Movie review - "White House Down" (2013) **

I've got some affection for this film because it's so obviously trying to pretend it's still 1998 or thereabouts - with its action man lead role and obvious spec script origins (a story full of elements of other successful films) and dopey action. 

And, you know, some of this isn't bad - Die Hard meets Seven Days in May is actually a great idea and the sequence where the baddies take over the White House is well done. And there is one good idea in particular - the head of security has used his position to collect a group of bad guys from all over.

But it's not a very good movie. 

Channing Tatum is a likable star but he's miscast in the lead. I never got a fix on him - a war hero who never does up his tie, a distracted absent dad but he seems to be always around. He's too warm - someone like Arnie or Clint or Steve Seagal would have carried weight and history with him. Channing needed more of a defined character to play.

Also I feel it was a mistake to cast Jaimee Fox as president. He lacks gravitas, clowns it up far too much (I liked the joke about the nicorette though), and has been given too much action stuff to do - it's ridiculous.

Most importantly the movie sets up all these interesting things and then does nothing with them. 

For instance, the baddies are a collection of random nutters/terrorists and ex soldiers... that's a fantastic idea that you could do heaps with but they just have a few people shout at each other. 

Or James Woods is upset at the president's peace plan in the Middle East - fantastic, a modern day Seven Days in May... but in the end Wood mostly ends up yelling and cracking one liners. 

Channing didn't vote for Fox, great - but instead of making them really mismatched (eg super conservative cop and liberal president or vice versa) and getting drama out of it they just sort of hang around. 

The media break flight curfew and endanger the life of Channing's daughter by splashing her name all over the press... but there's no come uppance. 

It's frustrating. The filmmakers have obviously studied Die Hard but not nearly enough.

Jason Clarke and James Wood are good as the main baddies and it's nice Maggie Gyllenhaul is given some status as the head of security. And sometimes the over the top silliness of this is really fun (secret tunnels underneath, a limo on the lawn with a bazooka firing at it.) 

But as the movie goes on it just gets dumber and dumber.