White House Down

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Year:	2013
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Roland Emmerich
Genre:	Action thriller
Starring:	Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Rating:	3/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334879/
Tagline:	It Will Start Like Any Other Day.
Favourite line:	"You just killed the Secretary of Defense."

Hollywood has a habit of producing films in pairs.
Volcanoes, meteors, bugs and now, terrorist takeovers of the White House.

The plot:
Cale (Tanning Chatum) is a wannabe secret service sort of guy. He works at The White House, but resents his lowly role and, when he fails to land a new, higher profile job, he thinks his chance is shot. Luckily for him, a clutch of terrorist sorts choose that very day to invade The White House, evading all security measures by the cunning method of donning workmen's overalls and carrying around convincing looking wires.
Once ensconced, the terrorists declare that, unless their demands are met, the President of the God Damned Motherfucking United States of Shit-Me-Not America will be shot.
Can anyone stop them?
You bet your flinging-flanging Tatums they can.

The autumnal answer to summer's Olympus Has Fallen, this one was delivered with a much higher budget, with director Emmerich no stranger to effects heavy explode-a-thons, with Independence Day, 2012, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow already under his belt.
With a creaking start that drags on for a good half hour before any bullets start to fly, it's clear we're in for the long haul, another trademark of Herr Emmerich's films.
Wilfully silly, everyone involved knows this is popcorn fodder of the lowest order, and are just along for both the ride and the big, fat pay cheque.
With a script as dim-witted as it is implausible, things really should just rollick along, but proceedings keep getting interrupted by unnecessarily patriotic speeches and the unwanted intervention of a precocious child in the shape of Tanning's eleven year old daughter, Emily who, improbability upon improbability, is obsessed by politics!
Though the odd action sequence has merit - the helicopter battle in particular stands out - much of it is just plain and simple gunplay and fisticuffs, which is a shame, especially when comparing it against Olympus Has Fallen, which showed far more imagination - I mean, who doesn't like seeing Gerard Butler ramming knives through the top of peoples' skulls with inhuman force? No, here the far more expensive younger brother fares poorly in the violence, being toned down to squeeze in under the 12a certification, as opposed to the far more preferable, grunge and gruel permitting 15.
Knowingly stupid, then, and massively, massively flawed, if this had been stripped back by about 30 minutes and given some clout in terms of the action stuff, this could have been fantastic.
As it is, it's just ok.
And it's no 24, season 7, which has the exact same plot, that's for sure.