White House Down

Seems that the new generation of Action heroes are now coming up, replacing old favorites such as Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis and Jackie Chan.

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-Spoilers Below-

I just finished watching White House Down.

John Cale (Channing Tatum) is stuck in the White house with his daughter (Joey King) when the White House gets taken over by a mish-mash group of radicals, mercenaries and disgruntled Delta Force operators orchestrated by retiring Head of the Secret Service Detail Martin Walker (James Wood), and masterminded by the Vice-President Alvin Hammond (Michael Murphy). Starting with a stroke of chance, he end up rescuing President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) and saving the day with the help of, well everyone.

It seems to be the season of White House Invasions with the premiere of Olympus has Fallen just a few months back in march. However, unlike the serious nature of Olympus, White House Down (WHD) seems to take itself much more lightly. With this in mind, I find the casting rather good, with Jamie Foxx as President. While many critics have flamed him as a mediocre actor ill-suited to such a role, I find his portrayal of the president to be apt for this movie, where you have hilarious fight scenes (forced to replace shoes, takes down leather shoes. Reconsiders it a second later and chooses shiny white sport shoes instead). While it is hard to explain humor in the situation, when you catch the movie, you will find Jamie Foxx to be able to carry out the amusing scenes needed to keep the film light-hearted.

This is especially as it keeps the concepts raised in the movie from being too deep. Why is being deep bad? For a movie with this setting to occur, various plot-holes must be addressed. Another way is to add in humor so that people will look past the gaping plot-holes and appreciate the movie and be able to absorb more of what the movie is saying instead of being preoccupied with the minute details. One can view the movie in 2 different parts. Firstly, we have the overt action comedy movie that it is, with Tatum diving over furniture, through windows or the amusing scenes. (The presidential limousine driving around the fountain while being chased by other vehicles.) It is a decent PG13- movie that can be enjoyed with friends and family.

On the other hand, we can analyze the macro situation presented by the screenwriters and shown to us via the actors. We have the idea of the pen vs. the sword definitely, as well as the reactions of the weapon industries if the USA pulls out all military operations in the Middle East. Of course they are not developed extensively in the movie (it is not a documentary) but it does raise such points and we can think about it and progress further but thinking about how such ideas can be progressed, what can come out of it.

Overall, I find it a good 4/5 for general entertainment value. (I generally do not watch Hollywood films for their plots or philosophical ideas; those are bonuses when they crop up)

-ARP