There are years when two movies appear with similar premises that have people arguing which is better.  1998 had Antz and A Bug’s Life, last year we had two Snow White movies, and this year, we have Olympus has Fallen and White House Down. Both movies revolve around terrorist attacks on the White House.  Although it has a similar premise to another movie, can White House Down hold your interest, or does it suffer from the director’s own clichés?

The plot revolves around a U.S. Capitol Police Officer named John Cale, played by Channing Tatum, who hopes to improve his relationship with his daughter by getting a job with the Secret Service.  When he doesn’t get the job, he lies to his daughter and takes her to a White House tour, around the same time President Jamie Foxx is discussing a peace treaty to remove military forces.

Unfortunately, Cale didn’t get the memo that “Take your kid to work day” is a terrible idea if you’re in a movie (look what happened when Darth Vader took his kid to work) and sure enough, something goes wrong.  The White House is attacked by terrorists, who take politicians, tourists, and Cale’s daughter as hostages.  It is up to Cale and the President to stop the terrorists and show them who the men in power truly are.

The director of the movie is Roland Emmerich, known for films such as Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012 (by the way, nice job on that one. Everything you said happened in the film definitely happened in real life).  He is often criticized for relying too much on visual effects over an original plot or good dialogue and character development (so he’s like Michael Bay but not as offensive).  Nothing has changed.

When the White House starts getting attacked, it’s pretty predictable what’s going to happen.  It’s inevitable that people are going to compare this to Olympus has Fallen, but even then it’s not that different from the likes of older action movies like Die Hard and Air Force One.  If you’ve seen those movies, then you’ve essentially seen this one.  You might question the logic of certain scenes, but Emmerich is no stranger to this problem as well.  Olympus has Fallen took itself far more seriously than this.

If the film does benefit from anything, it is the chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx.

I enjoyed the films these actors have been in (21 Jump Street and Django), and they bring the same charm from those movies here.  They  make for likable protagonists that are fun to watch.  As for the rest of the actors, they are decent, but nothing special.  It’s one of those movies that you don’t want to pay attention to the acting too much.

The visual effects were decent as well.  Like the actors, there is nothing spectacular, but it makes for a good popcorn flick.  There are explosions, car chases, gunfire, and the works.  The editing did seem a little choppy at times, and it seems to take over most of the plot.  There was a cool scene where they have to escape with the President’s limo and they took advantage of having their movie take place at the White House (with the title, you would hope it would  take place there).

If it feels like I don’t have a lot to say about the movie, it’s because I don’t.  White House Down is essentially a mindless popcorn flick that suffers from director Roland Emmerich’s usual clichés.  Everything seems decent or okay at best, but nothing is truly spectacular.  I got a kick out of the two main characters, but that was it.  If people want to know which movie is truly better, here’s a basic summary: Olympus has Fallen is good if you want a deeper plot, developed characters, and great performances from the main cast and White House Down is good if you want to go for mindless entertainment with laughs and explosions.