If you couldn't tell by my title, there was another movie released in 2013 before White House Down with the exact same premise as this film. Being the second best movie of two with the same super-clichéd plot doesn't fare well for any film, including White House Down.
There is arguably no bigger cliché than the most secure building on Earth being overrun, so a movie that adapts this premise needs to make sure they know what they're doing and unfortunately, WHD does not. The plot never makes itself clear, at least in terms of the bad guys and there are twists that overall make the film a sometimes puzzling piece of work. I believe that it is the script itself that has too many holes thus creating a movie with several holes as well. The overall concept behind this film is pretty dull to say the least.
Obviously a movie like this is going to have a plethora of action, and there is plenty of it here. The action can be viewed in two ways: if you try to take the movie seriously, then the action is painfully dull and clichéd, to a point where it leaves the "it's so bad it's good" realm. However, if you end up watching the film with the notion in mind that this is one big dumb action movie that you can laugh at, then sure, it could have a lot of entertainment value. I love a good action movie that turns clichés into awesome, bad ass moments, but WHD fails to deliver that with poorly edited action all around.
Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx give the film a couple high profile names, but the chemistry just isn't there to provide the movie with any extra sense of emotion or depth. Tatum's character is sometimes just not the action hero you want to see, but also can be a pleasant surprise and show some entertainment. As the President of the United States, Jamie Foxx also does a okay job, providing some laughs but overall not very interesting.
It's not easy to compete head-to-head with another similarly themed movie in the same year, with White House Down having to go up against "Olympus Has Fallen". While there might be some flashes of solid entertainment value, White House Down's poor script, undeveloped and uninteresting characters and action that overall isn't that great gives Olympus the edge in the year's "which White House movie is better?" debate.
6/10
There is arguably no bigger cliché than the most secure building on Earth being overrun, so a movie that adapts this premise needs to make sure they know what they're doing and unfortunately, WHD does not. The plot never makes itself clear, at least in terms of the bad guys and there are twists that overall make the film a sometimes puzzling piece of work. I believe that it is the script itself that has too many holes thus creating a movie with several holes as well. The overall concept behind this film is pretty dull to say the least.
Obviously a movie like this is going to have a plethora of action, and there is plenty of it here. The action can be viewed in two ways: if you try to take the movie seriously, then the action is painfully dull and clichéd, to a point where it leaves the "it's so bad it's good" realm. However, if you end up watching the film with the notion in mind that this is one big dumb action movie that you can laugh at, then sure, it could have a lot of entertainment value. I love a good action movie that turns clichés into awesome, bad ass moments, but WHD fails to deliver that with poorly edited action all around.
Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx give the film a couple high profile names, but the chemistry just isn't there to provide the movie with any extra sense of emotion or depth. Tatum's character is sometimes just not the action hero you want to see, but also can be a pleasant surprise and show some entertainment. As the President of the United States, Jamie Foxx also does a okay job, providing some laughs but overall not very interesting.
It's not easy to compete head-to-head with another similarly themed movie in the same year, with White House Down having to go up against "Olympus Has Fallen". While there might be some flashes of solid entertainment value, White House Down's poor script, undeveloped and uninteresting characters and action that overall isn't that great gives Olympus the edge in the year's "which White House movie is better?" debate.
6/10