White House Down

White House Down

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Roland Emmerich
Produced by Roland Emmerich
Bradley J. Fischer
Harald Kloser
James Vanderbilt
Larry Franco
Laeta Kalogridis
Written by James Vanderbilt
Starring Channing Tatum
Jamie Foxx
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Jason Clarke
Richard Jenkins
James Woods
Music by Harald Kloser
Thomas Wanker
Cinematography Anna Foerster
Edited by Adam Wolfe
Production
company
Centropolis Entertainment
Mythology Entertainment
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • June 26, 2013 (Indonesia)
  • June 28, 2013 (United States)
Running time
 131 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $150 million[2]
Box office $205.4 million[2]

White House Down is a 2013 American political action-thriller film directed by Roland Emmerich about an assault on the White House by a paramilitary group and the Capitol Police Officer who tries to stop them. The film's screenplay is by James Vanderbilt, and it stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, with Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Jason Clarke and Richard Jenkins in supporting roles. The film was released on June 28, 2013 and has since grossed more than $205 million worldwide.[2] White House Down is one of two films released in 2013 that deals with a terrorist attack on the White House, the other being Olympus Has Fallen.

Plot

President of the United States James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) is receiving controversy over a proposed peace treaty between the allied nations to remove military forces out of the Middle East. John Cale (Channing Tatum) is a US Capitol Police officer assigned to Speaker of the House Eli Raphelson (Richard Jenkins) after he saved his son's life during a tour in Afghanistan. He is divorced and struggling to develop a better relationship with his daughter Emily (Joey King), who has a strong enthusiasm for politics. He hopes to impress her by getting a job with the Secret Service protecting the President, but his hopes are dashed when the interview is conducted by Carol Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a former college acquaintance of his who believes him to be unqualified due to a lack of authority and follow-through. To avoid admitting the truth to Emily, Cale takes her on a tour of the White House.

Meanwhile, a man disguised as a janitor sets off a bomb at the center of the US Capitol building. Raphelson, who was in the Capitol, remains unharmed and is taken to an underground command center with Finnerty, while Vice President of the United States Alvin Hammond (Michael Murphy) is taken aboard Air Force One. The White House is put on lockdown, separating Cale from Emily, who had left the tour group to use the restroom. Meanwhile, mercenaries led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke), who had disguised themselves as video technicians to get inside the White House, start killing off most of the Secret Service and take the tour group hostage, but Cale manages to take a gun and escape to go find his daughter. Retiring Head of the Presidential Detail Martin Walker (James Woods) escorts the President and his detail to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Once Sawyer gains access, Walker kills his detail, revealing himself to be the real leader and wants vengeance against Sawyer after a botched black ops mission resulted in the death of Walker's son. Cale, who failed to find Emily, kills a mercenary and takes his gun and radio. Overhearing the radio, Cale locates and rescues Sawyer.

Walker and Stenz bring in Skip Tyler (Jimmi Simpson) to hack into their defense system, but they still require Sawyer to activate the nuclear football. They locate the remaining chain of command and execute the Secretary of Defense before putting them with the hostages. Emily, while hiding, records a video of the mercenaries and puts in on YouTube before eventually being captured. Cale and Sawyer manage to reach out to the command structure, who tell Cale to get the President out through underground tunnels. At the command center, Finnerty uses Emily's video to discover the mercenaries' identities, who used to work for various government agencies. They also discover that Walker has an inoperable tumor, suggesting his involvement to be a suicide mission and that the attack is meant for more dangerous reasons. Cale and Sawyer find the tunnel gate rigged with an explosive and are forced to escape with a presidential limo. After giving chase with Stenz on the White House lawn, Cale and Sawyer get flipped into the White House pool after Cale gets distracted by a mercenary holding Emily at gunpoint. A gunfight erupts which results in an explosion that leaves Sawyer and Cale presumed dead. Hammond is then sworn in as acting President.

When Cale and Sawyer reveal they are still alive, they learn Hammond has ordered an aerial incursion to take back the White House. Knowing the mercenaries have Javelins, Cale tries but fails to stop them from shooting down the choppers. Cale gets into a fight with Stenz and ends up dropping his White House passes for himself and Emily while escaping. Having already learned of Emily from the video, Stenz, now knowing she is Cale's daughter, takes her to Walker in the Oval Office. Meanwhile, Tyler finally finishes the upload into NORAD and launches a missile at Air Force One, killing Hammond and everyone on board. Raphelson is then sworn in as acting President and reluctantly orders an air strike on the White House, which Cale is informed of.

Walker tells Cale over the White House intercom to surrender Sawyer or he will kill Emily. Sawyer ultimately surrenders himself to save Emily. However, he refuses to activate the football. When Walker threatens to kill Emily again, the alarms and sprinklers are set off by Cale setting various rooms on fire. Tyler is killed trying to escape by the bomb on the tunnel gate having been tampered. After killing most of the remaining mercenaries and freeing the hostages, Cale is confronted by Stenz, who is ultimately killed by a grenade belt. Sawyer attacks a distracted Walker, who ultimately gains the upper hand and uses him to activate the football before supposedly shooting him dead. Using updated launch codes received by an anonymous source, Walker targets various cities in the Middle East, but before he initiates the launch, Cale crashes into the office and kills Walker with a minigun. When Emily is told of the air strike, she takes a presidential flag and waves it on the front lawn to get the fighters to call off the attack, which they eventually do. Sawyer is revealed to be alive as the bullet hit a pocket watch handed down to him from Abraham Lincoln. Finnerty calls them to reveal that the mercenaries were not called in by Walker and that there is another mastermind behind the attack.

When Finnerty arrives at the White House with Raphelson, Cale tells them Sawyer was killed. Raphelson then orders troops to be placed back into the Middle East, which would go against Sawyer's peace treaty. Cale and Finnerty realize Raphelson had orchestrated the attack as Walker had received the codes on his pager from him, all because Raphelson was not entirely in agreement with Sawyer's treaty. Sawyer then reveals himself and has Raphelson taken into custody. Sawyer officially employs Cale into the Secret Service and takes him and Emily on a personalized aerial tour of DC.

Cast

Production

White House Down is directed by Roland Emmerich and based on a screenplay by James Vanderbilt, who is also one of the film's producers. Sony Pictures purchased Vanderbilt's spec script in March 2012 for $3 million, in what The Hollywood Reporter called "one of the biggest spec sales in quite a while". The journal said the script was similar "tonally and thematically" to the films Die Hard and Air Force One.[14] In the following April, Sony hired Roland Emmerich as director.[15] Emmerich began filming in July 2012 at the La Cité Du Cinéma in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[16] Cinematographer Anna Foerster shot the film with Arri Alexa Plus digital cameras.[17]

In 2012, Sony competed with Millennium Films, who were producing Olympus Has Fallen (also about a takeover of the White House) to complete casting and to begin filming.[18]

Release

White House Down was originally scheduled for a November 1, 2013[19] release, but was moved up to a June 28, 2013 release.

Home media

White House Down was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on November 5, 2013.[20]

Reception

Critical response

White House Down has received mixed reviews from mainstream critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 50% based on 181 reviews, with a weighted average of 5.5/10 and the site's consensus states: "White House Down benefits from the leads' chemistry, but director Roland Emmerich smothers the film with narrative clichés and choppily edited action."[21] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the film received an average score of 52 based on 43 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[22]

Roth Cornet of IGN gives it a 6.5/10, concluding: "White House Down is a pretty silly rehashing of previously tread action movie territory, but if you're willing to laugh along with (or even at) it, it can be a highly entertaining experience."[23]

Andrew Chan of the Film Critics Circle of Australia writes, "I am not entirely sure, whether I should be happy or sad that I laughed when someone got shot or bombed, but such is the manner of how the film is played out. Therefore, I prefer Olympus for this one."[24]

Richard Roeper, however, gave the film an F, stating that "Everyone in White House Down is an idiot, clinically insane, a cliché, or a vehicle for shameless exploitation." He later named it the worst film of 2013.[25]

Box office

On its first weekend in the U.S., the film disappointed and came in at number 4 at the box office. It earned $24,852,258, slightly ahead of Man of Steel, but less than March's similarly themed Olympus Has Fallen ($30.4 M).[26] On its third weekend, the film made $20.7 million.[27] The film grossed $73,103,784 in the United States, plus $132,262,953 internationally for a combined gross of $205,366,737.[2]

In October 2013, Sony announced it lost $197 million for June, July, and August 2013, and largely blamed "the box office flop of the movie White House Down as a key reason for the weakness".[28]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "WHITE HOUSE DOWN (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "White House Down (2013)". Box Office Mojo. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  3. ↑ Kit, Borys (May 14, 2012). "Channing Tatum in Talks to Star in 'White House Down'". Variety.
  4. ↑ Sneider, Jeff; Kroll, Justin (June 6, 2012). "Foxx nominated for 'White House Down'". Variety.
  5. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (July 24, 2012). "Joey King 'Down' to play Tatum's daughter". Variety.
  6. ↑ Sneider, Jeff; Kroll, Justin (June 7, 2012). "Maggie Gyllenhaal joins 'White House' staff". Variety.
  7. ↑ Patten, Dominic (August 2, 2012). "Roland Emmerich's ‘White House Down’ Adds Jason Clarke To Cast". Deadline.com.
  8. ↑ Sneider, Jeff; Kroll, Justin (July 16, 2012). "Richard Jenkins joins 'White House Down'". Variety.
  9. ↑ Kroll, Justin (July 9, 2012). "James Woods in talks for 'White House Down'". Variety.
  10. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (August 3, 2012). "'White House Down' elects Lance Reddick". Variety.
  11. ↑ Kit, Borys (September 24, 2012). "Twilight Actress Joins 'White House Down,' 'Homefront'". The Hollywood Reporter.
  12. ↑ Patten, Dominic (August 9, 2012). ""White House Down" Adds Michael Murphy". Deadline.com. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
  13. ↑ Kit, Borys (August 10, 2012). "Garcelle Beauvais Joins 'White House Down'". The Hollywood Reporter.
  14. ↑ Kit, Borys (March 30, 2012). "Sony Plunking Down $3 Million for 'White House Down' by James Vanderbilt". The Hollywood Reporter.
  15. ↑ Fleming, Mike (April 2, 2012). "Roland Emmerich in Talks to Helm $3 Million Sony Spec 'White House Down'". Deadline.com.
  16. ↑ Kelly, Brendan (July 17, 2012). "Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and James Woods coming to town to shoot White House Down". The Gazette (Montreal).
  17. ↑ Goldman, Michael (July 1, 2013). "Prime Target". American Cinematographer (Los Angeles, California, United States: American Society of Cinematographers) 94 (7): 34. ISSN 0002-7928.
  18. ↑ Kit, Borys (April 10, 2012). "Antoine Fuqua Circling 'Olympus' as White House Thriller Race Heats Up". The Hollywood Reporter.
  19. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (August 6, 2012). "Sony Moving 'White House Down' to Heart of Summer 2013". The Hollywood Reporter.
  20. ↑ Rawden, Jessica (September 3, 2013). "White House Down Will Hit Blu-ray And DVD In November". cinemablend. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
  21. ↑ "White House Down". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  22. ↑ "White House Down". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  23. ↑ Roth Cornet. "White House Down". IGN. Ziff Davis Media. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  24. ↑ Andrew Chan (29 August 2013). "White House Down". [HK Neo Reviews].
  25. ↑ "White House Down Review". Retrieved May 5, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Olympus Has Fallen (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for June 28–30, 2013". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  28. ↑ Pfanner, Eric (October 31, 2013). "Sony Blames Box-Office Trouble for Its Quarterly Loss". New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2013.

External links