Ah, Roland Emmerich. The very utterance of his name calls to mind the myriad popcorn movies that met with varying degrees of success ranging from blockbusters like Independence Day to bombs like Godzilla. Love him, hate him, you can’t argue that his films can bring audiences in and at least provide an entertaining diversion.
Now for the question weighing on everybody’s minds: How similar is this film to Olympus Has Fallen? On the surface, they look nearly identical in premise. A typical everyman with some sort of military background, this time played by Channing Tatum, just happens to be in the White House when terrorists storm the building in an attempt to kidnap the President, this time played by Jamie Foxx, in order to get access to the NORAD launch codes so they can launch the nukes.
Many action films made in the 80s had that sort of premise. However, the similarities between the two only appear to be skin deep, as White House Down feels a tad more developed and fleshed-out, albeit a little goofy at times.
This film has a very slow start as there is a great deal of emphasis placed on establishing the characters. For the most part, it’s not too bad as the characters that we follow are, at the very least, likable.
However, the first thing that you’ll notice is how dated the film feels, particularly when it comes to how they address innovations such as YouTube with terminology that even the elderly stopped using a few years ago.
On top of that, there is also a desperate attempt to tie the film to more current events.
The obvious being the President’s resemblance to President Obama with not-so-subtle references to things such as WikiLeaks, politicians acting on corporate interests, and quite possibly the recent Snowden leaks—although that might just be a happy coincidence.
The story also attempts to juggle both the military and political aspects of the aftermath of the White House being seized by a terrorist group and manages to do so fairly well, even if the motivations of the villains and supporting cast range from vague to just downright bizarre.
There are few things for which I can give Emmerich credit. The action scenes flow at a fluid pace, and the attention to characterization helps endear us to the characters. Also, the film doesn’t try to beat us over the head with patriotic imagery like other films would have. While there are definitely some elements that feel lifted from other scripts, they don’t feel as shoehorned as those same elements would be in other films.
The characters were likable, their actions and reactions felt realistic. The action, while goofy at times, still kept me entertained and engaged. The only negatives this film really nets is the slow build-up at the beginning as well as the very dated nature, feeling like it would have worked better had it been released a couple of years ago.
Between this and Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down feels like the more fleshed-out and more complete film. While the premise is the same, what Emmerich did with that premise manages to set it apart from its contemporary.
I would definitely put it on the same level as Independence Day in terms how much enjoyment audiences can expect. That said, on my personal scale, I’m giving White House Down a 4/5.
