Columbia Pictures, Mythology Entertainment (II), Centropolis Entertainment,
Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Jason Clarke, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Richard Jenkins, Joey King
John Cale (Channing Tatum) is a policeman who is applying inside the White House today for his dream job in the Secret Service guarding the President (Jamie Foxx). The interview turns bad and he fails to get the job, and is quite disappointed. His daughter, Emily (Joey King) is with him so he can join with her to tour the White House. Coincidentally while he’s there, a group of terrorist attack the White House and take the President hostage, and while Cale didn’t get the job, he’s the only one who can possibly save both his daughter and the President who are being held hostage.
This film, on its own, is a pretty good action adventure film. Unfortunately it didn’t do that great in theaters, probably because it’s very close in subject matter to the Die Hard series, and a number of other great terrorist-hostage films. Air Force One springs to mind. So, though it was not worth spending big bucks to see this in the theater, it’s a really good popcorn/movie night film on DVD. The action is good, and the tension is really high. Edge of your seat excitement, and suspense is the order of the day. There are some minor weaknesses (other than stealing the plot if you hold that against them) like the fact that Jamie Foxx is not really a great President (although I guess with the entertainer we have currently in the White House, maybe it’s not too far off.) He’s certainly not Harrison Ford. Likewise, Channing Tatum is good enough as the cop/good guy, but he’s not nearly able to pull it off like Bruce Willis did in Die Hard. Still, I enjoyed the movie, it caught and grabbed my attention throughout, and it was an exciting film. I would definitely consider this a rental film, but it’s a good distraction for a little while.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
