White House Down

“Breaking the rules slightly. Skipping (with every intention of returning to) one write up to get to this one. It just feels like the more patriotic choice, since today is ID-4 afterall. From Roland Emmerich, the man who brought us Independence Day, we have White House Down.

A couple weeks ago, the former roomie texts me. Her boy was gonna be out of town soon, so she wanted to hang out. Hanging out with me usually involves movies. Lucky for us, Channing Tatum had a new one opening that same weekend. Things worked out pretty well for us last time with 21 Jump Street, so the movie choice for girls day was a no brainer.

Such an incredibly fun ride. I’ve joked many times about the “”Die Hard in a [blank]”” subgenre of action movie, but this fit the bill. Die Hard in the White House. I guess we’ve run out of generic places to recreate that movie, so now we’re turning to specifics. But the pattern fits. Outcast type guy happens to end up in an unlikely location. Bad guys take over with guns and explosions. Unlikely hero guy somehow manages to avoid being trapped with the other hostages. Unfortunately, someone important to our hero is still captive, so hero kills a lot of baddies, often after moving around thru air ducts/elevator shafts/tunnels, and saves the day. Also, things blow up. Sound like Die Hard? Replace Bruce Willis with CHanning Tatum, Nakatomi with the White House, and throw in POTUS for good measure and you’ve got White House Down.

The film was by no means perfect, but it was certainly a fun ride. Emmerich certainly knows how to make a big summer blockbuster action movie, and this was no exception. And with something like this, you know what you’re getting into. If you’re willing to suspend disbelief enough to not dwell on some of the absurdities and plotholes, it’s a true blast. One thing this action junkie really appreciated was that there was a lot of old school destruction. Actual chairs and tables and props and such breaking, instead of being digitally added in later. That certainly counts for a lot with me.

White House Down – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n

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