Runtime: 131 minutes
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Joey King, and many other talented actors
From: Columbia
What a movie to watch for the first time in 2023! Most of what director Roland Emmerich does is not for me; however, this was recently added to Netflix and as I also recently heard some details of the plot, I’ll finally check out WHD so it could be compared to Olympus Has Fallen. You know that meme image of a monkey puppet looking awkwardly at you? It’s actually a Photoshopped image from some old Japanese kids show but that was my reaction a few times while watching the movie! Who most of the henchmen were in this scheme to get revenge against America, James Woods and his role… a lot could be said but besides spoilers, it could rile up people in general, albeit probably not here.
Channing Tatum is a member of Capitol Police but despite this and his time as a soldier, “wasted potential” is a label that could be attached to him. He applies to be a member of Secret Service and as his estranged daughter Joey King loves politics-a plot point actually elaborated upon-he decides they should go on a guided tour of the White House. What fortuitous fate then that this is when terrorists (or is it insurrectionists?) decide to try and take down the government… where of course John Cale-no, not the cult musician from the past that wrote After Midnight and They Call Me the Breeze… that’s who Tatum played-becomes an unstoppable badass.
Both this and Olympus are jingoistic nonsense with overqualified casts; they even share more than one plot point. However, as silly and implausible as Olympus was, WHD was FAR more preposterous and OOT. The movie is really stupid but while not as gonzo as some of those foreign action flicks I talk about here, this made me giggle in a similar fashion. It was nice seeing Lance Reddick (RIP) in a supporting role, not to mention Jamie Foxx, he of the seemingly in recovery for an unknown health issue that conjecture says MIGHT be a stroke or something similar. I’ve only scratched the surface of his filmography—this does not reflect my opinion of him as an actor, as he’s very good at that craft.
The CG must have looked lousy even at the time—now, I was taken aback by how not good it was. That only added to my mirth as I saw this nonsense! Even with the parallels to real life and my laughing at this crap, it doesn’t change my stance on the majority of Emmerich’s filmography. At the same time, this was a 21st century big budget blockbuster I could actually stomach, so that was a win right there.
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