Police Officer John Cale has applied for a job in the Secret Service at the White House. He takes his daughter, Emily, with him when he goes there for an interview. He is rejected but can't bring himself to tell Emily. Since they are there already he decides that they should tag along with one of the tours of the building. Emily is thrilled when she gets to meet the president but the joy is short-lived as a group of terrorists take control of the building. Separated from his daughter Cale manages to acquire a pistol and get away from the terrorists. He later gets to President James Sawyer and rescues him from the head terrorist... who is none other than his outgoing chief of security! Still trapped inside the White House Cale and the President struggle to get out while elsewhere people start discussing the transfer of power when it is assumed Sawyer is dead or captured.If you are looking for something serious or even something vaguely believable then this won't be the film for you; however if you want full-on, over-the-top action then this is probably the film for you. Once the terrorists first strike the action barely stops till the film ends; there are fights, numerous shootouts, exploding helicopters and even the president firing a rocket launcher from his car as it races over the White House lawn pursued by terrorists firing a minigun! It must be said that some of the special effects are a bit weak; some of the explosions are clearly CGI. The cast; led by Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx as Cale and Sawyer; and supported by the likes of James Woods, as head bad guy; Joey King, as Emily; and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a senior Secret Service agent put in solid performances while never taking things too seriously. Overall I'd say this film is a lot of fun; put your brain in neutral, ignore the clichés and enjoy the mindless action!

I'll be honest. I kinda didn't watch the movie for this long because I thought I had already seen it.Turns out, it was Olympus Has Fallen, the movie released in the same year with same premise. It says a lot about Hollywood, A LOT.The plot is same, a white guy saves the president of the United States and thus, saves the world (cause Mericah! is the world). Filled with average performances and average action scenes, there isn't anything new here. Though I DO think the action and CGI in this movie is slightly better than Olympus (bigger budget is my guess).Meh! Going to give it same rating as Olympus.

This movie was so god awful bad. So many have written about it, that I'll just hit the things that irked me the most. First let's start with the take over scene. I just watched it again, and maybe a dozen people take over the entire White House and NO ONE EVEN GETS ONE SHOT OFF defending it. The first shot is not until they enter the room Channing Tatum is in, and by then they already have the White House except for the president. The terrorist hit every shot they take. They never miss. Until of course they shoot at Channing or the president. And how many people are defending the White House, 15? 20? At least in Olympus there is almost an army in it and they take out a few bad guys. It seems a lot more reasonable. Maybe they didn't want to pay extras the money. But it seems so ridiculous that the White House can be taken by a few guys walking around with pistols, and then equally bad that these same expert marks men can't hit anyone else after they take it over. I know this is true in a lot of action movies, but it's so bad and ridiculous here it's mind blowing. OK after that, why do they have to have the annoying little girl in this? Olympus did it right with the kid. He knew his role and what he was supposed to do. This girl kept making the movie super annoying because you knew nothing would happen to her., and she kept getting in trouble. And the flag waving scene they stole from the Rock? Who thinks of this stuff and actually likes it? It's awful. Like makes you hate the movie awful.And last, the left wing agenda is sickening. The only reason to give this a score above 3 is if your politics brain washes to do that. Olympus has fallen is better acted, better plot, better bad guys, slightly more realistic, and way less of an annoying kid. I would give White House Down 2 stars if the kid was not in it. It's not like Olympus is a great movie, but compared to this garbage it's a masterpiece. Maybe WHD appeals to a small demographic, but overall it is just junk.

Roland Emmerich is such an uneven filmmaker, he can create a true masterpiece as Day After Tomorrow, where all the elements go together flawlessly and impeccably, and then he can do such a mess as 2012 with all its hilarious idiocy or sequel to Independence Day which is another shameful abomination of all worst clichés possible. So, here, Emmerich is very uneven, too. His take on White House terrorist attack is of very resemblance to Olympus Falling with Gerard Butler in main part. That makes this film a point of harsh critique and often rightly so, as yeah, there are some obvious repeated clichés and trite formula steps. At the same time, the stellar cast of actors here make a good job, and what can one possibly say bad about such luminaries as Jamie Foxx, James Woods, Channing Tatum, Maggie Gyllenhaal, among many, and they do their parts well, very well. The video effects are nice, too, and generally 2 hours fly very fast and the fast pace of the events adds to the neatly calculated suspense. At the same time, several illogical plot moments, hasty twists, laughable dialog and pathetic scenes spoil the mood. So, this is really 5 out of 10 - not bad not great.