The File Shark

'White House Down' A Symphony of Explosions

John Cale is an average joe who ends up at the White House just in time for the worst day in history, where he must relentlessly use black ops firearms to protect the President from intruders and prevent them from bombing the various American monuments-for one reason:to get a job. He's casually enjoying some R&R with his daughter Emily (Joey King) as they make their way to the White House, upon their arrival Cale tries his luck at joining the Secret Service or 'Men in Black'.

Unfortunately the employer is a sleazy looking desk lady who so happens to be his old school fling, and rejects his application because of his nice guy attitude. John makes a statement, selflessly pleading for the job to no avail, and while this happens a team of highly trained, lethal terrorists enter the building as if no one's guarding the outside. Cale tries to hide his misfortune and gives Emily a tour around the White House instead. 

The bad guys are lead by Emil Stenz, a special ops hacker who maniacally gets hold of the control area and bombards America with its own explosives. Luckily, John has just the training needed to save the world from total annihilation.

The film maker Roland Emmerich directed movies such as Godzilla, Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. This makes it a highly awaited film, with fans expecting another one of Emmerich's CGI/action-packed blockbuster movie experiences. Although many viewers at the cinemas easily confuse the movie with Olympus Has Fallen, I don't blame them.

 In Olympus Has Fallen a former president gets trapped in the White House due to a terrorist attack, the hero Mike Banning saves the president with his White House know-how. Guess switching the film titles wouldn't make a difference right? Wrong. White House Down is an unpredictable comedy gone right thanks to Tatum and Foxx, who make a humorous and gut-busting team spending half the time doing fist fights an the other creating enough bullet holes in the White House to make it collapse at the end of the movie.


It's the sort of film that got rated PG-13 for unknown reasons, with almost no sexual content or violence. Like the Spiderman sequel's plot, everyone else stays clean but the hero is covered with battle scars- the only blood you'll see. It's only reasonable that Cale, with his robust figure and beefcake abs can kill a terrorist with one punch. But punching anything he can hit at in the dark, and killing everyone when the lights are turned on is quite an exaggeration, not to mention the fact that the President knows how to use a Rocket launcher- now that was inappropriate.

Although the film has it's perks, it still became a total hit in the cinemas due to Channing Tatum's charm and polished attitude,which is voluptuous enough for any lady to see it. Emmerich did better in Independence Day where the White House also blew up, but there's much you can enjoy in this movie that you won't get anywhere else. It's 2 hours of fairly stimulating plots, stupendous dialogues and intense car chases. 

The gun fights and explosions are a 'must see', Roland seems to enjoy popping vehicles and erupting aircrafts. What's interesting is how he moves the whole story around the White House while keeping you engaged, the conversations are so straightforward, you won't even know why you're listening. In fact, Channing and Jamie talk so much I thought the world would have ended while they thought of a back up plan.