You know that summer movie season is here when Roland Emmerich blows up a national monument and an Oscar winner fires a rocket launcher out of a moving car.
The upcoming “White House Down” finds “G.I. Joe” and “21 Jump Street” star Channing Tatum flexing his action muscles, and a new trailer also displays co-star Jamie Foxx’s action abilities as the two join forces in the latest twist on the “Die Hard” formula.
It’s the first day on the job for new secret service agent John Cale (no relation to the founding member of the Velvet Underground) and he finds he has a lot more to be nervous about that just making a good initial impression.
Before you can say “Olympus Has Fallen” (or “Air Force One”), Cale teams with the U.S. president (Foxx) against a group of terrorists who have seized the White House and taken hostages, including Cale’s pre-teen daughter (“Dark Knight Rises'” Joey King).
It appears to be more of a buddy take on the “Die Hard” formula than the recent “Olympus,” with Tatum and Foxx trading as many quips with one another as they do bullets with the faceless bad guys. The touch is light, like the other films from director Roland Emmerich (“2012,” “The Day After Tomorrow”), who previously destroyed the White House in “Independence Day.”
The trailer also shows off the huge and amazingly elaborate White House set, built in Montreal. Read about my visit to the set here.
“White House Down” also stars James Woods and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The film opens June 28.