White House Down

Sarxos

White House Down is the new Roland Emmerich film.

"While on a tour of the White House with his young daughter, a police officer (Channing Tatum) springs into action to protect his child and the president (Jamie Foxx) from a heavily armed group of paramilitary invaders."

The film also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Richard Jenkins, Jason Clarke, Jake Weber, Lance Reddick and Joey King.

Here's the first teaser poster...

Antar Bolaeisk

There's already a thread about it here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056862252



I always find it strange when two films that bear a striking resemblance to each other come out fairly close to each other.

johnny_ultimate

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

I always find it strange when two films that bear a striking resemblance to each other come out fairly close to each other.

It tends to be particularly noticeable when the idea is really crap.

Presidential Action Movie is one of the weirder genres out there.

krudler

Jamie Foxx? as the US president? pfffff

Ah the poor White House has no luck this year.

pixelburp

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Presidential Action Movie is one of the weirder genres out there.

I'm confident neither film will hold a candle to Metal Wolf Chaos; surely the true benchmark for the Presidential Actioner (albeit a game)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trmPZScztok

Sarxos

There's a second teaser poster. The third will drop tomorrow with the teaser trailer...allegedly.

krudler

If this was basically Home Alone in the White House it would be infinitely more entertaining.

charlie_says

Isn't much chance of the bad guys winning here I would imagine.

Mitch Connor

instantly hoping for a Die Hard type movie - police office in the wrong place at the wrong time type of thing. If done right, it could be the type of movie Die Hard and 5 should have been.

Duggy747

Mitch Connor wrote: »

If done right, it could be the type of movie Die Hard and 5 should have been.

I'm going to assume you mean Die Hard 4 and 5.............not Die Hard..........never Die Hard.........


Punk

Mitch Connor

Duggy747 wrote: »

I'm going to assume you mean Die Hard 4 and 5.............not Die Hard..........never Die Hard.........


Punk

yep, indeed - I forget the 4 key is a little stubborn on my work laptop.

Die Hard FOUR and 5.

JP Liz V1

Jason Clarke is playing the bad guy :cool:

Sarxos

Teaser poster 3...

Sarxos

Poster 4 and first trailer

Duggy747

Somehow, that looks more bland than Olympus.

This reminds me of the whole Battle: LA and Skyline - where one was the more serious of the other. This seems like it's trying to be more serious than Olympus, but as bad.

Rabies

Deleted User wrote: »

This reminds me of the whole Battle: LA and Skyline - where one was the more serious of the other. This seems like it's trying to be more serious than Olympus, but as bad.

A Bug's Life v Antz

Armageddon v Deep Impact

prob a few more out there too.

Reekwind

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Presidential Action Movie is one of the weirder genres out there.

I will not hear a bad word said against Air Force One!

johnny_ultimate

pixelburp wrote: »

I'm confident neither film will hold a candle to Metal Wolf Chaos; surely the true benchmark for the Presidential Actioner (albeit a game)

There's Liberation Maiden on 3DS and iOS too, where you play the teenage / ludicrously proportioned president of Japan piloting a giant mech for some reason.

I definitely think games have thoughtfully acknowledged the inherent absurdity of such a concept.

Hande hoche!

Rabies wrote: »

A Bug's Life v Antz

Armageddon v Deep Impact

prob a few more out there too.

Was thinking of those two and volcano/dante's peak.

Looking at the trailer and far as trashy summer action films go this looks like a winner. Dumb as hell, patriotic as they come and no doubt about as subtle as a hammer to the back of the head but as long as the action is well handled and there's a decent villain then a lot can be forgiven.

constitutionus

Shure the worst offender has to be TWO robin hoods coming out the same year.



On the trailer . Really feels like an emerich film and that not a good thing for me. Looks too OTT for something so "small" (for want of a better word )

The buttler one looks far more fun .

Josey Wales

Well this film has Maggie Gyllenhaal in it while Olympus Has Fallen doesn't. So this film wins.

tupac_healy

krudler wrote: »

Jamie Foxx? as the US president? pfffff

And considering James Woods is in it

Yakuza

Sounds like they stuck a few plot lines from 24 together and came up with a movie;
Air Force One shot down - check (Day 4)
Baddies in the White house - check (Day 7)
Having said that, I'll probably watch it

JP Liz V1

New trailer out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXufri0Ts3c

Cantona's Collars

Just watched the trailer and it actually looks like a lot of fun.

krudler

saw the trailer for this before Man of Steel last night somehow I dont think putting "from the director of 2012" is a good start to selling a movie :pac:

JP Liz V1

Did this bomb at the US box office?

frag420

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Did this bomb at the US box office?

No, just at The White House!

Josey Wales

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Did this bomb at the US box office?

The film had a budget of $150M and has made $73M at the US box office. It is currently at $138M worldwide so I'd guess it will make some money by the time its theatrical run is finished and you count in bluray sales.

JP Liz V1

Josey Wales wrote: »

The film had a budget of $150M and has made $73M at the US box office. It is currently at $138M worldwide so I'd guess it will make some money by the time its theatrical run is finished and you count in bluray sales.

Did the other film do better so?

Josey Wales

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Did the other film do better so?

Well Olympus Has Fallen is at $161M worldwide. Because White House Down is still in release and yet to open in some places I'd say it will overtake it.

I'd say both productions would ultimately be disappointed with their overall box office performances.

Pepe LeFrits

Josey Wales wrote: »

The film had a budget of $150M and has made $73M at the US box office. It is currently at $138M worldwide so I'd guess it will make some money by the time its theatrical run is finished and you count in bluray sales.

That means it's going to make a huge loss; roughly half of takings go to sources other than the production studio.

Bounty Hunter

Having watched both of them (I need to find better uses of my time) I would say White House Down is by far the better. They were both going for the Die Hard in the White House feel and I feel only WHD achieved this as only with that one was I able to turn my brain off and enjoy it for the fun popcorn movie it was while Olympus was so dumb in parts I just couldn't ignore them, Dylan McDermott's character for example was just terrible

mumbling some nonsense about wall street and corporations etc to explain his turn, then later once he gets his ass kicked easily (when he could have easily taken advantage of the main guys trust) he immediately realises the error of his ways and helps out lying to the bad guy, claiming he killed Butler's character, something which Butler never uses to his advantage at all).

Looking at the trailer and far as trashy summer action films go this looks like a winner. Dumb as hell, patriotic as they come and no doubt about as subtle as a hammer to the back of the head but as long as the action is well handled and there's a decent villain then a lot can be forgiven.

Thats kinda how i'd describe it although I wasn't impressed with the Villain in either movie, great fun though and if not taken too seriously very enjoyable. Hope it does better than OHF

Pepe LeFrits

Olympus Has Fallen was better for me, and I'm surprised as anyone by that. I can’t stand Gerard Butler, and Channing Tatum is awesome.

White House Down was funnier and I liked it more initially but I quickly got so bored of it, while OHF more-or-less kept my attention until the end.

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

I able to turn my brain off and enjoy it for the fun popcorn movie it was while Olympus was so dumb in parts I just couldn't ignore them,

... and WHD down wasn't? Cars racing around the White House lawn!

It also bothered me in WHD how the US did virtually nothing to retake the White House. It’s pretty much the first thing you think of when you think of a movie scenario for the White House being taken by terrorists: Once they somehow manage to take it, how will they hold it? WHD basically ignores the question. A couple of guys take the WH (far too easily), and then are just left to stroll around the building for ages with no reason given as to why the US military hasn’t stormed the building… and when they finally do, all they send is a few black hawks and… one tank.

Bounty Hunter

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

... and WHD down wasn't? Cars racing around the White House lawn!

Guess I'm more forgiving when the stupidity is in the midst of an action sequence as then your more easily distracted from it and yet the taking of the white house in OHF didn't get such a pass from me perhaps because it was the first real action scene and therefore got scrutinized more and had the same issues you highlight from WHD, far too easy to accomplish especially the part with the plane.

Think watching WHD in the cinema helped too as it's def a movie for the big screen. Oddly I saw it in the cinema around 5/6weeks ago in Shanghai and it's only out here (Munich) now even though usually new movies open in China months after they do elsewhere if they open at all.

Josey Wales

I haven't seen White House Down yet but I'm going to assume it is far superior to Olympus Has Fallen purely based on the fact that Maggie Gyllenhaal is in it.

nyarlothothep

It was one of the best films of the year, an action comedy masterpiece, so many quotes! The whole film just won me over, it was brilliant p1sstake homage to the presidential action movie genre.

The president has a rocket launcher

constitutionus

just back from this myself.

its really good !

i was fully prepared to hate this basd on the track record of the director (2012 was fupping awful) and the completely misleading trailers for it.

but its an honest to goodness decent action flick and the chemistry between fox and channing raises whats could be a mediocre film to more than forgiveable status.

foxes president is NOT the gung ho "Merica" president that ya see in the trailers and theres a lovely vein of dark comedy running through this which never runs into full on parody/self mockery.

even the tropes of the kid and the tour guide arent as annoying as they should be.

ya cant watch this without thinking of its predecessor - olympus has fallen- but theyre both entirely different films.

the former is "die hard in the white house" while this feels more like under seige with a proper budget (and no tits) . you can quite happily see both films in one sitting IMO and not feel like youve seen essentially the same film.

the jingoism it kept to a minimum and while theres a surplus of "hey did you know in 18-zzzzzzz" info dumps designed to covertly educate ya on american history its not as gratuitious as it could be.

ill be honest i only went to this as its fecking lashing out and ive seen everything else i wanted to already but i was very very pleasently surprised by this one

solid 8/10.

best thing tatums done in an age (bar a certain cameo ) and an entertaining trip to the flicks.

Josey Wales

constitutionus wrote: »

best thing tatums done in an age (bar a certain cameo ) and an entertaining trip to the flicks.

Really? I think Channing Tatum has been doing a lot of good work lately including Side Effects, Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street.

LuckyLloyd

I thought it was boring tbh. Every cliche imaginable was on show from an early point which left no doubts in terms of how it would play out. As such, it was going to live or die by the quality of the action sequences which were very subpar (the taking of the White House in Olympus Has Fallen was spectacular for example).

Olympus Has Fallen was a far more enjoyable romp.

e_e

Thought it was muck tbh. Pompous tone, boring, clichéd and with surprisingly awful effects for something with a 150 million budget.

Loughc

e_e wrote: »

Thought it was muck tbh. Pompous tone, boring, clichéd and with surprisingly awful effects for something with a 150 million budget.

You could literally copy and paste this for a review for "2012" and I would agree.

e_e

Haven't seen that yet, I guess I'm better off not having done so.

To compare this to other recent action movies though, Dredd, The Raid and to a lesser extent Fast & Furious 6 were all so much better.

Irish Aris

Screenwriting naivety aside, I found this quite entertaining.
Good pace, really liked Channing Tatum as the action hero and some of the sequences were impressive.
Nice one to see on a Saturday evening at home.

bellinter

I liked it. It entertained me, held my attention and I didn't tut too much. I love James Woods and hadnt seen him in anything in ages so that added a bit for me.

One thing about it though... if this film came out a decade ago we would probably even then have been laughing at some of the CGI, which at times was horrendous. Any scene involving a helicopter were particularly guilty. You'd wonder how they could have been so bad. Independence Day effects are more believable.

FunLover18

bellinter wrote: »

I liked it. It entertained me, held my attention and I didn't tut too much. I love James Woods and hadnt seen him in anything in ages so that added a bit for me.

I struggled to believe it was him for the first few scenes, he's gotten so old.

The film itself was an entertaining romp, although the first half hour of exposition really does drag and it's completely pointless when you consider how many plot holes there are; JUST BLOW **** UP ALREADY!!!

Just back from a late showing of this and I enjoyed every last second of it. Now don't go taking that as a recommendation as White House Down is by far the stupidest film I have seen in a long, long time. It's the cheesiest, most over the top, unbelievably dumb and downright cringe filled 2 hours you will see this year.

The action is neutered in order to earn a lower rating, the script is like something a 10 year old scribbled on the back of his hand and the villains are as threatening as school yard bullies yet it still manages to be a lot of fun thanks in no small part to Tatum who gives it his all. I've been a fan of his for quite some time and he plays it just right here. He recognizes that he's starring in a big dumb summer blockbuster and just has fun with it. Himself and Foxx are an enjoyable double team though some of Foxx's lines, "get your hands off my Jordans" were more eye rolling stupid than fun.

Jason Clarke is a great actor and it was a shame how little he had to do here. In fact, they managed to bring together a roster of bad guys played by James Woods, Jimmi Simpson and Kevin Rankin (who may be playing the same character as he played in Pawn Shop Chronicles ) and then give them absolutely nothing to do. I was genuinely interested in seeing each of their characters expanded upon a little and see just what it was that brought these people with such different ideologies together. Instead of doing anything at all like that the writer used the oldest cop out in the book, money. Sure money makes the world turn but come on, in this day and age at least try and do something a little less obvious.

It was obvious that the film was edited in order to win the lower rating. In a number of scenes the characters are obviously mouthing "****" but it's been covered up with a sound effect or in one inspired moment with a simple dropping of the audio for a fraction of a second. It's so glaringly obvious that it instantly takes you out of the film. Speaking of areas where the film falls down the FX work was for the most part atrocious. It's shocking that in this day and age they can have a scene where a plane is shot down look absolutely fantastic yet simple FX work such as people standing in front of a green screen looks like something out of a mid 90s TV movie. Watching Escape From LA last night I found the dated and atrocious looking FX work to be rather charming yet I'd go so far as to say that the God damned surfing the Tsunami scene in Escape From LA, which looked crap back in 97 actually looks better than the green screen work in White House Down.

Still, all that said there's a lot to like here. The action, edited to within an inch of it's life is still fun to watch and it's hard not to enjoy a film where our heroes daughter, in a scene straight out of the Rock, races onto the White House lawn to wave the presidents flag in hopes of averting an airstrike. Yeah, White House Down is exactly that kind of old fashioned, honest to God, all American, trashy action and you know what, it's all rather good fun. If you want to see only one film about a terrorist attack on the White House this year then grab a copy of the infinitely superior Olympus Has Fallen but if you're in the mood for a second slice of presidential plundering then you'll have a blast with White House Down though it's properly best enjoyed with a few cold beers.

JP Liz V1

Josey Wales wrote: »

I haven't seen White House Down yet but I'm going to assume it is far superior to Olympus Has Fallen purely based on the fact that Maggie Gyllenhaal is in it.

She was wasted though as was Jason Clarke


As usual it follows Roland Emmerich signature formula and it is entertaining as a dumb fun popcorn flick, Tatum and Foxx have good chemistry plus Tatum in dirty vest (a homage to Die Hard) was easy on the eyes


James Wood hams it up and is great but the tour guide was mvp of film for me