White House Down, is the 2nd of the White House invasion movies to come out this year after March's Olympus Has Fallen. The two films don't have much in common save for a concept and I found White House Down to be the superior of the two. Unlike Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down doesn't take itself too seriously and offers up a slightly more plausible take on a completely absurd concept. The film is fully aware of how ridiculous the events that are taking place over the course of the film are and the film has a great sense of humor throughout (something Olympus Has Fallen mostly lacked.) Embracing its stupidity, the film proves to be a lot of fun especially in the 1st half. Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx have a natural chemistry and just roll with the material in an effortless, confident fashion. Every minute these two are on-screen together is just an absolute blast. It impresses be how much Tatum has come along as an actor over the past couple years. He's becoming increasingly more versatile and with this can now add bonafide action star to his resume. The action scenes mostly hit the mark with one sequence on the White House Lawn being particularly impressive. Roland Emmerich is a veteran blockbuster director and if there is one thing this man knows how to do, it's how to blow shit up on a grand scale and he does so gleefully and constantly during a majority of this film.
My one beef with this movie is that it's a bit too long and the second half just isn't as much as fun as the 1st half. It certainly has its moments in the final action sequence with some tongue-in-cheek kills and a few great lines, but it gets too bogged down in the second half with scenes with the villains trying too hard to be menacing and scenes at the Pentagon with the remaining government officials bitching at each other about protocol. These scenes aren't necessarily completely awful, but they are a bit overacted and slow down the film's otherwise incendiary pace. However, the film's biggest mistake was separating Tatum and Foxx for most of the final act of the film The film is firing on all cylinders when these two are together so naturally the film gets a bit less interesting when these two aren't on-screen together. For the most part, White House Down is an entertaining, funny and occasionally touching film that more than does the trick for mindless summer entertainment.
3.5/5 Stars
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