Film

White House Down

It Will Start Like Any Other Day.

White House Down opens with Emily Cale (Joey King) waking up to a breaking news alert that the President, James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx), is about to enter into negotiations with the World's major powers for a peace treaty with the Middle East. Emily looks out her bedroom window to spot choppers flying over the area.In the helicopters, The President is traveling with his secret service Detail, Special Agent Carol Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal) on their way back to the White House. President Sawyer requests that the pilot changes the route so they can fly over the Reflecting Pool next to the Lincoln Memorial. It is apparently a favorite side trip of President Sawyer. President Sawyer tells Finnerty a fact about Lincoln being the first president to be in favor for women's voting.John Cale (Channing Tatum), is a U.S. Capitol officer, watching President Sawyer address the nation with a speech on how poverty is the biggest problem in this country, alluding to a story in which his mother made dinner for a friend who attempted to stage a robbery. Cale starts arguing with a squirrel trying to get into a birdhouse as his protectee, Speaker of the House Eli Raphelson (Richard Jenkins), walks out of his house. Martin Walker (James Woods), head of the Secret Service, also watches the president's speech. He loads a gun, and then places an American flag pin next to a picture of a young man in a Marine uniform. It is his son Kevin, who was killed in the Middle East. Walker says goodbye to his wife Muriel (Barbara Williams). While walking with Raphelson in the Capitol Building, John spots Jenna and asks her if she got him an interview with Finnerty, and she says yes. He also asks for another favor, to get White House passes for his daughter. Jenna says she'll see what she can do. When nobody is looking, a red-haired man named Conrad (Kyle Gatehouse) enters a room.Cale goes to pick up Emily from her home. Emily is angry and hurt at him and doesn't speak to him, and her mother Melanie (Rachelle Lefevre) informs Cale that he missed her talent show a week ago, in which she twirled a flag. Cale has apparently missed several opportunities for Emily, which is why she is so hurt and angry toward him.President Sawyer sees a reporter outside on the lawn, making comments against President Sawyer's policies. Finnerty comes in and tells President Sawyer his wife Alison (Garcelle Beauvais) is calling. They discuss his policies and the controversy surrounding them, but she is confident in him.Conrad is now dressed as a janitor, and he enters a truck with a box inside. In it is a very large bomb.Cale is apparently taking Emily to his interview with the Secret Service, and during the drive to White House, Emily is still not speaking. Cale shows her the White House Tour passes and she suddenly becomes excited and talking about different historical facts about the White House. After Security at the White House Cale meets with SA Finnerty, and they both recognize each other from college. She and Special Agent Todd (Vincent Leclerc) conduct his interview. Cale served in Afghanistan and rescued Raphelson's son while he was on duty. Cales records also indicate a bad credit score, marginal GPA, and his overall service record indicates that his lack of respect for higher authorities makes him less than suitable for a position with the Secret Service . Although he tries to convince Finnerty otherwise, she dismisses him. Outside, Emily excitedly asks if he got the job, and he says he thinks he's got a shot. They begin the White House tour. Walker goes into a meeting with other members of the president's detail, and it is revealed that it is his final day on the job. The other agents bring in a cake for him decorated with sparklers.The tour with Emily and Cale walk past a group of suspicious-looking guys dressed as home theater repairmen. The tour continues on the tour with a guide named Donnie, who is pleasantly surprised with Emily Cales knowledge of White House facts. She gets excited when she sees President Sawyer coming in and asks him a question for her to publish on her YouTube channel. She also introduces her dad and says he is on his detail, but President Sawyer knows that this is not true. The Tour Guide shows Cale an oil painting of the White House burning during the War of 1812 and mentions how it was rebuilt from scratch. Emily then leaves to go to the bathroom. Conrad walks into the Capitol wheeling in a mop and bucket and then leaves it in the middle of the room. As the clock on his watch reaches zero, the bomb explodes within the building. Finnerty notices the explosion as she is driving away, and everybody in the White House is alerted, as several agents lock the place down. Cale tries to go searching for Emily. At the same time, Finnerty takes Speaker Raphelson away from the Capitol while Vice President Alvin Hammond (Michael Murphy) is put on Air Force One. The repairmen are shown to be a group of mercenaries led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke). A firefight erupts, and the mercenaries wipe out nearly every agent in sight and take the tour guests hostage. Cale grabs a gun and manages to escape as a mercenary takes everyone in the room hostage. Emily, has evaded the mercenaries and captures video footage of Stenz on her phone which she begins to broadcast on her YouTube ChannelStenz brings in a super hacker called Skip Tyler (Jimmi Simpson). Tyler is set up to hack into the defense system. Cale makes it to the bathroom but finds that Emily isn't there. A mercenary comes in and gets taken down with one bullet.Walker leads President Sawyer and his detail down to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, but then pulls his gun out and kills everybody, revealing himself as seeking revenge for the death of his son. Cale overhears Walker contacting Stenz over the walkie-talkie and discovers the Presidents location. He kills a mercenary named Bobby (Patrick Sabongui) before running down to the PEOC. He shoots at Walker and gives President Sawyer a chance to run out.Tyler makes it to a computer room and begins the hacking process and waits for the hack to bring the firewalls completely down.Finnerty takes Speaker Raphelson to a command center to meet with General Caulfield (purportedly the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They patch through to Vice President Hammond on Air Force One, so he is aware of the situation. They make contact with Walker. Walker demands a $400 million ransom from the Federal Reserve or he will execute President Sawyer on the South Lawn.Stenz finds Bobby's corpse and furiously swears vengeance, because Bobby apparently saved his life twice. He and Walker get into an elevator, not knowing that Cale and President Sawyer are right above them. Cale suggests they call in Seal Team Six. President Sawyer tells him that there is a satellite phone in the Residence. However, they need to get back above the elevator. Cale sees a mercenary getting into the elevator carrying javelin surface to-air-missiles.Stenz and Walker locate the remaining chain of command. Stenz kills the Secretary of Defense and takes everybody else hostage, including Roger Skinner the reporter. As the hostages are led into the room with the other hostages, Emily continues capturing footage of them and uploading them to her channel. Melanie (her mother) sends her a text message; one of the mercenaries hears the message tone. As Emily tries to hide in a closet, the mercenary threatens to shoot if she doesn't come out. She gives herself up and is taken hostage. As Cale and President Sawyer make their way to Residence, they are attacked by more mercenaries, but Cale and President Sawyer manage to kill them. Cale calls SA Finnerty using the satellite phone to get in to let her know that President Sawyer is safe. SA Finnerty tells him to turn on the news. Emilys video footage has made it onto the news, exposing the terrorists to the public. Cale sees it and panics. He is told by President Sawyer and SA Finnerty that they can get out using tunnels that JFK used to sneak Marilyn Monroe in and out of the White House. SA Finnerty discovers that Stenz and his team originally worked for various government agencies. Stenz was part of a paramilitary group in Pakistan, and when the President Sawyer administration began, Stenz's operation was shut down, and he spent two years in prison.Muriel Walker is called in to try and get her husband to stop what he is doing. SA Finnerty learns from her that Walker has an inoperable tumor the size of a golf ball, leading her to believe that this is a suicide mission. Although Muriel tries to talk her husband down, he assures her it is for their son. With that, she tells her husband to continue his mission, and she is taken away.Cale and President Sawyer go underground through the tunnels, which Stenz and his goons find out about. The tunnel is rigged with explosives, and they escape and find the presidential limo. Stenz finds them through video feeds and tries to shoot them, but they escape and are chased. Cale starts to run through the West Gate, but President Sawyer tells him they wouldn't make it. Cale circles around the lawn and fountain to avoid the mercenaries. President Sawyer grabs a rocket launcher and fires at the gate, blowing it open. The mercenaries fire at the limo. When a mercenary brings out Emily for Cale to see, he is distracted long enough for a rocket to hit the limo, sending it flying into a nearby pool. Stenz and Walker arrive but Cale and President Sawyer make it out of the pool and miss with a grenade tryingto hit Walker and Stenz. One mercenary shoots at them with a minigun as they run into a pool house. He hits a boiler, causing a massive explosion that is caught on camera. The media then begins to broadcast that President Sawyer has been killed. VP Hammond is sworn in as the president.Cale takes President Sawyer somewhere safe to treat a wound he sustained in the explosion. They chat about their daughters.Hammond orders a special forces assault to take back the White House. Cale contacts Finnerty to warn the incoming teams about the Javelin Missiles, and tries to warn them to pull them back. Cale makes it to the roof of the White House and begins a fight with Stenz. The remaining special forces soldiers try to stop Stenz as Cale holds him, but Stenz manages to shoot their chopper down. The SF chopper crashes and nearly kills the hostages, just barely missing them. Cale manages fall through a glass ceiling with Stenz, and gets away but drops his White House passes which informs Stenz of Emilys identity and that Cale is her father. Simultaneously,Tyler finishes his hack upload, which brings down all the DoD Network Firewalls. Tyler then hacks NORAD's weapons system and launches a missile into the sky, which hits Air Force One, killing everybody on board. With that, Speaker Raphelson is now sworn in as president. Raphelsons first order is for an air strike on the White House to stop the terrorists once and for all. He is also given new presidential codes for the Nuclear launch sequences. Stenz brings Emily into the Oval Office where Walker is. Stenz orders Cale ( over an intercom) to stand down, or Stenz will shoot Emily in the stomach. Hearing this, President Sawyer turns himself over. Cale calls SA Finnerty and learns that he only has minutes before the air strike destroys the White House.Walker pulls out the secure Nuclear Suitcase for President Sawyer to activate, which would allow him to launch nuclear attacks against several cities in the Middle East. Walker wants to ensure that Iran doesn't try and use their nuclear weapons anytime soon, but President Sawyer refuses to activate the football, even at the expense of Emily's life. Cale starts a fire causing alarms to go off before Walker can shoot Emily. The mercenary who took the hostages comes out and almost kills Cale, but Donnie the Tour Guide crushes in his skull. Cale tells Donnie to take the rest of the hostages outside. Elsewhere, Tyler tries to escape through a tunnel but is killed by a bomb. Stenz runs out to try to finally kill Cale while President Sawyer stabs Walker in the back with a commemorative ink pen. Cale gets the better of Stenz, then wraps a grenade around Stenz's neck and pulls the pins out, leaving him to blow up.Meanwhile, Walker managing to get President Sawyer to activate the football then shoots President Sawyer. Emily furiously tries to fight Walker, but he throws her off. Walker begins to enter the updated nuclear codes from an unknown source, but before he can fully activate the launch, Cale crashes into the Oval Office with one of the terrorist's vans. Cale pulls out the minigun and kills Walker as the launch sequence times out. Cale tells Emily to run outside while he finds President Sawyer. Emily grabs the Presidential flag and waves it as the fighters come flying in. The pilots realize she is trying to call off the attack, and although Raphelson doesn't call for the abort, they pull back and abort their airstrike.Cale finds President Sawyer alive, as the bullet hit a pocket watch that belonged to Lincoln. SA Finnerty calls Cale, and she says this isn't over yet. She says she knows that the mercenaries weren't called in from Walker or Stenz. Cale knows who it is. SA Finnerty and Raphelson arrive at the White House and meet with Cale, who tells them that the President is dead. Raphelson says he will order troops back to Iran since they may have heard about the planned nuclear strike and are seeking retaliation. This would also go against the proposed peace treaty. Cale states that he knows Raphelson was in the plan all along, and he used a pager to send the new codes to Walker. He proves it by having SA Finnerty dial the call-back number.A very much alive President Sawyer comes out, and orders Raphelson taken into custody, saying this is an attempted coup d'etat. SA Finnerty admits she was wrong about Cale. President Sawyer boards Marine One and calls for Cale, calling him "Special Agent Cale". Emily joins them on board,now happy with her dad. On board, SA Finnerty tells President Sawyer that the world leaders have agreed to his proposed Middle East peace accord.Marine One flies over the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool.

Genre: Thriller, Action, Drama

Directed by: Roland Emmerich

Starring: Channing Tatum (Cale), Jamie Foxx (President Sawyer), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Finnerty), Jason Clarke (Stenz), Richard Jenkins (Raphelson), Joey King (Emily)

Screenplay: James Vanderbilt

Country: USA

Year: 2013

Score: 63 %