Movie Review: WHITE HOUSE DOWN

WHITE HOUSE DOWN
Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Joey King, James Wood, Richard Jenkins, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke

Sometimes a mindless silly popcorn action flick is just what you need after a long week. John Cale (Tatum) is hoping to gain a position as part of the US Secret Service. His relationship with his daughter Emily (King) is strained as she lives with her mother. She is book smart, good with technology, and is fascinated with President Sawyer (Foxx) and everything else White House related. John takes Emily with to the White House in order to gain some cool dad points with her.

John's interview with Secret Service Special Agent Carol Finnerty (Gyllenhaal) does not go as well as he was hoping for. They are former college acquaintances and she does not think he has the motivation and hard work ethic for the job. John can't bear to tell Emily the bad news, so they decide to go on a White House tour. A bomb explodes at the U.S. Capitol building and the White House is put on lock down. John and Emily ended up getting separately and now she's left alone in the bathroom while he is with the group. Posing as a repair service, a group of men led by Emil Stenz (Clarke), take the tour group hostage and start killing off members of the cabinet in order to get to the President. John escapes the tour group in attempt to find his daughter. At different times, both John and Emily have first hand encounters with the terrorists. Emily is able to record their actions on her phone and posts them on her blog. The video goes viral instantly and the faces of the terrorists are broadcast all over the news. Even though John is able to rescue the President from the leader of the terrorist group, their escape reaches quite a few road blocks as they realize the terrorist group is far more advanced than they realized at first.

When you go into a Roland Emmerich film, you should probably already know the quality you are getting yourself into when you buy your ticket. It is time to leave your brain at the door and grab a bucket of popcorn. You will be in for a massive action movie that will most likely have cheesy dialogue, implausible situations, massive explosions and some destruction of national monuments. What else would you expect from the filmmaker of Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012?

White House Down has all of that and knows it. I think Emmerich knows what kind of film he is making and makes the most out of it. The story goes to the extremes and is quite laughable at times due to how much these terrorists get away with. The number of explosions and times Channing Tatum dashes across a room of flying bullets is insane, but that is part of the fun. His guns never seem to run out of bullets either. The dialogue is always so serious that it deserves a couple of good laughs. It also helps if you bypass the fact that the casting of Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx is a little unconventional here. While they have both done action movies before, I would not say that this genre is their forte. Tatum seems a bit too young to play the dad to Joey King's character. Foxx also seems a bit too young and hip to play the President. Toward the beginning of the film and before the shit starts to hit the fan, he seems to be trying to pull of his Obama impression a little too much. In all reality, who really cares. The action kicks off into full gear early on and never lets up until the end. In order to like this movie, you have to go in looking to have a fun time and forget about three dimensional characters, a unique plot, logic, reason, and Academy worthy acting. Did I mention Channing Tatum spends good quality time running around in a muscle shirt?


RATING: ***1/2 (3.5 out of 5 stars)

Movie Review: JACK REACHER

JACK REACHER
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Robert Duvall, David Oyelowo

A sniper eyes various people through the scope of his rifle and lets off six shots killing five random targets in a plaza area. We see the face of our lone gunman. He is young, good looking, and has a five o'clock shadow. He leaves the parking ramp in his white van but purposefully leaves behind a trail of clues including gun shells and a quarter with his finger print on him.

The cops quickly track down our gunman who is a former military sniper by the name of James Barr. You soon realize that James Barr is not the guy we just saw shooting five people. Barr refuses to answer the police interrogation and only responds by writing down three words: "Get Jack Reacher". Jack Reacher (Cruise) is a former military officer who is mysterious in every regard. He makes it a point to for anyone to be unable to track him down. He does not own a home, car, or bank account. He will make his presence known when he sees fit. Reacher knows of Barr's history in the military and shows up when he hears about the situation. By this point, Barr has been beaten and left in a coma. Barr's lawyer Helen Rodin (Pike) hires Reacher has her investigator. Her father (Jenkins) is the D.A. and is hired to prosecute the case. Reacher learns more about the shooting and is determined that this is not the work of Barr. Reacher and Helen work together under his terms to determine the connection between Barr and the real sniper.

Jack Reacher is based on the book "One Shot" by Lee Child. It's the ninth book in a series of novels involving the unstoppable Jack Reacher. Fans of the book raised an eyebrow with the casting of Tom Cruise as the 6'5" 200+ pound former military officer. Cruise does not quite fit that physical description. Lee Child endorsed the casting despite the difference in height. I am having mixed vibes towards Cruise in this performance. He pulls off the unstoppable aspects of Reacher, and he definitely is a guy you do not want to pick a fight with. Cruise is quite restrained in the role unlike many of his previous larger than life characters you have seen him portray. While I applaud his self-control, I feel like he is trying to pull off the elusive mysterious qualities of Reacher a little too hard. I do not know how he is written in the books, but I wanted more out of the character. That being said, Cruise has potential with the role. I think if the series continues, Cruise will get better with the character.

Jack Reacher is your standard "whodunit" and "how are they all connected" type movie. The beginning and ending are suspenseful, but the middle seems to drag on as you play along with Reacher and Helen as they connect the dots. I never lost interest with the story, but I wanted something else and something more to happen. There is a bit of a twist, but if you have watched enough "Law & Order" episodes, you will figure it out before the ending. The most exciting part of the movie was the brilliant casting of Robert Duvall. He pops up in the last 45 minutes as Cash, the owner of a shooting range where Barr frequented. Duvall brings the movie a much needed sense of humor. If the movie does well at the box office, I think Cruise could continue on with this character. It could be a great franchise for him to take on. Even though I wrestled with this movie, I think there is potential. I would be up for another Jack Reacher mystery. Lee Child has written many stories with the character, so I know there is more material out there.

RATING: *** (3 out of 5 stars)