Thursday, July 11, 2013
I won’t lie: I make judgements about movies before I see them. Some movies either look stupid, or the director has a bad track record, or a combination of the two. But since I have started writing movie reviews, I have forced myself to see some of those movies that I didn’t think looked any good. White House Down was one of those movies. It looked like a stupid action film, and it didn’t help that it had a not-so-reliable director behind it. Thankfully, everything I assumed about the movie was wrong.I’m not even sure where to start with this film. Everything aspect of this film was just spot on for me. The direction was beautiful, the acting was excellent, and the script was actually impressive. I don’t know how everything came together on a film that had every right to be bad, but it did...and in a beautiful way.
While this movie reminded me a lot of Die Hard, I think that it was different enough to keep me interested. It took all of the great aspects of Die Hard and played it up pretty good. So, this is pretty much going to be a review of me talking about how similar this is to Die Hard, but also why it’s so good.
Let’s start with the obvious part: the leading man. I find Channing Tatum to be ridiculously perfect for this role. Ever since I saw him in 21 Jump Street, I was fully behind him being an action/comedy star. We get to see a little bit of both of those strengths come out in this film. I also really like that, like Die Hard, this isn’t one of the numerous films where the main character needs to learn something about himself and become a better person. This is about a man knowing he is badass and just needing to prove it to others. I love that.
Just like Bruce Willis and Reginald VelJohnson, we get a bit of a buddy cop relationship in this between Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. First off, I think that Jamie Foxx makes a great president. He plays a really good reserved, diplomatic character. I like that they didn’t make him turn into a badass because of the situation around him...he reacted like any normal human being...scared as shit. So, watching Channing Tatum be badass, while Jamie Foxx was scared hiding behind him was pretty fun. And then they had those quippy moments that reminded me of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Great relationship there.
While we are on the topic of awesome acting, can we please talk about James Woods? I don’t think it is spoiling much to say this: James Woods makes for a great villain. James Woods hasn’t been in anything good in the last decade, so it was nice to see him show how awesome he can be. It’s especially impressive when you think that he has nearly no physical interaction with any of the protagonists. He is just the menacing guy sitting at a desk, but he sells it so well. It reminded me a lot of how good Alan Rickman was as Hans Gruber. That same level of menace and intelligence...just perfect.
The last thing I want to touch on is the direction. While I don’t see a lot of visual similarities with Die Hard, I still thought that the direction took a page out of Die Hard’s book by being more character oriented. Instead of filming a bunch of explosions and ridiculous firefights for two hours, there is a lot more about the characters interacting and more stealth scenes. I thought that this was an insane 180 for Roland Emmerich, seeing as how he has become known as the “disaster movie guy.” I feel like he learned a huge lesson with his terrible flops like 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and Godzilla. When the man that made 2012 is actually cutting away from ridiculous explosions, you know something is right.
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While it plays a lot like Die Hard in the White House, White House Down has enough pizazz to make it it’s own. Channing Tatum is excellent in the lead and the support cast around him was just as excellent. Roland Emmerich has returned to a form that I haven’t seen since Independence Day. This movie is way better than I ever expected and I think EVERYONE should go and see it.
Writing: 7/10
Directing: 7.5/10
Acting: 7/10
Pacing: 7/10
Rewatchability: 7.5/10
Score: 7.2/10
