![]() Who can resist a war hero willing to risk everything to protect his adorable daughter and his high-minded president in one movie? It's popcorn patriotism at its finest.Emmerich, as the $3 billion worldwide gross accumulated from films such as “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow” indicates, is a director with an instinct for the obvious, a past master at making overblown versions of old-fashioned Saturday matinee-type stories.īut though the director knows how to keep action moving, he’s done himself no favors in the past as a screenwriter. ![]() So it's best to simply sit back and enjoy the camaraderie of Tatum and Foxx as they narrowly avert disaster. None of the actions taken by administration officials during the takeover make a lick of sense. A crowd watches a car chase with Cale and Sawyer in a presidential limo being shot at by rebels on the White House lawn. A janitor is actually packing bombs, as are the alleged repairmen working in the president's private theater. Emmerich's White House has less security than the tiniest airport pre-9/11. That's why they're in the house, so to speak, when the rebels take over.Īll disbelief must be checked at the theater door. Making him even more lovable, Cale has brought Emily along for a White House tour following his interview. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Carol Finnerty, a Secret Service official who rejects Cale as a job applicant, despite his war-hero status, mostly because he got C's in college. Tatum is a consistently likable Everyman who proves his mettle à la Bruce Willis in the Die Hard movies - with less smirking. It also helps that he braves a legion of guerrillas to single-handedly protect the president, even after getting turned down for a spot in the Secret Service.įoxx has just the right blend of dignity, smarts and affability to make us want to vote for him. Cale is endearing thanks to his self-deprecating humor, low-key swagger and commitment to regain the love of his estranged 11-year-old daughter, Emily (Joey King). ![]() Just after President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) announces his plan to pull American troops out of the Middle East, an insurrection plot is set in motion.Īfter serving heroically in Afghanistan, John Cale (Channing Tatum) works as a police officer assigned to security for Speaker of the House Raphelson (Richard Jenkins). While director Roland Emmerich ( Independence Day) piles on outlandish scenarios, the chemistry of the lead actors mitigates the contrived setup and numbing explosions. With its well-choreographed mayhem, Down (* * ½ out of four rated PG-13, opens in select cities Thursday and nationwide Friday) is an over-the top, Die Hard-style thriller that will make pulses race more than the recent, similarly themed Olympus Has Fallen. "Tour's over," yells a shotgun-toting terrorist who takes a group of Washington, D.C., visitors hostage in the preposterous White House Down.
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