Rated: P13
Genre: Action, thriller
Running Time: 131 minutes
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: James Vanderbilt
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, James Woods
Synopsis: In Columbia Pictures' White House Down, Capitol Policeman John Cale (Channing Tatum) has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service of protecting President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). Not wanting to let down his little girl with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation's government falling into chaos and time running out, it's up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country.
Verdict: White House taken over by a bunch of incompetent terrorists, president is trapped inside and only one man left to save the day. Sounds familiar? Yes, it's practically the same thing as Olympus Has Fallen that's released earlier this year, but worse part's that it's not as thrilling and the action is less gritty. In Olympus, we're to believe that the Koreans can capture the White House completely within 15 minutes. In White House Down here, we're to believe that the security of the White House just sucks, with no use of surveillance camera or even strict security checks. Just like most summer action flicks, White House Down is downright cheesy, cliched and lazily written. It also has one too many unimpressive twists which unnecessarily extends the length of the film. Even Channing Tatum seems lacking of charm here.
Second opinion: "Action scenes and humour make it nice to watch; liked it more than Olympus Has Fallen" (girlfriend).
Strangers in the cinema hall: "Did you like the movie?" "Boring ah..."
Malaysian censorship: It seemed that only one line is muted but thanks to the annoying "men in black" (those people who suit up & walk around in the cinema to check if anyone is using electronic devices in the cinema hall), my view was blocked during that scene. Considering how predictable and corny the film is, I believe it should be either "go to hell", "fuck you", "fuck off" or "go fuck yourself".
Rating: 1.5 / 5
[SPOILER SECTION BEGINS HERE]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Worse line in the movie: "They don't call it a blog anymore," says the protagonist's daughter, Emily Cale (Joey King), to his father, John (Channing Tatum). No, a blog's still a blog. Yours is a YouTube channel or a vlog, you little shit.
Good guy villains: Instead of making use of the surveillance cameras of the White House (or at least plan to) to spot John Cale, the bad guys brought their own one... only one. They find Emily, who recorded their faces and uploaded to YouTube, but all they do is give her a slap. And when she tells one of them to stay away from her, he does. What, after killing so many people, they suddenly realise they have a soft spot for kids? They then manage to hack into the White House's system and all they do is launch a missile to an airplane? Since the missile can't even cause a whole plane to explode, why not launch another one to the military and police force outside that may come barging or to the few countries they wanted to? It won't affect the White House, right? And the fighting scene between John Cale and Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke) is as un-gritty as it comes in most summer action flicks...
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