White House Down

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White House Down

PG-13

2013

2h 11m

Action

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

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Popcornmeter

52%

Tomatometer

200 Reviews

62%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Capitol police officer John Cale has just been denied his dream job of protecting President James Sawyer as a member of the Secret Service. Not wanting to disappoint his young daughter with the bad news, Cale takes her on a tour of the White House. While he and his daughter are there, a heavily armed paramilitary group attacks and seizes control. As the nation's government dissolves in chaos, only Cale can save his daughter, the president and the country.

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Critics Consensus

White House Down benefits from the leads' chemistry, but director Roland Emmerich smothers the film with narrative clichés and choppily edited action.

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Shubhra Gupta

The Indian Express

03/19/2019

2.5/5

There is a certain comfort you can derive from these predictable mega-budget monsters. Trouble is, it goes on too long. It has several climactic moments, but every time you ready for the exit, the film bounces back again for the next round.

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Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

09/15/2013

3/5

At least has the good grace to laugh at itself as it rolls out the dingbat-daft action-movie cliches.

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Donald Clarke

Irish Times

09/15/2013

2/5

It is appallingly funny in a way that few parodies ever manage. But it is undeniably exciting.

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Emiliano Basile

EscribiendoCine

09/11/2024

6/10

As an action film, White House Down does its job: it entertains and offers some very well-filmed scenes. [Full review in Spanish]

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

09/02/2022

2/4

Never does White House Down surprise us or go in a direction we didn’t see coming. It’s all been manufactured to proven specifications and refuses to deviate from customary action movie schematics.

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Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

08/21/2022

1.5/5

Emmerich’s action is repetitive, hackneyed, and not the least bit exciting.

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Timothy S

@RT04400768 Apr 4

4 star movie but two stars deducted for needlessly changing the flag joey king waves at the end for "creative reasoning". You deserve every bit of that 52% critic score for that.

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Blu B

@RT43513976 Jan 15

Well it's at least not the same film Roland Emmerich makes everytime since Independance Day. Instead it's another Die Hard ripoff. It's literally Die Hard in the White House and simliar to Olympus has Fallen almost to a tee. To it's credit the first 30 minutes or so is actually kind of good. It's focused, sets up characters, the setting is memorable, and it looks polished with some good score. Than once the attack kicks in it just slowly goes downhill from there. Everything overall is just alright about it honestly. The special effects look very shotty. There is lots of green screen that is obvious and eyesores from riding in cars to out in courtyards. You wonder why is any of this green screen. Than other times it looks too basic. The jet scenes look like video game cutscenes at times. The plot at times gets ridiculous with his daughter waiving the POTUS flag on the lawn in front of the world. The stupid tour guide. The dumb over the top bad guys that still feel so generic somehow.

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 Jan 6

It would be easy to hate the sheer stupidity of this film but it’s so dumb that I imagine it can only have been made with a knowing wink to its bloated insanity. Ignoring all that, it’s pure action fun and strangely I enjoyed it. Watched on BluRay.

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Mike H

@CritixsRNotSmarter Jan 5

This movie was fantastic, disregard the critixs

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Laurie S

@Karlwinters Dec 24

I hate it when a director treats its audience like idiots. I also dislike the cheats they put in to fool us. ie; grenades have a five second fuse not ten as portrayed.; when the presidential car is being pursued the Home Guard could have easily taken out the enemy car etc.

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thiago s

@Thiagostone Oct 27

Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom

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Roland Emmerich

Director

Channing Tatum

Cale

Jamie Foxx

President Sawyer

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Finnerty

Jason Clarke

Stenz

Richard Jenkins

Raphelson

White House Down: Official Clip - Consider This My Resignation

3:04

White House Down: Official Clip - Ground Force One

2:17

White House Down: Official Clip - Air Force One Destroyed

1:39

White House Down: Official Clip - Presidential Rocket Launcher

0:56

White House Down: Official Clip - No Jail for You

2:27

White House Down: Official Clip - Mr. President Pulls the Trigger

2:12

White House Down: Official Clip - You're Not Going to Shoot the President

1:07

White House Down: Official Clip - Hand-to-Hand Combat

1:37

White House Down: Official Clip - Helicopter Hunting

3:25

White House Down: Official Clip - Millions of People Are Gonna Die

2:46

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Synopsis

Capitol police officer John Cale has just been denied his dream job of protecting President James Sawyer as a member of the Secret Service. Not wanting to disappoint his young daughter with the bad news, Cale takes her on a tour of the White House. While he and his daughter are there, a heavily armed paramilitary group attacks and seizes control. As the nation's government dissolves in chaos, only Cale can save his daughter, the president and the country.

Director: Roland Emmerich
Producer: Bradley J. Fischer, Harald Kloser, James Vanderbilt, Larry J. Franco, Laeta Kalogridis
Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Production Co: Centropolis Entertainment, Mythology Entertainment
Rating: PG-13 (Intense Gunfire and Explosions|A Brief Sexual Image|Seq of Intense Action Violence|Some Language)
Genre: Action, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 28, 2013, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 22, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $73.1M
Runtime: 2h 11m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Digital, Datasat

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