Trailer Trashin’: It’s Die Hard in the White House Again with White House Down

This week sees the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, another of my most anticipated films of the summer. And in the spirit of summer movies, this week brings the third-ever Trailer Trashin’ Double Feature, as I examine the new previews for White House Down and The World’s End. Now, let’s take a look at the second trailer for director Roland Emmerich’s action/thriller White House Down.

Premise: US Capitol Police officer John Cale (Channing Tatum) has just been rejected from his dream job of working for the Secret Service and protecting President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). Not wanting to let down his daughter Emily (Joey King) with the news, Cale takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is taken over by a heavily armed paramilitary group led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke). Now, with the nation’s government falling into chaos and time running out, it’s up to Cale to save the President, his daughter, and the United States.

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My take: About every few years, we get another example of “dueling movies” – two films with the same or similar premise or subject matter released relatively close together. Back in 1998, we had two films about giant space rock threatening the Earth with Deep Impact and Armageddon. We got two films about Truman Capote with Capote (2005) and Infamous (2006). And just last year, we had dueling Snow White movies with Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman.

This year, we have two movies that can both be described as “Die Hard in the White House,” where a lone man has to rescue the President after hostile forces take over the White House. Back in March, we had Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler as the hero and Aaron Eckhart as the President, and directed by Antoine Fuqua of Training Day (2001). That film got mixed reviews from critics, but was fairly successful at the box office. And in late June, we’ll the subject of this column, White House Down, starring Channing Tatum as the hero and Jamie Foxx as the President, and directed by Roland Emmerich of Independence Day (1996), among many other blockbusters. This is the second trailer for White House Down, and well I don’t know if I’ll see it at the theater, it looks like it could be a whole lot of explosive fun.

In the last few years, Channing Tatum has shown himself to be much more talented than a lot of people initially thought, and I think that a film like this, where he gets to both show off his action chops and play some comedic moments, is a good vehicle for him. After seeing Django Unchained, I gained so much respect for Jamie Foxx, and I think he looks like he’s having a lot of fun as President James Sawyer, even though it’s going to take more than a pair of glasses to make Foxx look like like someone who couldn’t handle himself in a fight. Joey King, who most people will know as either young Talia in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or the China Girl in Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), plays John Cale’s daughter Emily, who is taken hostage during the attack on the White House, and I am grateful that they’re not playing the rebellious kid angle, because she seems to have a good relationship with her dad. Maggie Gyllenhaal is also on hand as a Secret Service agent, and I hope she gets some decent material to play. Jason Clarke plays the leader of the mercenaries that invade the White House, but we don’t really get to see him here. And some other notable names in the cast include Richard Jenkins, James Woods, and Lance Reddick, all of whom I’m happy to see appearing in a big summer movie.

I’ve had an interesting relationship with the work of director Roland Emmerich. For a long time, I only knew him as the guy who directed the awful American remake of Godzilla (1998), which, as a huge fan of the Japanese series, I absolutely despise. But later on, I saw his previous blockbuster Independence Day, which I absolutely love, and will defend for the rest of my life as a ridiculously entertaining popcorn movie. Other than catching most of Stargate (1994) on cable once years ago, I haven’t seen any of his other films. But I will say, this is the first new Emmerich film that I’ve actually wanted to see at the theater.

As you would expect from a Roland Emmerich film, the action looks really cool. We’ve got tons of gunplay, speeding cars, helicopters swooping low over the D.C. streets, fighter jets flying over the city, and even Air Force One getting blown up. Judging from this trailer, the action scene that most impresses me is the extended scene of Cale and Sawyer making their escape in the Presidential limo, particularly the moment of Sawyer leaning out the window and using a rocket launcher to blast a roadblock. Of course, the funny thing is that this is probably the most small-scale action film that Emmerich has done, just by virtue of the fact that it’s seemingly taking place mostly in one city, rather than having cities worldwide destroyed by aliens, monsters, or natural disasters.

I know it sounds hypocritical for me to be so positive about this when, back in January, I wrote a largely negative column about the first trailer for Olympus Has Fallen. In retrospect, I think a big part of why I was so down on Olympus Has Fallen was the fact that it seemed to be played so straight and so humorless that it ended up making a premise that is already a stretch into something completely unbelievable. By contrast, White House Down clearly does have a sense of humor, and because it’s operating on a more tongue-in-cheek level, it’s easier for me to accept the inherent goofiness of the concept. Ultimately, I think this film just looks like a lot more fun.

Ultimately, I’m way more interested in this movie than I had expected to be. I never thought I’d see a day where Antoine Fuqua and Roland Emmerich would both make what is, on paper, the same movie, and Emmerich’s is the one that would look less ridiculous. But that is exactly what happened here. With a cool cast and the promise of some great action, this looks like it could be absolutely ridiculous and a whole lot of fun. I’ll wait to see what kind of review it gets, but there’s a good chance that, come the end of June, I might be at my local theater checking out White House Down.

ANTICIPATION: I think I might vote with my wallet and go see it.

Release Date: June 28th, 2013

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, James Woods, Garcelle Beauvais, Lance Reddick, Joey King, Rachelle Lefevre, Michael Murphy, and Nicolas Wright
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: James Vanderbilt

P.S. I was shocked and saddened to learn about the death of Ray Harryhausen last Tuesday. I’ve loved his amazing stop-motion animation work since I was a child, and I have no doubt that he played a large role in creating my love of cinema. My thoughts and prayers go out to Ray’s widow Diana, along with their family and friends. You were truly a legend, Ray, and we’ll miss you.