You get yourself a hot young lead actor, a musician turned Oscar winner, a director who essentially ejaculates shoddy visual effects that reek of mediocrity and top it off with a story that feels reminiscent to 'Die Hard'...however feels more like 'Die Soft'. Put them all together and you get White House Down, a film so unnecessary and unfortunate with the timing of its release (the same year as 'Olympus Has Fallen') that you start to question its existence. The White House is under attack, the president and government officials are held hostage as terrorists cause havoc and seek demands. John McClane was busy in Moscow, so they got Channing Tatum instead...honestly, I've already forgotten his character's name. Right, so here's the problem. There are unrealistic films that are fun, and then there are fun films that are unrealistic. This falls into the former category. Why? Well alright, here we go! One scene in particular: the president and a "secret service agent" are driving around the front lawn in an armoured limousine being chased down by three SUVs with machine guns, rocket launchers and assault rifles. The president, and I kid you not, gets a rocket launcher as he peers out of the passenger window and fires it. Seriously? Could you imagine Trump doing that? Sweet lord his hair would be all over the place. To conclude, this film is a visual effects mess weighed down by a "comedic" screenplay that hosts an uninspired plot and derivative action. Foxx and Tatum have good chemistry sure, and Clarke still remains decent (although always chooses poor films). And yes, you could say some parts are enjoyable. But Emmerich is so stuck in the past, that the film immediately feels outdated. It's not 1996 anymore, come on! His excessive patriotism is just too much for me. Don't even get me started on the comedic relief that constantly missed, much like the mercenaries who can't fire their weapons for toffee! Just go watch 'Olympus Has Fallen' instead, as this White House is staying down.

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.

White House Down(2013) Starring: Channnig Tatum,Jamie Fox,Maggie Gylenhal,Jason Clarke,Richard Jenkins,James Woods,Joey King,Nicholas Wright,Jimmi Simpson,and Michael Murphey Directed By:Roland Emmerich Olympus has fallen 2,oh no wait that's not what this is an entirely different titled movie with the same plot,wow that's kind of boring even for an action film. Channing Tatum plays Casey a want to be security agent for the white house to protect the president who of course doesn't get the job. He lies to his daughter,of course while there is a plot to take over the white house.The white house gets blown up by tons of CGI explosions,and taken over by someone from special defense. Casey while trying to rescue his daughter meets up with the president to team up and take back the white house. What an overloaded poorly shot special effect action mess. This was a movie that wasted half of my time for unknown reason probably to make it longer and more boring then it already was going to be in the later half of the film. I was feeling so bored that I just wanted to take my blanket and pillow and sleep on the couch. There was nothing new to the table for this movie that was suppose to be mindless fun to be fun. It just came off as lazy,stupid and boring. The acting is good for the most part,I believe it's the only logical reason to see this movie. The acting from our two main leads is what would ultimately drive anyone to seeing this garbage because they do play off each other quite well in this piece trash.The rest of the actors there just sleepwalking in their roles and look completely bored or stupid. With all the problems I have it may be unoriginal,boring,and stupid with poor camera shots and CGI but the acting of our two main makes it at least a little bit more commendable. I give White House Down a two out of five.