White House Down

A watchable compensation for the fifth Die Hard. I had significantly more fun than with the thematically similar Olympus Has Fallen. (16.12.2013)

This was great! Vanderbilt's script is directed by Emmerich with such gusto and punch that I was bouncing in my seat with excitement. The concept of The Rock and Die Hard is distilled into an ideal mix that isn't afraid to weave in action and healthy exaggeration that is ideally put together. Emmerich loves America, but at the same time, he carries in his heart a piece of a sneering European who knows how to sarcastically poke this idol. The acting is top-notch, especially Tatum dispelling the slight awkwardness, and the white tank top at the end is well deserved. Also, the little girl is the best child element in action since Iron Man 3. In a way, it’s a precise hit in every genre discipline. 4 ½. (04.10.2014)

It’s a movie by Roland Emmerich, so what else could I have really expected? I mean, yeah, I could have expected something else because he already blew the White House into pieces once in Independence Day. Here, he just looted the president’s quarters, ruined the president’s lawn, his pond and so on. It was nice to see. I was almost wondering if this movie replica was really close to the actual White House. Because if it was really accurate and I was a terrorist, I would have considered this movie an educational tutorial. The movie is sort of a well-done action classic which is something Roland’s simply good at. You can’t deny that and I had a good movie to chill with. (24.08.2014)

Nach den Republikanern, haben die Demokraten ebenfalls ihren Action-Blockbuster gefilmt, d.h. Es gibt hier weniger Blut, mehr bewusste 12- Bloggerinnen, mehr Frieden, mehr rechtsgerichtete Radikale, coole und vulgäre sprechende dunkelhäutige Präsidenten, mehr verkommene Waffenlobbyisten und weniger bipolare Weltanschauung (allerdings nicht im Bezug zur innenpolitischen Situation). Emmerich setzt seine weltrettende Mission fort, die mit dem Streifen The Day After Tomorrow startete. Dieses vielleicht allzu softe und korrekte Derivat von Stirb Langsam zeigt jedoch, dass Rolands Hand zittert, und der Film uns somit an einen gemeinsamen Nachmittag der bürgerlichen Naturschutzbewegung "Jihočeské matky“ (Südböhmischer Mütter) und der NGO "Děti Země“ (Kinder der Erde) erinnert. Jeder hier macht, was er gerade will, und in Folge dessen haben wirs mit einem sonnenfreudigen Kuddelmuddel zu tun, welchem Tatum und Foxx zumindest ein wenig Ordnung einflößen. Wenn ich mich zwischen dem geschwollenen Kerl Butler oder dem schlank geformten Tatum entscheiden muss ... gebe ich das Wahlrecht auf. PS: Sorry, am nächsten Tag neige ich mich dennoch Roland zu. (16.07.2013)

Who would have thought that Emmerich’s classic approach to the action movie genre would suit Roland’s “turn on the computers and generate me destruction of world monuments" approach so well? If you took the best from White House Down (that being Butler with Eckhart and R`s uncompromising nature) and got rid of occasional infantility and family escapades, it would be enough for the local John to say “Yippy-ki-yay motherfucker" and it could make a dignified Die Hard sequel. (12.10.2013)

The hardest job interview ever. Emmerich is a destroyer, but doesn’t let the smaller scale restrict him, in fact he enjoys the destruction even more this way. White House Down is on a par with erm... Olympus Has Fallen, in fact both are more or less equally enjoyable. Butler relies on bloody inevitability, while Tatum relies on hamfistedness and frivolous fun that to entertain the whole family. His loquacious sidekick is the president (entertainingly ham-fisted Foxx) and wears red and white Jordans (he’s got what it takes). Vanderbilt’s screenplay contains lots of refreshing elements, absurd lines and unexpected twists (credit card not working at the end) and it’s not the president, but the main protagonist’s daughter who gets saved. It was good to see the unusually eccentric Jason Clarke. Simply another variation on Die Hard (yep, the hero talks to himself, as well into his walkie-talkie/cellphone and sneers at the baddies’ dead bodies), but this time Emmerich-style. An ideal, relaxing family movie with a happy ending that leaves you with that great feeling that everything ended happily (even though the whole government and a load of other people died). P.S.: Probably the most entertaining tour of the White House and surroundings. (20.08.2013)

I wouldn't exaggerate it with those superlatives, the only thing that White House Down has over Olympus Has Fallen is lightness, detachment, and less pathos, everything else falls behind heavily. Old-school action? Where? Maybe one or two fights and high-quality "physical sounds", the clarity is minimal, the rating is lethal, and the overall editing composition is heavily off. In action scenes, it is mainly the editor who can get the necessary pace into the sequences, and it didn't go very well here. Gerard Butler is better than Channing Tatum, no matter what anyone says, though, surprisingly, the latter excels in comedic and light moments rather than in action ones. And so the film's reins must be taken over by James Woods and his gang, who are constantly showing a barrage of looks and emotions. Perhaps Ronald Emmerich's work is genre-consistent and a tribute to the '90s, but in a direct battle with its older brother, it loses. (28.07.2013)

Der solideste und gleichzeitig unterhaltsamste Actionfilm der letzten Jahre. Im Unterschied zu anderen Filmen, die mit dem Actionruhm der vergangenen Jahre liebäugeln, hat White House Down einen großen Vorteil – er wirkt völlig natürlich und ungezwungen. Er versucht nicht, in jeder zweiten Minute zu sagen: "Schauen Sie, diese Szene haben wir uns hier geborgt, diese wiederum da, lachen Sie.“ Und er wurde von Roland Emmerich gedreht, der wahrscheinlich der Letzte ist, bei dem man so tolle und originelle Schießereien erwarten würde (die spielen diesmal eine größere Rolle als riesige digitale Zerstörungen)… Es reicht aber, wenn man sich an seinen Film Universal Soldier erinnert, und plötzlich wird einem klar, dass es auch hier genau sein Ding ist. Außer der Action hat er aber noch eine weitere wichtige Waffe eingesetzt – Humor. Viel Humor. Gags mit einem perfekten Timing (Zombies in einer Limousine), Wortgefechte, witzige Figuren, die nicht doof sind (der Begleiter im Weißen Haus). Bei der Besetzung – von Channing Tatum (McClanes Unterhemd hat er verdient) über James Woods bis hin zu den charismatischen Schuften – habe ich auch nichts gefunden, was ich kritisieren könnte. Die Geschichte wurde schlau geschriebenen und kann das Publikum überraschen. Ich gebe dem Film fünf Sterne. Es würde mir gefallen, wenn Roland Emmerich "Rainbow Six" von Tom Clancy verfilmen würde. (23.07.2013)

I don't know what Emmerich imagines by the presidency, but it certainly isn’t only boring paperwork and a sea of routine meetings. And it’s his unique approach, which allows a group of terrorists to completely take over the most guarded building in the world in ten minutes and make action heroes out of everyone involved, starting with the president and ending with an eleven-year-old girl, that once again makes the whole spectacle tremendously entertaining, leaving in the minds of genre fans such an apt sense of déjà vu, which in recent years has only been taken care of by a bunch of certain expendable dudes. What does it matter that the film is crammed as many clichés as The Rock is packed with steroids, when everything is deliberately handled with such flair and filmed so expertly and nicely? Moreover, the actors are visibly enjoying their roles and the director takes as much pleasure in each empty clip as if it were to be his last. I'm definitely amazed that the movie got bad review at Cinema magazine. That reviewer doesn’t seem to be a proper gourmand. :D 75% (29.12.2013)

Maybe if "White House Down" came out in theaters later and Gerard Butler didn't play in it, I would have liked the movie "Olympus Has Fallen". Having two identical movies in one year is just poor production. Couldn't they have moved the second one? Emmerich's bad luck. This is a financial mess and eventually a film mess as well. The occasional attempt at a cool joke definitely doesn't overshadow the patriotism that oozes from it in all directions. Just another American destruction of American values presented by a native German. (22.10.2013)

Für mich eine große Überraschung. Schließlich machen sich auch die Amerikaner lustig, und man muss sagen, dass es ihnen großartig gelingt. Emmerich filmte mal wieder eine voll entspannte Sache, die wie immer einen Katastrophen Plot im Hintergrund hat, aber ansonsten mit einer Einsicht aufgenommen ist, die ich so noch nicht von ihm kenne. Dadurch ist sogar Jamie Foxx, den ich sonst nicht wirklich mag, in der Rolle des Präsidenten zusammen mit Tatum als Leibwächter richtig witzig. Schade um das etwas ungleichmäßige Tempo und die damit verbundenen kontrastreichen Übergänge zwischen den Genres, wo der Spaß manchmal flöten geht. Die Handlung muss dann von Schurken mit platten Nerven vorangetrieben werden mit Jason Clarke ganz vorne dabei. (18.07.2013)