White House Down

            I'm getting really sick of your shit, Roland Emmerich.  Your characters, your plots, even your scripts are so formulaic.  Plus, who would have thought that you could come up with something even more ridiculous than 2012?  What really pisses me off the most is how much fun White HouseDown turned out to be.

            On to the review!

            If you didn't know, White House Down is this year's second film about the president being in mortal danger thanks to terrorists.  After having to see Olympus Has Fallen I had little hopes that this would be any better.  Looks like I'm eating crow tonight.

            White House Down stars Channing Tatum as Cale, an ex-military man who desperately wants to work for the Secret Service; not only as a career jump but as a way to impress his daughter Emily (Joey King).  Unfortunately his interview doesn't go so well and the lady in charge, Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal) lets him know that there's absolutely no way they can trust him to protect President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx).

            Even worse, while Cale and Emily are touring the White House, terrorists decide it would be a great time to start some shit.  Eventually, it's just Cale and the President.  Cale is torn between the need to save his daughter and the other hostages while also knowing that he has to get the President to safety.

            Now, I really have to give some respect to the trailers that I've seen as they actually don't spoil the plot.  There are a ton of awesome actors in this film like James Woods, Jason Clarke, Lance Reddick and Richard Jenkins but I'm not going to say shit about what side any of them are on. 

            As for the actors, I have to give credit where credit is due.  Jamie Foxx is genuinely entertaining as the President, and his soft-spoken style benefits the film.  He's pretty much the only person who isn't yelling, and that's a nice thing.  While I still feel that Channing Tatum is at his best in comedic action roles (21 Jump Street) he actually does a great job here.  While he does occasionally fall back into super-serious mode, his character is just wisecrack-y enough to stay on the right side of entertaining.  There are a few genuinely funny moments in White House Down and that right there is why I liked it.  Olympus Has Fallen was terrible partially because it took itself too seriously.  There's none of that here.

            If you're going to watch one movie this year that involves the White House and explosions, I highly recommend this one.  I mean, it's no Die Hard, but it actually comes closer than any film in years of straddling action, entertainment and humor.