Me-Too has fallen White House Down

White House Down
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke
Rated:6/10
Too bad for Roland Emmerich! Olympus Has Fallen — much before White House — quite engagingly at that, and, with the more towering presence of Gerard Butler, as compared to a still aspiring Channing Tatum.
But when it’s Roland, worry not. After all, for a man who has audacity in abundance and can dare to dote on a crazy art collection in which Jesus wears a T-shirt to crucifixion and Pope John Paul laughs at his own obituary, penetrating the White House and blowing it up while talking of secret tunnels where John F Kennedy dated Marylyn Monroe, is no difficult mission. Definitely not after expansive money rollers like the billion-dollar Independence Day, or for that matter his larger than life eco warning to through The Day After.
This time, he makes the White House fall under ludicrous circumstances and so unbelievably easily that you get to enjoy your popcorn and cola too. Come to think of it, why is White House still called the best protected building in the world after falling so regularly on celluloid is a question Emmerich would love answer, to some collective laughter of course — a brand of laughter that punctuates this Rohit Shetty-like action thriller.
And he does so, because this German padshah of destruction has a sense of humour too. Otherwise, why would Jamie Foxx be shown as an Obama-like caricaturised President running around in sports shoes, getting vertigo atop the elevator and misfiring guns hilariously if, that is, he is not going round and round in circles in his limo while the entire America awaits news on their besieged beloved Prez.
But the humour apart, White House Down is visually big, has its thriller moments which may not tide over predictability but engage you nevertheless, make you laugh too. Much like the no-brainer entertainers from our very own Rohit Shetty.
Source: Sunday Pioneer, 21 July, 2013

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