I am really starting to wonder if Roland Emmerich is a terrorist. Emmerich, who is the king daddy of terribly enjoyable movies, seems to destroy the world with nearly every one of his films. Lets just think about what he's done to the planet so far. Aliens destroyed in Independence Day; Godzilla destroyed in... well, Godzilla; a huge wave destroyed in The Day After Tomorrow, and nearly everything destroyed in 2012. Now, he has directed a way to kill the president, in White House Down.
White House Down is an absurd thriller from a wizard of absurd thrillers. Nobody knows how to blow stuff up better than Emmerich, and here he does it so effortlessly. WHD is a dumb movie, but it is an entertaining one, and sometimes that's all that really matters in a summer.
Channing Tatum, who is practically taking over the world himself, plays John Cale, a man who desperately wants to work for the secret service. He soon gets his chance, and then some, when the white house comes under attack. Basically, Cale and the president (Jamie Foxx) play a game of cat-and-mouse with a terrorist group (led by Jason Clarke) hellbent on taking the president down.
WHD is the spawn of Die Hard and this year's Olympus Has Fallen. It lacks creativity, it is predictable, it is cliché, it is noisy, it is stupid. But the actors are all likable here. They all seem to be having a good time here. Also, it's fast-paced and intense. This is far from the best movie of the summer, but it sure isn't the worst. Here is a movie that knows its audience and what it's trying to be, and proud of it.
B-
White House Down is an absurd thriller from a wizard of absurd thrillers. Nobody knows how to blow stuff up better than Emmerich, and here he does it so effortlessly. WHD is a dumb movie, but it is an entertaining one, and sometimes that's all that really matters in a summer.
Channing Tatum, who is practically taking over the world himself, plays John Cale, a man who desperately wants to work for the secret service. He soon gets his chance, and then some, when the white house comes under attack. Basically, Cale and the president (Jamie Foxx) play a game of cat-and-mouse with a terrorist group (led by Jason Clarke) hellbent on taking the president down.
WHD is the spawn of Die Hard and this year's Olympus Has Fallen. It lacks creativity, it is predictable, it is cliché, it is noisy, it is stupid. But the actors are all likable here. They all seem to be having a good time here. Also, it's fast-paced and intense. This is far from the best movie of the summer, but it sure isn't the worst. Here is a movie that knows its audience and what it's trying to be, and proud of it.
B-