capitol Hill unhappy with the president, but his
own head of Secret Service, Special Agent Walker (James Woods) is in on the
hatred as well—due to his son being killed in a President sanctioned Marine
insurgence into Iran. He is working with Stenz (Jason Clarke…Zero Dark Thirty,
Lawless) and Tyler (Jimmi Simpson…Date Night, Zodiac) to help reestablish the
United States’ position in the Middle East.
I will not spoil entire plot (as it is much too thin
already) but it is safe to say “White House Down,” while not big on plot and
innovative storyline, should easily satisfy all of the big booms and gun-fire
that everyone expects from this type of film. On that front, the film editing
by Adam Wolfe (who has started to transition from TV series like Criminal Minds
and Third Watch) and sound editing by Jamey Scott (Total Recall 2012) are spot
on.
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