There is a certain comfort you can derive from these predictable mega-budget monsters. Trouble is, it goes on too long. It has several climactic moments, but every time you ready for the exit, the film bounces back again for the next round.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 19, 2019

At least has the good grace to laugh at itself as it rolls out the dingbat-daft action-movie cliches.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 15, 2013

It is appallingly funny in a way that few parodies ever manage. But it is undeniably exciting.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 15, 2013

Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) can do these films in his sleep; which may be why they sometimes emerge as nightmares of crazed, florid hokum.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 13, 2013

Real thrills - dependent on real, believable jeopardy - are not on offer: just cheerfully absurd spectacle and a little bit of humour.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 12, 2013

An expensive blockbuster chuckle that doesn't last.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 12, 2013

You raise your eyes to the sky in futile hope. Where are the alien death rays when you need them?

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 12, 2013

If all you're after is a pair of mismatched heroes wisecracking their way through a series of explosive, well-mounted set pieces, look no further.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 10, 2013

Lincoln meets Sudden Death: a corny but raucous throwback to when Planet Hollywood was hip.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 9, 2013

The special effects are scary-hairy enough to satisfy the midsummer "I wish to go to the moon" impulse.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 3, 2013

The main flaw of White House Down is that it overstays its welcome, thanks in large part to a silly climax that seems to unfold in three laborious acts.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 1, 2013

Essentially a louder, sillier version of Die Hard, with John Cale standing in for John McClane, a precocious daughter standing in for the plucky wife, and, alas, no one even much trying to stand in for Alan Rickman's deliciously wicked Hans Gruber.

| Jun 28, 2013

It's no 'Independence Day,' but it is a major step up for Emmerich primarily because he manages to successfully embrace humor while doing what he does best - blowing things up.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 28, 2013

Really silly, but really fun.

| Jun 28, 2013

Formula action films don't come much more formulaic that this.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 28, 2013

Emmerich isn't strenuous about setting a consistent tone. Action movie blow-ups are interlaced with dumb jokes and slapstick. He's an anything-for-effect guy, but some of his effects are none too effective.

| Original Score: C+ | Jun 28, 2013

Emmerich is an old hand at blowing up the White House and finds new wings as well as other national monuments to destroy: They blow up real good.

Full Review | Jun 28, 2013

In this season of solemnly manly blockbusters, I appreciated the boyish energy of White House Down, a movie that, for all its flamboyant destructiveness, has a playful innocence at its core.

| Jun 28, 2013

'White House Down' is, at certain moments, a good time in spite of itself. I, for one, was certainly glad when it was over.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 28, 2013

I've never seen anything quite like it ... outlandish, inventive, and completely entertaining.

| Jun 28, 2013