Second Term
7.0 out of 10 | Rental
Rated: PG-13 Some language, a brief sexual image, sequences of intense action violence, and intense gunfire and explosions
Release Date: June 28, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
Release Date: June 28, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writers: James Vanderbilt
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, Joey King, James Woods, Jimmi Simpson, Nicolas Wright
Writers: James Vanderbilt
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, Joey King, James Woods, Jimmi Simpson, Nicolas Wright
SYNOPSIS: While on a tour of the White House with his young daughter, a Capitol policeman springs into action to save his child and protect the president from a heavily armed group of paramilitary invaders.
REVIEW: Director Roland Emmerich is known for his summer tentpole disaster films, including 2012 and Independence Day. He returns with another turn at the wheel with more mundane fare than aliens and the end of the world. James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man) writes a story about terrorists against the White House and the President.
John Cale (Channing Tatum, This is the End) is a Capitol policeman assigned to a protective detail for the Speaker of the House Raphelson (Richard Jenkins, Jack Reacher), back from serving three tours in Afghanistan and trying to get back into his politically inclined daughter's good graces. When John takes his daughter Emily (Joey King, Oz the Great and Powerful) to the White House for a job interview for the presidential secret service protective detail and afterward for a White House tour, John realizes that he has just walked him and his daughter into a terrorist ambush against President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained). Torn between protecting the daughter he loves and the presidency he respects, John must make hard choices to discover if he has what it takes.
Armageddon and Deep Impact, The Prestige and The Illusionist, and countless other film pairs that share the same concept from separate studios forced to duke it out in the same film season, White House Down will take its place with the earlier released Olympus Has Fallen. The question is which one is the better film?
While Roland Emmerich has a string of successful summer disaster blockbusters under his belt, Gerard Butler's Olympus Has Fallen seems to be the Armageddon to White House Down's Deep Impact. In comparison, while White House Down has all the slick and signature look of Emmerich's films, and that Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx make a decent comedy pair, the story falls a little flat when it comes to full-on action. The fight choreography and gunfights… Olympus Has Fallen sweeps the board against what Tatum and Foxx have to offer. Both filmss have a child in jeopardy, Olympus... has the President's son and White House... has Cale's daughter in trouble. The villains in each could be a draw in terms of their dastardly motivation. Olympus Has Fallen only had Eckhart and Butler as the main acting draws. White House Down boasts James Wood, Jamie Foxx, Channing Tatum, Maggie Gyllenhall, Richard Jenkins and a few other notable actors. White House Down is the more comedic of the two… although lacking against Olympus Has Fallen's straight on hard-core action with a little dose of snarky rapport.
If these movies came out in different seasons or different years they would be judged on their own merits. Since Olympus Has Fallen came out first its review is based on its own merits, while the second in line White House Down is forced to live in the shadow of a first born twin. The Channing Tatum character is just trying to get into a job that his daughter will respect, while Gerard Butler's character was a top notch Secret Service agent who lost everything trying to keep his head above water.
Enough comparisons! White House down is a decent story of lesser value than Emmerich's Independence Day or 2012, but less epic and less well put together. Was Emmerich rushed to get this flick out quick? We may never know!
Armageddon and Deep Impact, The Prestige and The Illusionist, and countless other film pairs that share the same concept from separate studios forced to duke it out in the same film season, White House Down will take its place with the earlier released Olympus Has Fallen. The question is which one is the better film?
While Roland Emmerich has a string of successful summer disaster blockbusters under his belt, Gerard Butler's Olympus Has Fallen seems to be the Armageddon to White House Down's Deep Impact. In comparison, while White House Down has all the slick and signature look of Emmerich's films, and that Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx make a decent comedy pair, the story falls a little flat when it comes to full-on action. The fight choreography and gunfights… Olympus Has Fallen sweeps the board against what Tatum and Foxx have to offer. Both filmss have a child in jeopardy, Olympus... has the President's son and White House... has Cale's daughter in trouble. The villains in each could be a draw in terms of their dastardly motivation. Olympus Has Fallen only had Eckhart and Butler as the main acting draws. White House Down boasts James Wood, Jamie Foxx, Channing Tatum, Maggie Gyllenhall, Richard Jenkins and a few other notable actors. White House Down is the more comedic of the two… although lacking against Olympus Has Fallen's straight on hard-core action with a little dose of snarky rapport.
If these movies came out in different seasons or different years they would be judged on their own merits. Since Olympus Has Fallen came out first its review is based on its own merits, while the second in line White House Down is forced to live in the shadow of a first born twin. The Channing Tatum character is just trying to get into a job that his daughter will respect, while Gerard Butler's character was a top notch Secret Service agent who lost everything trying to keep his head above water.
Enough comparisons! White House down is a decent story of lesser value than Emmerich's Independence Day or 2012, but less epic and less well put together. Was Emmerich rushed to get this flick out quick? We may never know!
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